ESPANA

Where do I start??  We had the most wonderful time on our trip to Spain.  It is such a beautiful country, with wonderful history, scenery, food, architecture, culture, music, SANGRIA, and people.  Dave and I's motto while travelling is, "See and learn as much as you can in the least amount of time!" and we really accomplished just that!

We started our trip, flying into Barcelona for 2 days.  We were exhausted from the plane ride, but once on Spanish soil, our adrenaline kicked in and we were off exploring!  Over the next 2 days we must have walked 10+ miles.  There is so much to see and do, and the architecture is amazing.  I won't go into much detail in this blog but if you ever want to learn and see the "Picasso" of architecture, Antonio Gaudi is your man.  His work is amazing, colorful, and full of life.  I've never really cared much for architecture but his buildings are so unique one just can't help but sit there and star at his work.

After 2 days in Barcelona, we hoped on a plane for a short flight to Seville, in southern Spain.  Seville was completely different than Barcelona, as we were now in Andalusia, which they describe as more authentic Spain.  Seville was lively and raining, but that didn't stop us from exploring the Alacazar (Palace) and Cathedral, to wait out the rain.  We even climbed 34 flights of stairs to see the view from the top of the Cathedral bell tower, and was not disappointed.  The next morning we embarked on our driving portion of the trip and went to Arcos De La Frontera, a beautiful pueblo blanco (white village).  It was such a small, simple town perched on a cliff with the narrowest and steepest roads I've ever seen.  We had to tuck the mirrors in just to make it down some of the streets.  Next, to Jerez De La Frontera, where we went on a tour of s sherry bodega.  Jerez is the capital of the sherry making business, and while sherry isn't exactly our favorite adult beverage, the tour was really informative and interesting!  From there we drove to Cadiz, an awesomely beautiful really old white beach town.  Our tour of the city included a climb to the highest bell tower for views of the city, which were breathtaking.  Cadiz is arguably the oldest city in Europe and Columbus embarked on his voyage to the Americas from there.  To end the day, we drove to Gibraltar, U.K for a night on the ROCK!  We had to cross border patrol to get into the 3 mile wide country, which was a little strange but we arrived at dusk and couldn't see much so we headed out for a walk and too the casino, where we were winners!!!

Next morning we headed to the top of Rock, and we were among privileged who trespassed into the park before it opened and had it all to ourselves, pretty nice for stupid American tourists :) We played with some monkeys, had some amazing views of Africa, and enjoyed the early morning on the top of the rock.  Pretty cool if you ask me!  From Gibraltar, we headed to Ronda, which sits on top of a majestic gorge, plunging hundreds of feet.  There is a beautiful bridge spanning the gorge, which offered some dizzying views.  We then drove down the Costa del Sol to Mijas, which was a ritzy little pueblo blanco, with gorgeous homes and swanky shops.  After driving the the Costa del Sol we were stiff and and sore so we headed to Lanjaron for a massage and drinks from the fountain of youth.  Lanjaron is known for their special mineral healing waters and we drank up!  The massage was quite the experience, as they didn't speak English and the covered us in local olive oil, which supposedly has healing effects as well.  We felt refreshed and ready to go so we overnighted in Granada.  Of course we were up early the next morning for our tour of the Red Palace, the Alhambra.  This place was so cool, beautiful tile work, archetecture, impeccable grounds, and lots of culture.  We walked all around the city and ended the day with a Flamenco show and dinner, in the gypsy caves of Sacramando Granada.  Next morning we headed to Preigo de Cordoba, where we couldn't find the tourist office or read their crazy maps, and then to Zuheros, another pueblo blano in the mountains.  They have a really great castle surround by olive groves.  We then headed to our overnight stop, Cordoba, and toured the Mesquita, which is one of the neatest places I've ever been.  Its a combo Mosque/Cathedral with a lot of history and is so unique in all its character.  The next morning, we were off to Baeza for some coffee.  Baeza was a quiet little town, with loads of olive oil!  The next stop, Ubeda for some more olive oil and old architecture!  Baeza and Ubeda are sister towns that were really inviting and so very Spanish.  After a little breakfast in both towns, we headed to Consuegra to see the windmills of Don Quixote and then to Toledo for our overnight.  Toledo is surround by water and very hilly.  It's cathedral was totally decked out in gold and absolutely beautiful.  We could have spent an entire day in there but we had Tapas to eat and Sangria to drink, so we headed to the Jesuit church to do what else......climb another bell tower of course to relish in the views of the amazing city.  We had the best food and Sangria of the whole trip in Toledo, not to mention a hotel room which the AC worked superb!!  Most of the hotels in Spain didn't have the greatest of AC's and for those of you who know us well, Dave and I are always hot folks!  The next morning we drove to Segovia, to see some ancient Roman Aqueducts and toured the Alcazar, which also included a climb to the top of the bell tower.  Common theme forming eh?  From Segovia we headed to Madrid!  Madrid was a madhouse.  We stayed out by the airport and took a train into town and the moment we stepped off we were surround by what seemed like a million people.  It was crazier than NYC and after all the quiet little towns we visited we weren't prepared for the millions of people everywhere.  We walked to the Royal palace, got mixed in with anti-Lybia protest, some people tried to give us free hugs???, saw a guy steel a backpack, bought some wine, and then couldn't find a place to eat because there were too many people!  We almost gave up but we finally found a place and totally immersed ourselves in people watching.  Like I said...crazy town!  The last morning we slept in and headed to the airport Dallas bound!

This is the short version of our trip.  We did 19 cities in 10 days and had an absolute blast!!  We loved Spain and everything it had to offer!  We missed our boys and were so excited to see them when we got back - I think I must have given Paul and Joseph 1000 kisses each!!!  Thank you SO very much Pops and G for taking such good care of them!  I'd give you 1000 kisses too - you are so appreciated!