A Plane to Spain

I decided to head to Spain in early September for a couple of reasons, one, I’ve never been, and two, I wanted to train on red clay tennis courts and see the tennis culture. At least a sample would offer more perspective on tennis and other racquet sports (more about that in my next post). The idea came from a friend of mine, Paul who suggested I contact Jeff who lives in Spain and see if I could visit him. I had met Jeff 12 years ago at his bachelor party in Casanovia, New York. We had sailed on a large lake there (Gods country). I also met his future wife, Maria, who is from Spain. Little did I know that years later I’d spend three days at their home in Casas de Benítez in Cuenca. Paul assured me that calling Jeff would be okay, though Paul didn’t exactly know where Jeff lived. This is a leap of faith, I thought, so I did it and reached out.

Jeff remembered me as the guy who gave Paul a tennis racquet. Yep, that sounded about right. We talked about Spain and I asked if I could rent space from him while visiting and he wouldn’t let me pay him. He would accept tennis lessons which was perfect as I’m coming back from knee issues and some easy hitting would be perfect.

My flight first landed in Zurich (great treats on Swiss Air by the way). And from there I flew into Madrid. It took about day and one half to complete my Expedia flight plan (they are the cheapest for sure because the app buys in Hotel, Car, and Flight packages rather than a la carte.). It’s cheaper to fly to Spain, get a hotel, car and breakfast than go to Maine. It’s crazy to think that but it’s true.

I flew into Madrid in the morning, secured a rental car, 10.00 per day, and my Capital One Card took care of auto free auto insurance, and headed for Cuenca. I made this sound easy but it was tricky. Navigating a foreign airport with limited Spanish capability is a challenge. I took it slow and steady and if I made a mistake, corrected patiently like a missed passing shot. Once I finally got my rental car after finding the right bus to take to the rental lot, getting checked in (there appeared to be no order in the room of thirty people waiting ahead of me to get their rentals) …well that’s long a story…ha. I hopped intoKia hybrid and headed south. The first thing I experienced in Spain is roundabouts with several lanes, often unmarked, and lights in the middle when exits came up. It’s Spain. Take it slow. I did.

I then drove south to Cuenca (a province of Spain) to Casa’s de Benítez. It’s about two hours south of Madrid. Along the way I passed mountains, dried fields, olive farms, cows, grape vineyards, little towns cloistered into mountain sides, country churches, an old wind mill, vast areas of desert proportion, and wind and solar farms. There was no rain on the plain of Spain. There was a drought this summer.

After a couple of wrong turns in the middle of no where I found what was called Main Street. It was late at night. My hosts were there to greet me. And my three day journey started in this little desert town. I drank enough water to choke a horse when I arrived and ate fresh bread which was perfect.

In the morning there was market where you could buy food and clothes. Nothing was packaged. It was bagged when ordered. The produce seller stood over bins of nuts and fruits while smoking a cigarette and focused on his deliveries. Markets closed at 2 pm for siesta. Early that morning at 9 I had coffee and a fresh bread with what I call Procuitto. In Spain, that’s ham. Also there were fresh grapes in the backyard so I could graze whenever I wanted. At siesta, Maria and Jeff made grilled chicken or lamb, fresh tapas, cheeses, breads, and fruit. It all came in courses. I think there were four. After that, we chatted, rested, went for a swim in the pool and went to play tennis. There’s no work or commerce for most citizens during this time. At 5 pm the work day starts again and finishes around 9 pm and then there is a light dinner or appetizer ending by 10:30 pm. The days lasted well into the nights. I lived long full days and never felt tired despite my long journey. A good sleep the first day fixed that.

Jeff took me to a tennis court and we played. There was a Great Wall there where Forecourt is played. It’s a tennis type game played with a front wall and one side wall. It was a tremendous workout. It was hot but dry and I consumed lots of water and ate grapes. After several bike rides and tennis hitting sessions with Jeff on the great wall I decided it was time to leave.

I drove East to Valencia, another 2 hour journey. There I stayed at a boutique hotel in the heart of the city that served great food and I ventured out to the Spanish Tennis Association run courts in the city. There I met up with Sergio Sergio Dronov, the head coach and founder of the at Valencia Tennis Academy where he boasts an illustrious career in tennis coaching. He has personally shaped the careers of top players like Ernests Gulbis TOP 10 ATP, Igor Andreev TOP 20 ATP, and Alisa Kleybanova TOP 10 WTA!!!!. I ended up training with him for two days at the Academy red clay tennis courts. He is known for his biomechanics expertise and he helped me greatly with my own game. We spoke about our coaching experiences and his perspective on the kinetic chain which gave me new perspectives on communicating the technical aspects to students. Hitting balls on red clay is spiritual. The crushed red brick provides a cloud-like feel unsurpassed by any surface save grass. The 90 minute training sessions included forehand, backhand and serve development.
Sergio being a former satellite player a decade plus younger coached as he struck live balls. We’d stop occasionally to chat about Valencia, his family and the routines of his coaching schedule. I found this as a colleague fascinating. We plan to stay in touch and perhaps work on a business venture together.

From Valencia ( the museums, beaches and tennis centers) I drove south to Castell de Xàtiva. and It’s a castle built by by Celtiberians. the It’s quite a history lesson but from what I can gather, these “Celts” (I have to laugh because I think of the Boston Celtics) built for sure the minor part of the castle which is one of two castles at the site. These Iberian tribes fell eventually to the Roman Empire because Rome had to have everything. They were not minimalistic at all. Eventually the Iberian Celtic Tribes battled off the Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire. These battles occurred BC and AD on our calendar. Eventually all the tribes and provinces of what is now Spain came together.

The castle possesses magical features of architecture, mountain engineering, vast vistas over huge tracts of Spain. As I looked over the edge of the very top of Castle Mejor, I felt as though a flying dragon would pass beneath my gaze and snort smoke loudly as it circled its winged path looking for something it wanted below in the dense forest and then fly into the open plains with several other dragons joining the sortie. They headed off to another castle perched on a mountain miles away in the distance.
I then turn and looked behind me. No one was there at the highest point of the castle Mejor, and I turned my hat backwards as the wind picked up. I didn’t want to lose it over the wall. A gust of wind earlier had blown my sunglasses out of my hands as I was cleaning the dust off and they broke. The sun was now twice as bright and when my vision finally adjusted I saw clearly the light shooting through the castle cannon ports onto to the steps. At that moment it all changed for me and I knew why I was there.

From there I headed south for two hours to a town called ARCHENA. This town had the
BALNEARIO DE ARCHENA, a town a mineral hot spring nestled in between a mountain range. The bath was a great place to unwind from the tennis I’d played in Valencia. This was my last stop on the tour before driving back to Madrid to catch my flight back to Boston.

One final note, I noticed a game called Padel being played at all of Valencia’s tennis clubs. It’s a great combination of tennis type shots with racquetball angles off the back wall. It plays similar to platform tennis but covers more ground. It’s played professionally in Europe. My next post is about Padel. That’s another story!!!