A little bit of Andalusia, southern Spain Oct 3-9

10/3 We woke up in Luz, drove to Faro to return our car, then caught a bus to Sevilla.  The bus ride was fine, but when Melissa was boarding the bus driver was shouting no food at her in Spanish and wouldn't let her bring a bag of goodies.  So she stowed it in the luggage compartment... and we just ate what was in the cooler bag I had been carrying.  Our apartment in Sevilla was on the third floor of a nice older building.  We had this little interior balcony and the kids ate almost every meal out there. 

That night we walked to a Flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria. It was HOT inside, but the show was really fun. 

Everyone loved it. 

Setas de Sevilla is a large structural sculpture.  We wandered around and found some dinner. 

Just a few hours into our Spanish visit... sure we love Sevilla. 

10/4 Friday morning we walked along the river and visited a replica of Nao Victoria. It was the first ship to circumnavigate the world in 1522.  It was part of the expedition commanded by Ferdinand Magellan, up until his death. 

These step ladders must have been really good for the sailors' calves and glutes. 

Finn just wished they were toys and not "displays."

Hannah riding a wild Spanish stallion at the park outside Plaza de Espana. 

Inside the Plaza, take note of Lilian's smirk vs the twins' grimaces.  It was hot! 

The plaza displays one of these banks dedicated to each Spanish province. Finn loved Albacete's bright yellow.  

In the Parque de Maria Luisa, featured photographer Hannah Bayless... very exclusive. 

It was really hot!  So the kids and Melissa got popsicles... and Lily's fell in the dirt.  Shortly after this, Finn and Hannah both shared theirs with Lily.  Who took a few bites, then threw them away once they melted. ;)

We then had such a long walk home... we tried to get a taxi, no luck, Uber, no luck, so we figured out the bus system, road for 7 or 8 minutes and jumped off to finish our walk.  Probably saved us 15 minutes in the sun though.  This was our building. 

10/5 We'd really been struggling with finding vanilla yogurt in all of our countries, so Lily was not enjoying many of the breakfasts.  I decided to stop trying to recreate American breakfast and made a nice local breakfast.  Fruit, cheese, bread, crackers, eggs, jamon iberico, and joy!  It was delicious and everyone ate lots. 

jamon iberico in its natural habitat.  Lily thought it was disgusting they hung these big legs in the grocery store!  I loved the stores though, so many options even in tiny buildings. 

That evening at 6 PM, we watched Saturday morning conference... silly time change.  The kids enjoyed a quiet evening in and colored and worked on sticker puzzles. 

10/6 Sunday morning we left Sevilla.  We stopped to admire the new bridge in Ronda, completed in 1793.  "New" I do not think that word means what you think that it means. 

We couldn't find a restaurant... so we had fresh sliced sandwiches on fresh baked bread from a corner market and picked up these wonderful pastries.  The kids loved them!  Ronda was a beautiful stop on our drive to.. 

Cortes de la Frontera!  Beautiful mountain village, our house had this small pool... and so many stairs!  

10/7 Monday: Finn and Lily shared the third floor bedroom which had a patio. At 7:15 AM they came down to our bedroom and told us they were star gazing.  I went back up with them and was amazed at the dark sky.  Spain is on the far west of the Central European time zone, completely inappropriately if you ask me... and the lifestyle of the Spanish citizens, so at 7 AM it was still completely dark.  Hello Orion!

We decided to walk the town that morning to go find food. And instead found this mural by Pablo Picasso... then we went to the grocery store.    

This old rock house "Casa de Piedra" was located in the middle of the valley, just south of our village. Just pull over on the side of the road and hike down a narrow path to view this hundreds of years old home carved out of a rock. 

Melissa just loved all these bright white villages dotting the sides of mountains.  Think of the energy it would have taken to build these places hundreds of years ago!

The Castillo-Cementerio de Benadalid, an ancient cemetery on a cliff. 

Ok, are there any restaurants anywhere around here?  How about a little place in Benaojan?  Next to their Saints day celebration, with dancers and costumes?  OK, sounds good. 

Then a quick drive to Cueva del Gato, the cat's cave.  The water was cold!

But that didn't stop everyone from wading in.. and Lily from slipping and getting soaked!

10/8 We were planning to drive to Gibraltar today, but we needed a break.  We spent the whole day in Cortes de la Frontera.   Including this beautiful park... which is closed all day except 7-9 PM.  The gate was unlocked so we let ourselves in to play at noon. The caretaker of all the birds was feeding the animals and he let us play for about an hour while he worked.  Then he kicked us out. 

We had a very late lunch at Meson Los Monteros, after playing at another park next door.  The kids enjoyed Spanish olives and bread while watching yacht racing on the TV.  SPOILED! The food was great!

The sun setting on our last night in Spain, from the kids' third floor balcony.   We could have stayed in Cortes de la Frontera for another week.  This village and all of the area were wonderful.  Spain, we'll be back!

10/9 we drove to Malaga for our flight to England, enjoying this park and dozens of pill bugs on the way!