Andalusia Day 5 - Granada

We heard that you need to book tickets far in advance if you want to visit the Nasrid Palaces in the Alhambra.  So as soon as we booked our train tickets back in the beginning of November, I went online to try and buy passes (horrible website by the way).  All the dates we were in Andalusia were sold out.  Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to visit the Palaces I decided to buy Granada Tourist Cards because there are some entrances to the Nasrid Palaces reserved for card holders.   Here is the website for the Granada Card http://granadatur.com/en/uplevel-menu/granada-card/what-does-it-include/.   Definitely more expensive, but if you are spending a few days in Granada it is probably worth it as it includes entrance to many of the major attractions.

Granada was about 1.5 hour drive from Casabermeja.  We got to the Alhambra about 45min before our appointment to see the Nasrid Palaces.  What we first noticed was that it was significantly colder than Málaga.  It felt like the temperature was below zero.  We had told the kids to dress warmly, but their concept of dressing warmly is usually a t-shirt and a hoodie.   First we walked through the Generalife which has a very large garden that would probably be really beautiful in the Spring or Summer.  Then we made our way to the Nasrid Palaces for our 11am appointment.  Even with an appointment, you still have to line up and wait to get in.  We stood in line for about 30 minutes and we were freezing.

It is still very cold inside the Nasrid Palaces so the kids were anxious to go through as quickly as possible so that they could find somewhere to warm up.  In the Nasrid Palaces, I really wished that I had a better camera and that I was a better photographer because the detail on the walls and ceiling is amazing, and my pictures definitely don't really do it justice.

After going through the Nasrid Palaces the kids were ready to leave, but Bob was able to convince them to keep going.  There is a lot to see at the Alhambra.  We visited the Palacio de Carlos V, and inside is the Alhambra museum which is really interesting and it was warm.  There is also an art gallery with a temporary exhibit.  We visited the Alcazaba which is a really impressive fort and from the top of the tower, we got a great view of the city of Granada and Sierra Nevada mountains.

After we had seen pretty much everything at the Alhambra, we headed over to the Parque de las ciencias (science park) in Granada.  Entrance was included with our Granada Card.  Ciara will tell you that the Parque de las ciencias was her favourite part of the trip.  All the kids really enjoyed themselves and Bob thought that it was the best science museum for kids that we have been to, and we have been to a lot of science museums.   Parque de las ciencias is a huge complex with several different buildings and tons of interactive displays inside and out.  We spent over 3 hours there and the kids probably could have stayed there all day.

View of the Alhambra from the Generalife 

Nasrid Palaces

El Cuarto Dorado

Patio de los Comares

Salon de los embajadores

Incredible detail on every wall

Sala de los Abencerrajes

Patio de los Leones

Sala de los Mocárabes

Fuente de los leones

Nathan needed to be just a bit taller

You can see the Sierra Nevada in the distance

View of Granada from Torre de la Vela

Alcazaba

Fun with mirrors at the Parque de las Ciencias

Cole grew some extra legs

Ciara with Marie Curie

Ciara took a picture of this turtle

And this butterly

The kids waited and waited for their chance to play giant chess

Rylan sitting on a functional chair

Giant House!

Ciara with Einstein

Giant Desserts from Granada!

Andalusia Day 4 - Torcal de Antequera

Dec. 29th, Monday, we headed to the town of Antequera, about 20 minutes from Casabermeja.  I was really excited to see El Torcal Nature Reserve and also the dolmens that are located just outside the city.  El Torcal Park is located in the mountains about 15 km south of Antequera.  It's a bit of a long and winding road to get there, but once you arrive, you will be amazed.  It's one of the most impressive and interesting landscapes I have ever seen.

The park spans 17km2 and there are several different trails that you can take of varying degrees of difficulty.  The kids loved climbing on the rock formations.  We saw lots of mountain goats, some kind of mountain cattle, hawks and other birds.  What was going to be a quick stroll through the park, ended up being a challenging 3 hour hike.  In my opinion, El Torcal was the coolest place we visiting in Andalusia.

After we left El Torcal, we wanted to visit the Dolmens (Megalithic mass tombs) that are located just outside of Antequera.  Note to those traveling to Antequera on a Monday, the Dolmens are closed every Monday.

100 million years ago, this whole area was under the sea.

Movement of the earth's crust created mountains and hills, but the limestone retained its layered formation.

Over millions of years, rain and wind chiseled away at the limestone creating amazing shapes.

The kids are in heaven with so many rocks to climb.

No fear

Curious mountain goat

We were surprised to find cattle just hanging around the mountain.

Cole taking a breather

We were lucky to come on such a beautiful day with clear blue skies.

Kind of feels like you are on a different planet

Andalusia Day 3 - Málaga

We headed into Málaga in the morning to attend church.   It's great to be a Mormon, because you know wherever you go, you can almost always find a ward to attend, and it's interesting attending church in  other countries and cities.  Of course there is always a nice sense of familiarity too.

After church we headed downtown to visit the Castillo de Gibralfaro.  Walking up the path to the castle you get a great view of the city and the coastline.  For those visiting Málaga on a Sunday, it's good to note that both the Castillo de Gibralfaro and the Alcazaba are free after 2pm.  We were impressed with the castle and it's well worth a visit, even if you have to pay.  After visiting the castle we headed down to the Alcazaba.

The Alcazaba was built by the Arabs in the 11th century and has a design similar to the Alhambra and other Arab forts found throughout Spain.  The kids enjoyed walking along the fortress walls and exploring all the different rooms.  Although the Alcazaba in Málaga is not as impressive as the Alhambra in Granada, you also have much more freedom to roam around, less crowds and you don't have to buy tickets months in advance.

View from Castillo de Gibralfaro

Walking along the wall of the castle

Looking down into one of the castle towers

Walls of the castle

Castle courtyard

Alcazaba - walking through the palace rooms

Alcazaba - window looking out towards the inner courtyard

Trying to get Cole to pose for a picture

One of the gardens in the Alcazaba

Another garden

Andalusia Day 2 - Málaga and Rincón de la Victoria

In order to get oriented, we decided to head into Málaga and visit the Tourism Office.  We have no wifi at the house, so we need to rely on old fashion maps and guides to help us get around.  The tourist office was very small and didn't have that much information, but enough to get us started.  We were planning on visiting the caves in Nerja, but due to lack of time, we opted to visit the caves in Rincón de la Victoria instead as they were just 20min outside of Málaga.

La Cueva del Tesoro is one of only 3 marine caves in the world, and the only one in Europe.  They have found remains and cave drawings that date back from the bronze age.  It is called the Cave of the Treasure because it was believed that Arabs hid a great treasure there in the 12th century.  Many have searched for the treasure, but to this date, it has not been found.  Treasure or not, it was a pretty cool cave to visit.  Our pictures really don't do it justice.

After visiting the caves, we headed back to Málaga to have some dinner and explore the city a little more.  The streets were really buzzing with people, street performers and venders.  We took a quick look at the main cathedral in Málaga and enjoyed the Christmas lights and outdoor market.

Relaxing by the port

Park in Rincón de la Victoria

Cueva del Tesoro

Teatro Romano in Málaga, you can see the Alcazaba behind.

Catedral de Málaga

You can see how crowded the streets were leading up to Plaza de la Constitución

Giant tree in Plaza de la Constitución in front of town hall

Going to Andalusia

We have been planning and eagerly anticipating this trip for months.  We left on Dec 26th at around 9:30am.  We all packed light, so that it wouldn't be too difficult to walk from our house to the tramvia, from the tramvia to the metro and then on to Sants Estacio where we would catch the AVE (high speed train).  The kids were pretty good about carrying their own luggage.  When we got to Sants Estacio, we found out that our train was cancelled.  No one from Renfe (Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles) seemed too concerned even though we would miss our connection to Málaga in Madrid.

So we sat at the station for an extra hour and caught the next train to Madrid.  Fortunately we were able to get on another train for Málaga right away, so we arrived only about an hour late.  We picked up our rental car, a neat little Fiat 500 L.  It was nice to be able to fit the whole family in such a little car.

We were to meet up with the owners of the house we were renting for the week at a gas station in Casabermeja, which is a small town about 30 minutes north of Málaga.  I thought it was strange that we had to meet up at a gas station and not the actual house, but after following them up the mountain to the house we quickly realized that we would never have found the house on our own, the road is not even on the GPS.

The house was the perfect size for us.  3 large bedrooms, two bathrooms, big kitchen and living room.  The only problem we found was the cold. These country houses don't have central heating, and basically no hot water (it got sort of warm).   Over night the temperature dropped below zero.  Fortunately they had heaters in each of the bedrooms and the beds were very warm.  There was also a heater under the table in the living room so we sat around that table every moment that we were not in bed, and we drank a lot of hot chocolate.

The next morning, we discovered the beautiful view from our house.  Bob even saw a mountain cat!

Waiting for our train

The country house we stayed in for the entire trip

There is also a huge swimming pool that we did not use of course.

View from the house

Another view

And another view

The heated table where we spent all of our time

Town of Casabermeja

Christmas 2014

Christmas is a bitter-sweet time for us as we are far away from our family and friends back in Canada, but we do get to enjoy Christmas in a different way.

First of all, we order all of our gifts through Amazon, so they get delivered to our family in Canada within a couple of days without us having to mail a single package.  This way I never have to go near any of the busy shopping centres here.

We also don't have to put up Christmas lights on the outside of our house. We always seemed to wait until it was freezing cold outside before we put up our lights, but you feel obligated to do so,  because no one wants to be the only person on the street without Christmas lights.

We don't have to entertain as much.  We usually have a big gathering at our house on Christmas Eve, but this year we decided to go downtown and look at the lights and the huge Nativity Scene that they put up every year in Plaça Sant Jaume.  We gave each of the kids a pocket full of change, so that they could give it away to whoever they wanted.  The kids really enjoyed giving money to every musician on the metro, panhandler they saw on the street and the guy selling tissues.

For Christmas dinner we had 10 guests and this year we served pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad.  I kind of enjoy not having to cook a big turkey with all the trimmings.

Right after Christmas we were able to travel through the South of Spain (Andalusia).  Which I will blog about later.