We left Sevilla on the 27th and headed to Granada on the AVE train (much faster train). We dropped our bags and headed out to lunch. After a nice siesta, we headed out to watch Spain play Portugal in the Eurocup. Granada is known for giving you a tapa when your order something to drink, but we opted for a restaurant with a table right in front of the TV. It was a perfect place for us and we stayed until the penalty round since the score was still 0-0 after overtime. We watched he shoot out in our room-it was intense! Spain won-whoo hoo! We were so excited!
Today, June 28th, we toured La Alhambra, which is gorgeous! Our guide was very detailed and I really enjoyed it. Tommy & Robbie were not as excited, but Andrew and I thought it was a nice visit. We didn't do much this afternoon, which was actually a nice change of pace. Tonight we are off to watch Italy play Germany to see who will play Spain in the finals. Tomorrow morning we are off to Valencia and hopefully some cooler weather. We are taking a bus and it will be an all day trip. We are really looking forward to catching up with our good friends, Marty & Susan Kaplan, who recently moved to Valencia. I blame Marty for my love of all things Spain because he brought me to Spain on a Westridge trip in 1987. He also introduced (although professionally) to Andrew. I owe him a lot, to say the least!
We joined the Woodberry boys and took an early train to Córdoba. It is about one and a half hours from Sevilla and is home of the famous cathedral, also known as La Mezquita. It is actually a cathedral that was built right in the middle of a mosque when the Moors were kicked out of Spain by the Catholics. The mosque was built on a Gothic church, which the Moors bought for a goodly sum as their population grew. It is incredible to see all of these cultures together in their architecture. It was a nice day that ended with some tapas that consisted of "Cola de Toro" or bull tail. The boys told me that it tasted like pot roast, but different. Hmmm? I still do not eat red meat, so I have to take their word for it. We came back to Sevilla and I have started to pack us up and do some laundry. We had a lovely dinner as a family at Viñeria San Telmo.
Hanging Around Sevilla!
We spent a couple of days doing things around Sevilla. The Payettes will be leaving us soon to head back to Madrid and the States. On Thursday, we headed over to the park and played soccer and fed the pigeons. Wow! What an experience. They were on our heads and hands just waiting to be fed. It was scary, but the kids loved it. It was hot day, so after lunch we took the kids to Alameda de Hercules to play in the fountains. Dinner was at La Azotea-my favorite! Andrew took his group to Cádiz and Jerez all day Friday, so the boys and I were on our own. In the morning, I "dragged" my boys to the Casa Pilatos and stopped off at the Covento De San Leandro. The nuns in the convent are cloistered, but sell candies to the public via a "lazy-Susan." It was hard to find, but we managed to buy a box of their well-known yemas, which are sweets made from the yolks of eggs. They put the sweets on the lazy-Susan and you take it and leave your money. It s all based on trust. We then visited Casa Pilatos, which was beautiful! We came back to the apartment, but managed to pick up some New York pizza on the way home. The picture tells the story---the kids loved it! Amy and I spent a little time shopping and we took the kids back to the park once it was cooler. We went on the bikes again and even rowed boats at Plaza de Espana. It was harder than it looked, but the boys really worked together. I don't have pictures of the boats because I was too busy making sure that we were not just spinning in circles!
We spent the whole day going to the beach in Bolonia, Spain. It was about 3 hours away by bus. It was beautiful, but so windy. Luckily, I did not bring my camera because it would never have recovered from all the sand. Andrew has a few pictures from his camera phone. We enjoyed climbing the dunes and the boys, of course, played soccer. The Woodberry boys are so great with them. Tommy and Robbie enjoy all of them and love getting to know them on this trip.
The boys and I went to the Plaza de Espana and explored the Museo Militar (Military Museum). It was really well done and well worth our time. Plus, it was free! We left the museum and decided to rent the tandem bikes that we had eyed int he Parque Maria Luisa. It was a lot of work for Mom, but we had fun seeing other parts of the park. We found Plaza America, which is famous for its pigeons. We met up with Andrew and had lunch at La Eslava-another great place to eat. It was a wonderful day with my favorite guys!
We started our day on the right foot-churros. I was told that when the King is in town, he sends someone to get him churros from a stand by our apartment. We found the stand, although it does not have a sign or even a name. We bought a half kilo. of churros (they don't do chocolate). Yummy! My boys and I agreed that they were great, but we need a little chocolate with ours. Personal preference, as these were really delicious. We walked back over to Parque Maria Luisa, so we could spend some time at the Plaza de Espana taking pictures of all the tiled benches that represent all of the provinces in Spain. We cut through the old tobacco factory, which is now part of the university. It is a really interesting building with an incredible history. It housed the tobacco from the New World, which was treated like gold. The building even has a moat. Once at the park we ran around taking pictures and enjoying all the tile work. The park is huge and if you keep reading this blog, you will find that we come here a lot. We had to rush back because Amy and Tom were joining the Woodberry group for a wine class. I stayed in town with the kids. We had fun playing soccer in Plaza Nueva and then we went food shopping. I asked them want they wanted and they chose jamon iberica (fancy Spanish ham) and manchego cheese....good taste. We had a great lunch of pasta, ham, cheese and popsicles. The kids enjoyed a lazy day together playing on the ipads and computer (school math games, in fact) and playing cards and hide and go seek. We rested and geared up for a night of flamenco at La Casa De Memoria (Andrew's friend, Ana Real, was the singer) followed by a dinner at A Medina for amazing Moroccan food. Long day-good friends, delicious food and rich culture.
We spent the day visiting the cathedral, climbed the tower, toured the Alcazar (royal palace) and enjoyed the beautiful gardens. It was a little cooler, which made the outing easier on the whole group. I especially enjoyed the ceramics exposition. In the afternoon, I took the kids to play in the plaza and went shopping with Amy and Andrea. It is so fun to shop here! Although this entry is short, it was a full day of taking in the sights of Sevilla.
