Summer In Spain - Day 5

Stop 11 - Villajoyosa: We started our day off heading to Villajoyosa, a cute little coastal town known for their many chocolate manufacturers. The town was absolutely beautiful with narrow roads winding down to the beach and colorful fisherman's houses lining the boardwalk. We stopped and had lunch at a little cafe along the beach and enjoyed the smells and sounds of the ocean.

Stop 12 - Valor Chocolate Factory: With Villajoyosa being one of the major ports for cocoa beans from Africa, the small town at one time had over 30 chocolate manufacturers. These days it has only 3 factories but is still known to be the "Chocolate City" in Spain. Consequently, we figured that no trip to Villajoyosa would be complete without a chocolate factory tour. The largest of the 3 manufacturer's, Valor Chocolate, offers free tours throughout the day. We didn't make it in time for the English version of the tour so we did our best to understand what they were saying in Spanish. We were a bit surprised by how provocative Valor's ads were but really enjoyed getting to learn about their chocolate making process. And of course, the best part was the free samples at the end!

Stop 13 - Laguna Salada de Torrevieja: Just weeks before our trip I stumbled upon a picture of Laguna Salada de Torrevieja. When I realized that it was along our route to Cartegena, I knew we had to make a stop. The lake is actually pink due to a particular species of algae that resides in it. Maeli thought it was amazing and dubbed it, "Lake Pinkalicious." 

Stop 14 - Roman Theatre at Cartegena: You might think that a huge Roman theater in a city would be easy to find...but it wasn't. Although it's massive, the theater is nestled in the center of the city, surrounded by modern buildings. We were literally standing 100 feet from the entrance and had to ask someone where it was. We are always amazed to see how structures from so long ago can withstand the test of time so well. The kids loved walking up and down the stairs and Maeli graced us with a performance of "Let It Go" from center stage.

Stop 15 - Cartegena: We finished off the day with dinner at a corner cafe on the streets of Cartegena. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me personally. Getting to sit outside in perfect weather, in a beautiful city with my favorite people in the world truly made me thankful for this opportunity we have to make all of these special memories as a family. 

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Summer In Spain - Day 4

Stop 7 - Cariñena, Aragón Region: The next morning we got up and started our journey towards Valencia. On our way, we drove through the beautiful Cariñena, Aragón wine country.

Stop 8 - Gulliver's Park: Once we arrived in Valencia, our first stop was at Gulliver's Park - a giant figure of Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels made into a playground for kids. Although it was a bit hot outside, the kids had a blast climbing up the giant and sliding down his body and hair. A few of us may have gotten burnt going down the slides but it was well worth the pain.

Stop 9 - The House of Cats: After reading about the House of Cats online, we knew we had to add it to our "to do" list. On our way to the house we stopped at a little corner store and picked up a carton of milk. When we arrived at the house, the kids were excited to see that it was a tiny house their size. The detail on the house was amazing! With it's own little balcony and fountain, the cats have a beautiful private entrance to their house. The kids enjoyed pouring milk into the little fountain and peeking in through the door.

Stop 10 - Cullera Beach: We figured that the perfect way to end the day would be at one of Spain's best beaches. The weather was great, the beach was gorgeous, and the kids were able to run free in the water. When I asked Maeli later if she liked sleeping on her towel on the beach, she corrected me and said "We weren't sleeping, we were relaxing."

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Summer in Spain - Day 3

Stop 4 - Running of the Bulls: In order to save money on our hotel, we booked a hotel about a half an hour outside of Pamplona which meant we had to get an even earlier start the morning of the run. I was still debating whether or not to run because it had always been an item on my bucket list but as soon as we saw the crowds in the city, I knew there was no way I could leave Ryan with 3 kids under the age of 4 all by himself in those streets. As we began searching for a spot to watch the run, we quickly realized that there was no way it was going to be a pleasant experience for any of us if we watched it from the streets. It was obvious that the best place to watch was on a balcony above the race. We hadn't reserved a balcony but figured it was worth a shot to offer money to some of the owners to try and get a better view. The first woman we asked took pity on us with our "hoard" of kids and agreed to let us up for a discounted rate. 

Once we got up to the apartment, we had about 45 minutes to kill before the run started. We did our best to entertain our tired, hungry kids by pointing out all of the craziness going on below. Once the horns blew signaling that the bulls were on the street, the race was over before we knew it. The owners of the apartment had the race on tv so we could watch the race in its entirety - even when the bulls weren't outside our balcony. The apartment we watched it from had a pretty good location allowing us to see a good stretch of the run. After the run was complete, we watched the paramedics bring a guy to the ambulance on a stretcher. It was amazing to see all of the crazy reporters climbing on fences trying to get a good picture of the guy. 

The bull run was an item that we specifically planned our trip around and it was truly one of the craziest things we have ever experienced. The energy in the city of Pamplona was amazing and the bull run itself was an experience that we will never forget.

Stop 5 - La Rioja Region: After watching the bull run, we got a quick breakfast in Pamplona and started our journey towards Zaragoza. On our way, we took a detour through the La Rioja region which is known to be some of the beautiful Spanish wine country. It was amazing to see fields of grapevines for miles.

Stop 6 - Parque Grande, José Antonio Labordeta: Since we ended up getting to do all that we wanted to do at the San Fermin Festival the day before, we were able to get into Zaragoza earlier than expected. Randomly, we ended up eating lunch at an American-style mall and found a Southern California taco shop for lunch. While that may not sound exciting to most, having not had Mexican food in a LONG time, we were excited for this unexpected surprise. After the mall, we dropped our gear off at the hotel and headed to Parque Grande. The kids were excited to run free and explore the park. After exploring for a bit, we rented a 4-person bike and finished our excursion with some ice cream cones and duck-watching.

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