Lists. Everybody loves them. (Okay, mass generalization right there. I am bound to get an email now from someone who does not enjoy lists.) So, sure, lists can be confining. But they can also be immensely helpful in two ways:

Being Productive. Lists help you focus. And focus helps you get things done. Particularly at the office on a beautiful sunny day when you’d rather be outside enjoying the Madrileño sunshine or on a rainy day when you’d rather be under the covers at home. Such lists also make it so you don’t have to think too hard (aka stress reduction.) You’ve already done the work of figuring out what needs to be accomplished and in what order. All that's left is to take a look at the prioritized items and do them.

Brainstorming. Look at another person's list and take advantage of their experience. Someone else has put in the time and come up with a top ten of blues recordings (Amazon is filled with this sort of thing) or the top ten novels about the civil war. These lists give you an idea as to where to start – a place to begin and then branch out to develop your own opinion.

Why am I going on about lists? Oh yes, because this list of Spain’s most beautiful villages and towns, (not cities) brought me to Mogrovejo.

Mogrovejo is this teeny tiny little pueblo in Cantabria, Spain, high up in the Peaks of Europe. Built mostly between the 16th and 18th centuries, the village is quiet and sleepy and seemingly unaware of its status as one of the most beautiful in Spain. The villagers, the sheep, the cows, the cattle dogs…they all just go about their business surrounded by some of the most breathtaking mountains and valleys I have ever seen.

It’s well worth a side trip if you are within a hundred (or two) miles.