Friday
Another morning, another transfer to a new city. This time we drove to Granada for a couple of days. The weather has turned cold and rainy, so we’ll be a bit constrained by the weather for the next few days. We stopped for lunch in the town of Santa Fe, just outside Granada.
Our new hosts saved us a parking place next to the apartment, so we have a place to leave the car while we’re in Granada. The weather is chilly and wet, so we didn’t do much. The TI wasn’t helpful in getting tickets for the Alhambra, but we did start the walking tour of town and finished at the cathedral.
This fountain was where the Silk Road passed through and a stopping point for traders. Called a “caravanserai,” this is the last remaining one of fourteen in Granada.
Narrow little streets with shops lining both sides occupy the location of the original silk market, or Alcaiceria. While it was destroyed in a fire in 1850, it was rebuilt as a tourist market.
This cathedral is quite large and feels a lot more open than the larger one in Seville. Lots of gold work on the altar, beautiful side chapels, and even the royal chapel where Ferdinand and Isabella are interred. I think we’re about done with cathedrals this trip — it takes a lot to catch our attention. Cathedral fatigue is real! 😉
Saturday
We managed to snag tickets for the Alhambra this morning at midnight, so that was our plan for the day. Tour groups reserve a certain number of tickets each day, but if they do not sell them, the tickets will be returned to the website and available for purchase at midnight. Since this was a very high priority for me, we were glad that we got tickets!
The weather was cold and drizzly this morning, but we stopped at a bakery for breakfast items and hiked up the hill to the complex. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived, so we waited under the awning out of the rain a bit before getting in line for our timed admission to the Nasarid Palace.
The Palace was beautiful! I loved all the stucco relief carvings and the incredibly detailed ceilings. It is amazing to view and I can only imagine what it would have been like when it was new and painted in vibrant colors — red for blood, blue for heaven, green for oasis, and gold for wealth. Alhambra was the last bastion of Islamic power in Spain and was the center for their culture for several hundred years. It’s no wonder the palace is spectacular!
The tiling was incredibly intricate and it is clear that the Moors were masters in geometry and artistry.
Some of our favorite spaces were the Throne Room and the Courtyard of the Lions.
After the Reconquista, Ferdinand and Isabella demolished the mosque in town but they retained the Nasarid Palace. A later monarch built an additional palace next to this one to serve for public functions but still lived in the Nasarid Palace.
The weather cleared off a bit by the time we were done with the Palace, so we walked through the gardens a little. It was definitely getting busier with tour groups and uncluttered photos were harder to take. =) Once again, getting going early in the morning helps to dodge the crowds.
For lunch we tried to go to an Italian place, but they were full for lunch by the time we arrived. Instead we ended up at a Mexican restaurant around the corner. It was quite respectable! Definitely Mexican and not Tex-Mex, but it was tasty. The kids even got to share a fresh lemonade and it was quite popular.
The weather continues to be cold and raining off and on, so we spent the rest of the day at the apartment.
Sunday
Another wet and cold day, so we all slept in, ate a late breakfast and I made lunch at home. We even have some proof that school happened on occasion while we traveled!
In the afternoon, we all walked up to the viewpoint across from Alhambra to have a pretty view of the palace complex. The rain had mostly stopped, so we just had to contend with many many stairs and slippery steps!
We also tried to visit the newly built mosque, but it was closed to visitors while we were there. Caden has been really struggling with allergies, so he wasn’t up for much. Instead the two of us walked back to the apartment while Keller and Kamy went to a flamenco performance!
The flamenco performance had numerous performers — dancers, singers, and guitarists who swapped in and out during the show. At the end Kamy got to go up and dance too! Keller said the dancers were very passionate and flamboyant and they both enjoyed the show.
Monday
Since Caden is still feeling unwell, we went by a pharmacy to see if we could get additional medicine for his allergies. The pharmacists sold us more allergy medication, but highly suggested he visit a doctor to be evaluated. There is a pediatrician in Granada that could work us in that evening, so that became the focus of the day.
Meanwhile, we dropped into a little Italian restaurant, called Viva Maria! It is a one-woman show. The owner and chef and server are all Maria and she does a great job serving customers. The menu is one sheet of hand written items and circulates around the restaurant. It is clear her dishes are all made by her and made by hand. It’s like eating at grandma’s house! We shared a meat lasagna, a Mediterranean lasagna, and a spinach quiche, as well as two desserts. We were pleasantly surprised!
Later that evening, Caden went to the doctor. Still no infection, but his allergies are certainly taking a toll on his throat and nose. The doctor prescribed a ton of medications, including anti-inflamatory, cough syrup, nose ointment, ibuprofen as needed for pain, and anti-biotic just in case. We aren’t using all of it, but this Spanish doctor isn’t shy about prescriptions! Fortunately they were easy to fill at a local pharmacy.
Otherwise, we got packed up and ready to head out in the morning. We would have loved to explore Granada a bit more, but the combination of wet and cold weather with allergies negated most of our motivation. Oh well — that’s part of traveling!
Tuesday
For the next several days, we have made arrangements to house and dog sit for a family in La Herradura! A British family was in need of dog sitters to take care of their three dogs while they return to the UK for a family funeral. We were glad to help Rick and Lucy out, plus it certainly helped our overall budget by giving us free accommodations for the week. Win win!
Fortunately, the weather would greatly improve as we moved south and this week should be sunny and warm! Hooray!
We arranged to meet Rick in town and we would follow him up the road and into the hills above La Herradura. We stopped at a grocery store in advance, so we were stocked on food for the next few days. We wouldn’t have a grocery just around the corner this time!
Talk about a drive up! It takes a solid 10 minutes of driving up steep, twisty, no guard rail, one lane road to get up to their house. And it is a two way street! You just have to watch for other cars and someone’s got to give when you meet. It’s a bit harrowing and I was very grateful Keller was driving. He did a great job and we were certainly putting the car through it’s paces in first and second gear!
Once you get to the house, you’re rewarded with a stunning view though! It is way up in the hills and you can see for miles. You can even catch a bit of the sea. The internet guesses the elevation to be about 850 feet … so that’s a lot of climbing from sea level in a short time!
Our three charges for the week are Sunny, Fallow, and Olive. All three are very good dogs, but unfortunately Sunny injured his foot a few weeks ago and still has a boot on his foot and his head in a cone as needed. Poor puppy. Fallow is really sweet and mellow and Olive is sweet but super hyper in the morning.
Rick gave me a tour of the house and explained everything I needed to know while they’d be gone. It’s definitely an authentic country home, with short doorways (even I have to duck!), wonky doors, and rustic windows. We did make sure it had reliable internet, so Keller was able to work without too much trouble while we were there.
Later that afternoon, Rick dropped the kids and me off at the beach down in La Herradura for the weekly Worldschoolers meet up. I was hoping the timing would work out for us to go and play for a while.
There was a good turnout and the kids had a blast playing with other visiting families for a few hours. They hunted for treasures on the beach and created a little “museum” with their finds, including sea glass, sea shells, pretty rocks, and even a broken starfish. Meanwhile, I talked with several couples and we swapped stories and suggested places to go. Later that evening, Keller had a break between calls at work and came to retrieve us from the beach.
I cooked dinner back at the apartment, we put the kids and dogs to bed, and called it a night. Quite a change from Granada just a day before — both weather and location!
Wednesday
This morning the dogs waited very patiently until they heard me get up. Then they were ready to go! Caden is staying in a room without a door, so the dogs ran in and ambushed him awake. Oops! I’ll have to come up with a new plan when letting the dogs loose in the morning.
We ate breakfast and took the dogs for a walk down the hill. The views remain beautiful and the weather was lovely. The only “downside” is once you walk down you have to go back up! We were all huffing and puffing a bit by the time we made it back to the house.
Keller drove everyone down to La Herradura late-morning to check out the beach. The waves were quite a bit calmer than the previous day and the sun was out, so Kamy and Caden splashed in the waves a bit.
We initially planned on doing our big meal at the house, but we changed our minds and had lunch at Restaurante Nuevo Arenas. The service was very attentive and the food was tasty. Our favorite was a prok crostini — toasted bread, pureed tomatoes on the bottom, roasted red peppers, grilled pork tenderloin, a piece of brie cheese, and caramelized onions on top. It was fabulous!
Then it was back up the treacherous hill to the house! The dogs have an outdoor pen we can put them in while we’re out and about, so everyone behaved while we were gone. We took the dogs on another walk that evening, ate dinner, and caught the beautiful sunset. What a lovely place!
Thursday
I planned the dogs’ morning release better today, so they headed straight outside once I let them out, instead of waking up Caden. Better! They’re still a bit loud at times, but that didn’t seem to bother the sleeping kids. Once Kamy was up, the two of us took the dogs on a walk for 45 minutes. We’re used to walking a lot, but we’re not really used to the elevation changes!
I was out of groceries, so Keller took us to the next town over for more food. There is a large Mercadona there, so I was able to find plenty of options. I even found green curry paste!
The kids were clamoring to get in the pool, so after lunch I sat in the shade and supervised them while they splashed around. The pool was still quite chilly, so Kamy didn’t venture out past the stairs. Caden jumped in twice, at Kamy’s urging but promptly scampered back out. Brrr! The dogs weren’t phased by the kids playing in the pool — they just hung out with me in the shade and stayed warm and dry. 😉
La Herradura has been a good excuse for us to slow down a bit. It’s hard to travel and find the right balance between doing things and taking it easy. When you’re on the road, it is easy to feel guilty for doing “nothing” when you’re in a new place and paying for accommodations at the same time. This week has been much needed downtime and a chance to sleep in every day. We’ve enjoyed it!
Friday
For our last full day in this area, we headed west to the town of Nerja. The kids and I arranged to go horse back riding! Kamy and Caden love riding Patches with Oma in Colorado, so I was hoping they’d enjoy the chance to get on another horse. We booked a two hour ride, which included walking through some avocado groves and down to the beach!
Caden was on Saffy, Kamy rode Esmerelda, and I rode Maria. Our host kept Saffy on a lead line for the ride, but Kamy rode Esmerelda free the entire time! Caden was in front, Kamy rode second, and I followed behind. Caden’s heel position looked fabulous the entire time and Kamy did an awesome job with her posture and greatly improved during the ride! The horses were easy riders — not spooky but not “follow the tail in front of you” horses either.
Both kids did a great job and said they enjoyed the ride. Two hours was a bit long for their attention span, for future reference. 😉
Meanwhile, Keller went to the nearby Nerja caves. They were billed as some of the best in Spain, but I’m afraid after the Slovenian caves, these just couldn’t compete. There was a very large column, but that was the highlight of the caves.
We opted for lunch in town as well — Vitaliano, an italian restaurant right in the main tourist center. The food was tasty, though a little higher priced than we were expecting. The kids particularly enjoyed the seafood pasta.
We also walked down to the “Balcony of Europe” — a beautiful viewpoint along the coast. There was a pair of very old cannons there too, which were way past their prime.
Back home and back up the twisty road! This time we passed three (!) cars but were able to backup or wait at wider sections of the road fairly easily so they could pass. The dogs were very excited to see us and were happy to go on another walk.
We’ve been given approval to pick up any oranges from two orange trees near the house, so Kamy and Caden have collected any and all they can find. The oranges are delicious and Keller declares them the best oranges he’s ever had. They don’t pull into segments well, but they are super flavorful and juicy!
The rest of the evening was spent packing and cleaning the house to get ready to leave tomorrow. We’ve enjoyed our downtime in La Herradura and were happy to help Rick and Lucy with the dogs while they were gone.
Saturday
We were not in a hurry to get going this morning, so we all slept in a bit. Once I got up, Kamy and I took the dogs out for their morning walk. I’m sure the dogs are ready for their people to be back home so everyone can be back to normal. The dogs have done really well with us though, and Kamy and Caden love playing with them. We ran a load of laundry so all the sheets and towels would be freshly washed for our hosts’ return tonight. Around lunch time we packed up, locked up, put the dogs in their pen, and headed down the hill for the last time. Bye La Herradura!
We drove up the coast and finished the day in the town of Torreveija. We crossed paths online with another Worldschooling family who would be in the area and arranged to meet up at the beach that evening. We needed a stopping point on the road to Valencia anyway, so Torreveija was a good spot anyway!
We checked into our apartment, unloaded all our stuff, and then went down to the beach. We had no trouble meeting up with Sara and Johann and their two kids. Everyone was fast friends and the kids raced off down the beach to play! Kamy and Caden have had a harder time finding new friends at playgrounds in Spain, so they were glad to spend time with them at the beach.
The parents enjoyed the chance to visit with other travelers, tell our story, and learn about their journey as well. This family was from NZ and was spending 8 months traveling around Europe. They’re primarily house swapping for their accommodations, so we were very interested to hear about their experiences. Paying for accommodations is definitely the most expensive part of our travels, so we are open to considering other means of reducing this expense.
After saying goodbye to our new friends, we stopped at the grocery store for some basics. Most groceries are closed on Sundays, so while we didn’t need food for tonight, we will for tomorrow and when we arrive in Valencia.
Then we went to dinner at Da Mario. It’s clearly a tourist town because there are English menus and very recognizable dishes. However, we were pleasantly surprised at this restaurant! The menu prices were reasonable, so everyone got to pick out their own 3 course meal. If I were to classify the cuisine, I’d call it New American, which is a bit ironic since we’re in Europe, but it was tasty anyway. 😉
Back home and in bed — it was pretty late by the time we wrapped up dinner and made it home. Keller’s all about these Spanish hours, but it does push bedtimes back a bit!
Sunday
We didn’t have to hurry out in the morning, so we took our time and left the apartment about 11:30. We’re in a very quiet, nearly deserted neighborhood, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to practice driving a manual. Clearly we’ll have manual rental cars when we travel, so I need to learn this skill. The Peugeot is super forgiving too, so it handled me bumbling through the clutch and gears pretty well. After 30 minutes I wouldn’t call myself a professional, but I have the general idea and can drive one in a pinch if necessary. I just may kill it a time or three. And for goodness sake, don’t ask me to parallel park it on a slope! LOL!
I scoped out two Thai restaurants for lunch. The first was in this town, but when we arrived the restaurant was closed. Google has been inaccurate about so many places in Europe, it’s really not that reliable at this point! Especially about hours, though why this particular restaurant wasn’t open is unknown to me.
So instead we started driving up the coast to Alicante, where I’d located another Thai restaurant with good reviews. As we arrived, we realized that things were a lot busier in town than we were expecting! Then we remembered that today is Palm Sunday. We managed to park in a parking garage by the marina and then walked toward the restaurant.
On the way, we happened to come across the Palm Sunday procession! It was just getting started, so we were able to cross to the other side and watch for a bit. There seemed to be three kinds of groups — church members carrying the large floats, groups of people walking together, and brass bands. I particularly enjoyed the bands! They were loud and very brassy with a different type of trumpet than we are used to seeing. The sound was similar to what we heard from the band in Tarifa two weeks before.
The floats were very decorated and it was interesting to watch the people marching together while carrying the display. The floats we saw had at least 50 people carrying the weight! They stood very close together and held on to the shoulder of the person in front of them with one hand.
In the walking groups, there were many kids carrying palm fronds, women wearing black and black lace veils, and people in the traditional white hooded robes with pointy hats. (Incidentally, this tradition is where the KKK took inspiration for their robes.) It was honestly a little uncomfortable for Keller and me to watch, because there’s such a historic connotation that has been ingrained in Americans because of the KKK.
Lunch itself was tasty but a bit pricey for the portion sizes. Once we were back on the road, we finished driving to Valencia. Keller dropped us off at the apartment and then went to return the rental car at the airport. By the time we were all unpacked and settled it was getting dark.
We decided to head out and wander around the city for a bit. One of the major parts of town is the former riverbed for the Turin River. When it flooded badly in the 1900s, the city diverted the river outside of the heart of Valencia. Instead, they turned the former river bed into an enormous park with walking trails, playgrounds, and cultural buildings.
Nothing was open since we were wandering through after 8pm, but we were able to get a first glimpse of the park. I’ll save the photos for the Valencia post. And we found dessert. 😉
