The First Week in Spain

Wow, we are already over a week into the trip and the time has flown by. Sorry, I am already behind on my posts, Traveling can be so exhausting, by the time we get back in the evening it’s usually late and I have no energy left for typing a thoughtful post. But I figured I better catch-up or I never would. This first week has been so full, so much; I already know that I can’t accurately describe the experience here. Maybe that’s why I have been avoiding writing about it, because I know I can’t do it all justice. So I’m not going to try. But I will give you a brief daily overview, and try to do better going forward.

Day 1- Ronda! An ancient fortified hill town. Awesome, huge bridge. Moorish and Roman roots. Magic- watching my children plays bull fight with their daddy in the first bull-fighting ring in all of Spain. It was so awesome…up until Sebastian and Everett ran smack into each other, giving Sebastian a goose egg on the head and Everett a huge black eye, which you might notice in the pictures.

Day 2- The long drive the Granada to see The Alhambra! AMAZING! GORGOUS!! Unfortunately our tickets into the palace (even though we reserved weeks ago) weren’t until 7pm. By that point the kids were tired, cranky and really “over” the whole “We are walking through 1,000 year of history”, and “Look at the original Moorish carvings” sentiments, and they whined basically the whole time. Highlight for the kids, the 12 lions fountain in the central courtyard. Highlight for me- feeling just like Jasmine walking around the upper balconies watching the sunset over Granada.

Day 3- Beach break day in old town Marbella. Paella, sangria, and splashing the in the ocean. Fun for everyone.

Day 4- Africa!! We took a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco!! We drove about an hour to the “fast ferry” for a 30 minute ferry ride and a two-hour wait in passport control. Then we met our private guide and driver. They took us all over the city, and I am so glad we had them and didn’t just try to walk it on our own. We visited the Kasbah, the ancient part of the city, feels very third-world. Drove around the large modern homes in the San Francisco-like hills, feels very first-world. Ate lunch at delicious lunch at a local place. I had a roasted chicken and veggies dish that had been cooked a long time in a clay pot, Gardner had a yummy braised lamb and date dish. The kids had french fries. The highlight of the day was the amazing, camel ride on the beach which we all LOVED; Sebastian wanted to go a second time. We ended the day with a shopping trip through the Medina, were we bought a few small souvenirs. Ferry ride back to Spain. It was a great day. The kind that makes you exhausted in the best way, where you feel like you grew a little.

Day 5- Another beach day! Puerto Banus. Very resorty. Very expensive. Not as nice as Marbella. Soaking-up the sun was rejuvenating.

Day 6- A trip to England! Well, Gibraltar, which is technically England. Nice because all the signs are in English! We took the cable car to the top of the rock. Saw the amazing wild monkeys. There are so many! The babies were by far the cutest running all around and playing with each other. We decided to walk down, which was described as an easy 3-hour walk, including visiting all the sights on the mountain, a cave you can tour, old military tunnels blasted out during the revolutionary war times, etc. What was supposed to take 3 hours, took the short legs in our group 5. Sebastian was such a trooper matching us step for step, with minimal complaining. Everett determined to be carried, and I can hardly blame him. My legs hurt for 3 days after the walk. Back at sea level with very tired feet, I had the best fish and chips of my life for lunch!  We drove back home, rested a while and then went down to Marbella for the Semana-Santa Parade. The small town vibe was infectious. The Spaniards take Holy Week very seriously and the parades and rituals are done in the spirt of complete devotion. Afterwards, newly energized, as people seem to get here around 9pm when the sun goes down, we went on a little tapas crawl; finally figured out the right way to order for our group!  

Day 7 – Packing-up and heading out. We drove to Sevilla. The famous Cathedral, which houses Christopher Columbus’s tomb, was closed for Semana-Santa. We toured the Alcazar, which has been continually inhabited for hundreds of years and built in the Mudejar style. Designed by Moors for Christians to live in. It’s gorgeous, and still used as a royal residence by the King so it has really been well-maintained. After a tour of the palace and gardens we went to a flamenco show, which was perfect. It put the kids to sleep, which allowed Gardner and I to enjoy the show in restful peace. After a walking tapas dinner we went back to our room to catch some late night Semana-Santa parades from our balcony.

Day 8- We drove to Madrid, stopping in Cordova to tour the famous Mosque/Cathedral.

Now we are feeling settled here in Spain and so far we are enjoying Madrid. Our new apartment is nice, and in a great neighborhood. We are starting to learn some key phrases in Spanish, and we feel like we fitting in, sort-of. Ok, now I am officially caught-up, and very tired. Buenos Noches!