Summer In Spain - Day 8

Stop 22 - Plaza de Toros de Ronda: As we spent the morning walking through Ronda, we ended up stumbling upon the Plaza de Toros. Having heard that it was one of the oldest bullrings in Spain, we figured it was worth a look. Walking into the ring and seeing the stadium of seating was such a cool experience. Milo ended up getting stung by a bee while in the stadium, but Maeli was happy to make him feel better with a few twirls in the center of the ring.

Stop 23 - Puente Nuevo Bridge: Ronda was a beautiful town filled with stunning old buildings and plenty of side streets to explore. As we made our way through the town, we couldn't pass up a chance to see the popular Puente Nuevo Bridge.

Stop 24 - Fields of Sunflowers: After grabbing a quick lunch of bocadillos (baguette sandwiches - we pretty much ate these for every meal while in Spain), we headed off towards the White Villages. On our drive we discovered miles and miles of sunflower fields. Seeing Maeli walk through the rows of flowers towering over her was quite the sight to see.

Stop 25 - Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos: Driving the route of the white villages was easily one of our favorite parts of the trip. Driving through the beautiful Spanish countryside and coming around the mountains to see the white villages glimmering in the sun was one of the coolest things we've ever seen. Each village had its own unique charm and distinct identifying characteristics.

Zahara

Grazalema

Espera

Stop 26 - Arcos de la Frontera: Our final stop of the day was in the beautiful town of Arcos de la Frontera. Being one of the most talked about of the white villages, we had high expectations for our visit. Although we were a bit skeptical as we drove into the village, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of the classic narrow streets winding through alley after alley of stairs and towering churches. After exploring the streets for a while, we ended our day with a dinner of tapas on a beautiful street corner. As we were finishing our dinner, a bride walked by in her white dress. Maeli pointed her out and said, "Mom, look! A princess!"

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Summer In Spain - Day 7

Stop 19 - Casares, Malaga: We started our day off driving to the beautiful white village of Casares. Coming around the mountain and seeing the village set on the hill was one of the most breathtaking views we saw in our time in Spain. And when we got into the village, it was even more beautiful than we expected. Of all the white cities we saw, this was by far the most charming. Everything about this village was perfect! The streets were immaculate, the people were friendly, and it was small enough to make you feel as though everyone in the town knew each other by name. It was EXACTLY what you would picture one of these white villages to be like. We parked at the bottom of the village and wound through the narrow streets up to the main square where we enjoyed a quiet lunch outside under a shaded patio. This was another one of my favorite moments of the trip. After lunch, we cooled the kids off with some popsicles and strolled through more of the village on our way back to the car.

Stop 20 - Rock of Gibraltar: After Casares, we headed down to Gibraltar to drive to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. On our way to the top, we stopped at the "monkey den" to visit with the infamous havoc-wreaking Barbary macaques. The kids were SO excited to be able to walk right up to a monkey - especially since there were several small baby monkeys among the group. After visiting with the monkeys we headed to the top of the rock where we were able to see Africa in the distance. On our way back down the mountain, we stopped to see another group of monkeys. When I was leaning down, one of the monkeys stole my water bottle. When I tried to get it back, two of the monkeys lunged at me and grabbed my arm. Although I was laughing, the kids got totally freaked out and began crying. We decided it would be best to say goodbye to the monkeys. Needless to say, we never got our water bottle back...

Stop 21 - Costa Del Sol Beaches: On our way to Ronda, we made a stop at the Costa Del Sol beaches. We made it to the beach between 5 and 6pm so the sun was lower and the beach wasn't quite as busy. As the kids began to play in the water, we quickly noticed that the beach had tons of small hermit crabs near the shore. We ended up spending the rest of our time collecting them in our buckets. I'm pretty sure the kids thought it was one of the funnest things they did on the trip. Time after time we continue to discover that the best parts of our trips are the unplanned, unexpected things we stumble upon.

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Summer In Spain - Day 6

Stop 16 -  Mar Menor Beach: We started the day off at the Mar Menor beach which is situated on a unique sea lagoon off a narrow peninsula. The water was calm with only about 2 feet of water making it the BEST beach we've ever seen for kids. Truthfully, our kids probably could have played at this beach the entire 9 days if we would've let them. Soon after arriving at the beach, we discovered a small shop where we rented a stand up paddle board. We took turns taking the kids out on the water which they absolutely loved. It was especially nice for us since the water was so shallow, the kids could easily stand up in the water if they happened to fall.

Stop 17 - Alhambra Palace: Sadly, we had a busy day planned so we had to cut our time at the beach short and start on our journey to Granada. Upon arriving in the city, we headed to the Alhambra Palace where we explored its decoratively designed halls and gardens. The palace was one of the most unique, detailed buildings we've ever seen (and we've seen quite a few crazy buildings in our time in Ireland). The kids especially enjoyed running through the halls, gazing at the goldfish in the ponds, and stepping over the many streams running through the floors of the palace.

Stop 18 - Albayzin District: After exploring the Alhambra, we dropped our gear off at the hotel and walked over to the Albayzin District to grab some dinner. The district is the old Arab quarter facing the Alhambra and is a collection of narrow, winding streets populated with vendors and small shops. It was cool seeing streets filled with the colorful stalls and the mix of the Spanish and Arabic cultures.

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