Sevilla Day 1 - The Cathedral, Flamenco ... and poop

We made it to Sevilla without incident. Getting to the hotel went rather smoothly, but there was no clearly marked parking at first drive by and no place to stop... we ended up circling a few times until we found a parkade across the street (go figure). We did our best to keep our cool (me driving, Mark navigating), but given our earlier day we were a bit grouchy. It probably didn't help that Mark was more used to driving and I was more used to navigating and our roles were reversed... but it did give us a good opportunity to see things from the "other side". 

The hotel we ended up booking was *right* in the centre of the shopping district and very close to the old town. By far it was the best located place we stayed. As a result the room wasn't as large as others, but it had everything we needed and was clean so we weren't complaining. The hotel didn't have free parking, but they had negotiated half off with the underground parkade across the street so it ended up being a spectacular deal. 

We were all getting a bit tired and traveled out. We particularly noticed it in Emily at the end of Jerez so we decided to take it easier. We were there for 2 full days and 4 nights. We picked 3 things we wanted to do in order of importance: Cathedral (it was the must see in the guidebook, the biggest in the world), Alcazar and Flameco show. We wanted to take it easy and try to ensure Emily got some good napping/sleeping in. In the end it was worth it... we had a great time in Sevilla and we are on our way to our last major city (Cordoba) feeling well rested and ready for the last part of our journey before we head home. 

We had a plan for our first day worked out in advance. We had picked out a place that was recommended in the book for Flameco shows, that had earlier shows (7PM) but you needed to get tickets early. We decided to head there first and then to the cathedral. After breakfast at a great cafe near the hotel and me having to change the first poopy diaper of the day and put her into her spare outfit as the Spanish diapers didn't do the job. 

Sidebar on changing diapers: As many people indicated most of Spain is not designed for changing babies. It is really rather ironic when you consider that they take their kids everywhere... so I am not exactly sure how that works. In the end, when we did need to use a public washroom I usually got stuck with the dirty work. Some women's washrooms (although very few) had a change table, some had a space on the counter that I could make work and others I had to use the floor. Mark claimed (and for the few I could see into he was right) that the men's washrooms were usually rather disgusting. Mark owes me LOTS of poopy diaper changes when we get back to Canada. 

We found the Flameco show place without incident, but were surprised when we were told we couldn't bring our baby! This was the first time this had happened during the trip. Slightly disappointed we headed to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is Sevilla is MASSIVE. It was a touch expensive (8.50 Euro), but I would say it is worth it. We started the tour with what was almost the highlight, Emily had her second poop of the day. Only this time (first time in all of Europe) the MENS washrooms had a baby change table. I sat outside on a nice bench reading about the upcoming things we'd see in the cathedral while Mark did the dirty work. We learnt another good lesson at this point in the trip... consider taking two backup outfits for Emily. Not only did Mark have to change her, he also had to do some laundry in the washroom. He did a pretty good job though... I wouldn't have spent that much time using soap and the hand dryer to get the outfit clean (you can tell which of the two of Emily's parents canNOT stand being the least bit dirty - this was demonstrated in the airport in Turkey when one of the poopy diapers leaked and the tinyest bit got on Mark's shirt... after changing Emily Mark headed off the bathroom to get it out (I suggested he just used a wipe, but he refused)... Mark came back looking like he had won a wet t-shirt contest). 

The highlight of the cathedral for me was seeing Christopher Columbus tomb. His remains have been transported to a number of places including Cuba before being located in the Sevilla Cathedral. 

Christopher Columbus' Tomb

Emily and Dad with the Minaret converted to a bell tower in the background

The view from the bell tower

After the Cathedral we decided to take a walk by the river and to check out a second place about a Flamenco show. You bought the tickets at a bar across the street and they said bringing our baby wouldn't be an issue. We headed back to the hotel for a rest before coming back for the show. 

Emily ended up having lots of good naps that day so we felt OK about taking her to the Flamenco show. We headed out and managed to get there 15 min early (as opposed to our usual 5 min late). We found a good spot close to the door so we were ready to run out in case she lost it. The show included an opening piano piece, traditional Spanish guitar, singing and flamenco. It was amazing. Definitely one of the highlights for both of us for the trip. Emily was a superstar. She started "talking" during the guitar piece so I quickly darted off with her to the wash room... it worked out well because she had pooped AGAIN!!! After that she just watched the entire show quietly. The Flameco was a bit surprising because of the noise, but she just stared at the dancers with her giant blue eyes. 

Flamenco, with guitar and singing in background

More Flamenco...

More Flamenco...

Emily watching the show...

In the end it turned out to be a fantastic day... one of the best we'd had in Spain. 

Happy Birthday Post... The good, the bad and the ugly

In the end I enjoyed my Birthday in Spain... although admittedly not everything went perfectly. Here is a recap of what I'll call the good, the bad and the ugly from the day.

The good (well actually the great): My first birthday with my wonderful baby and amazing husband (OK, I've had the amazing husband for a few birthdays, but together with Emily the day was spectacular).

The bad: I woke up feeling run down and not all that well. It could have been the fact that Emily really wanted to spend as much time with me on my Birthday as possible so woke me up every three hours starting at 1 AM.

The ugly: I got a speeding ticket. We decided to take a quick trip to Baena to check out the Olive Oil Mill and I was happy to do the driving... less happy once I got pulled over. A few tips I learned about driving in Spain. First, I recommend taking your license and/or passport with you if you plan on getting pulled over (well you should probably take them with you regardless if you plan on driving). Second, if you plan on speeding make sure you have enough cash to cover your ticket. If you are going say 75 in a 50 zone (I didn't see the sign and the guy before me was going that speed) it will cost you 150 Euros. If you have 149 Euros, it doesn't matter, they will still make you go to an ATM to get the one Euro. I thought about pointing out that when you add the gas to follow us there AND the lost revenue from catching the other speeders while they are escorting us to get money it would *more* than cover the 1 Euro... but I don't think my limited Spanish and his limited English would get us through that. In the end, not having my license or passport turned out to not really be that big of a deal... just took longer to look me up in the system.

Mom and Emily in Mom's new favourite shirt :-)

Emily and her Daddy!

At least I do think that I can probably make next year's Birthday a touch better :-)

Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Horses and Sherry...

The original plan for southern Spain did not have the Cadiz province on the tour. However, after buying our guidebook (in the airport in Manchester waiting for the plane to Malaga) we noted some neat things out that way that we'd like to check out. Based on the maps it seemed like it was somewhat on the way to Sevilla so we decided to add it to the itinerary. The big driver was to check out the Sherry tasting. 

When looking for a place to stay the options in Cadiz were *very* limited so we ended up staying in Jerez de la Frontera. This is the lesser visited of the three cities in the area. The advantage is we had an amazing hotel, with free parking for a spectacular rate. The downside there wasn't as much in the city. It had the standard cathedral and alcazar, but they didn't seem that significant and we had enough of those for a while so besides looking from the outside we didn't check them out. 

In addition to Sherry Jerez is known for its horse show/training facility. The shows only play on Tuesdays and Thursdays and since we happened to be there on a Tuesday we decided to take advantage. The horse show was neat, but not being big equestrian people it wasn't a huge attraction for us. I think we were slightly turned off as it was 21 Euro a person. I think it would be worth it if you were horse people, but it wasn't the best value for dollar for us. Having said that, it was neat to do/see something different. Another downside to the show is you cannot take any photos (even without flash). This too was a disappointment. They let us take Emily in, but we were concerned about the crying. She was a champ, but had a bit much at the end. So Mark missed a bit of the show so that she didn't have a melt down during the performance. The big thing about the show is the horses performing. They did interesting skipping and jumping and walking sideways... things that are not natural for horses. 

Emily at the show during "half-time"

The "zamboni"

Family Photo! (Mark too a Spanish couple's photo so he wanted to repay us)

As we only had one full day and two nights in Cadiz, we decided to do the other activity that brought us to Cadiz, Sherry tasking. We headed out for the last tour so Emily could get a good afternoon nap in the hotel. In the end, although we tried, she didn't end up napping great that day... we paid for it later. We had planned to go to the Tio Pepe tasting. That is the big one in the city, but we got lost and were late so when we came across the Fundador Bodega (another big one) we decided to stop for the tour. The benefit was a much more intimate tour.There were three brands at that Bodega. They are best known for their Harvey's Bristol Cream. One of the more interesting aspects of the tour was the tasting. They put 4 full bottles on the table gave each of the 8 of us on the tour a glass and said have at er. If you wanted to ensure you got your money's worth you could pound back as much liquor as you wanted. The Danes on the tour put in a good effort. Emily and I refrained (well I had a few sips of three of them and a little more of the Bristol Cream). Mark had more generous servings, and had the unfortunate requirement of finishing two large glasses of the least appealing Sherry, Fino - the Spanish women on the tour poured the first taste and the portions were a little too generous. As there wasn't a place to dump out what you didn't like, as there is on wine tours we have done in North America, Mark took one for the team (good thing I was carrying Emily that day). Some pics of the tour...

The following day ended up pouring rain. We decided to try to check out the Tio Pepe tour as well before we headed off to Sevilla. With getting the car packed and getting there were a couple of minutes late and they refused to let us join the tour late. Needless to say we were annoyed... our annoyance was probably amplified by the fact that they weather was terrible and we were rather wet... Well Emily was dry, I was slightly wet and Mark was really wet (coincidently Mark was also the most "annoyed"). 

We cut our loses, hit the Carrefour for some supplies (including a 10 Euro umbrella) and headed off to Sevilla. 

Ronda

On our last day in Nerja we decided to stay close to home and do some laundry. There was no self serve at the hotel and the services were *pricey* so we decided to do it backpacker style ourselves in the tub. We had laundry soap as we brought of Emily's along. The clean job wasn't fantastic, but it was better than nothing (besides I really needed socks cleaned... just ask Mark). Once we got all the clothes cleaned we realized that without the "spin" cycle on the washer the clothes could take quite a while to dry. Given they didn't dry with a spin cycle at the other places we were at in a day we figured we had a bit of a problem. Unfortunately it wasn't 29 degrees that day, but rather rainy and cold... but still windy. Surprisingly with the wind most things dried in the day! 

The next day we set out (relatively) early in the morning for Ronda. We were going to spend the day there before heading off to Jerez de la Frontera (near Cadiz). Again we got to Ronda without incident... parking was much easier as the lot was empty (perhaps because it was the furthest one from where we wanted to be), but it was OK because we had a spectacular day. Ronda was amazing and definitely up on our list of coolest sights in Spain. 

We started out with a quick walk across the new and old towns to a restaurant we found in the guidebook we wanted to try out. It was quite the hike particularly when we both had to go to the bathroom. In the end it was worth it. Once of the best places we have eaten at and such a great deal! 

After lunch we headed to the Cathedral. In the end, it wasn't really worth the 4 Euros. I'd say it was one of the worst deals in Spain. It was a Mosque that was converted into a Cathedral... this sounded cool, until we realized that almost EVERY Cathedral in Andalucia was a Mosque that was converted into a Cathedral.... and not much of the Mosque still existed. We thought we would see some spectacular art and old things... but it turned out much of what was in the church was done after I was born... not very old and awe inspiring. 

The only remnant of the Mosque in the Cathedral

After the cathedral we headed up to one of the bridges that crosses the gorge. All of the bridges had spectacular views. 

The view from the top bridge down to the second.

The view from the second bridge up to the top bridge.

After taking a number of photos from the top bridge we headed down to the Casa del Rey Moro. The guidebook says it was free... it wasn't. We paid the 4 Euros, but I was a bit reluctant. There didn't seem to be any other tourists there so I wasn't sure it was going to be a good deal. We walked around the gardens which were quite pretty, but not worth 4 Euro. We then headed down to the "mine" - the book said it was 300 steps... (we only counted 256). The walk down was sketchy at times. Emily was sleeping in the carrier so I had to haul her down. It was wet and dirty and the steps were not the best at times.

About 3/4 of the way down there was an opening and we could see out through a "window". At that point I was disappointed (one for going all the way down those stairs and two for pay 4 Euros each!).

Mark found a few more stairs down and I reluctantly headed down with him. I should note we only passed 2 other people coming up and the one looked like she was going to pass out. Needless to say it was worth it. THe stairs ended *right* at the bottom of the gorge and offered incredible views up. They had put this sketchy looking grate out over the water that you could walk on (good thing Emily couldn't run around). The views were amazing...

We even figured out how to use the timer to take a family photo! (Emily is under the blanket, trust me). When she woke up we took another one, but this was half way up. 

I was pretty proud of myself for carrying Emily both down and up the 256 stairs. In the end it wasn't even that bad. Here you can see the platform that we were standing on looking down from the top of the gorge. 

We finished off the day by checking out the Arab Baths. They were really preserved so it was neat to check out. (And they were free on Monday's, so that was an added bonus). 

After the baths we headed back to the car and onto Jerez. On our way to the baths we had to walk down a few other steps so Mark carried Emily. Here are the steps he carried her, compared to the ones that I carried to get to the bottom of the gorge.... note the difference...

Malaga - Driving and Parking

As promised here is the separate post about getting to and from Malaga. When we landed earlier in the week we stopped in Malaga - and actually drove quite a bit around the city in our attempt to get the Carrefour, but we didn't stop to take in any of the sites. Given how much we drove in Malaga you'd think it would have been easier to get around than say Granada, but it wasn't. 

I suppose the first problem was when we looked up car parks in advance we read "there are numerous car parks that can be found along Avenida de Andalucia" - in hindsight I think this is true if you are driving the *other* way along the road. Avenida de Andalucia is a neat street. It is quite large and it is divided by a rather large median which has green space and palm trees. On one side is a park and then the ocean. It reminded me of Los Angeles, it even had a guy working out in the park like Venice Beach... rather entertaining. 

We finally found a "P" for parking and jumped at the chance. The signs took us through a bit of windy road to a car park that seemed close to what looked like a fish market. We were behind another car waiting to enter. We sat there for probably 5 minutes behind this car unsure of why it wasn't entering the car park. Given our limited (non existant) Spanish we had no choice but to wait. At one point we wanted to leave and find another car park, but someone had pulled in behind us so this wasn't an option... we waited discussing what was going on. Convinced he was not a tourist given the vehicle, we figured he knew what he was doing.

Eventually a light (which we had noticed before, but were still confused as to why it was there) turned green, he took a ticket and entered. We did the same. We found a *very* tight spot and Mark managed to pull in without incident. Shortly after we noticed a number of cars driving back down the car park and we figured out what the lights were for. The car park was one way only! There is an operator that turns all the lights in the car park to green to let the cars out while holding the cars from going in and vice versa. It was a pretty neat system. It is a good thing that it was operated by a man as getting out of the spot was not as easy. It ended up being a 15 point turn to get out... it was a bit stressful as there was a car waiting... but Mark did a spectacular job (with some great directing by me and screaming from Emily) and we found our way out. 

We wanted to stop off at the Carrefour (again) on the way out of town to grab some things. Given the amount of time we spent driving around trying to get to this same Carrefour when we arrived we thought this would be easy (we didn't even have the iPad/GPS then). Thing again... getting to the Carrefour was easy enough, we only missed one turn and had to be re-routed... and by that time we had figured out the "round about, but not really a round about" part of the road. Getting out... another story. With some less than stellar directing by me and a few incidents of Mark not listening to me we ended up the wrong way a couple of times... in one case we ended up on the highway going back to the airport instead of back to Nerja... thankfully we had our trusty iPad/GPS which set us straight and we headed home. 

Malaga

I wrote a separate blog post about getting to and home from Malaga which I will post later. This is just about the city. Malaga isn't promoted as a major attraction compared to Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, etc; but we really enjoyed our day there. It probably helped that the weather was spectacular...

And that temp was taken at 5:30 PM!! A large part of the main downtown core is walking streets only. It makes getting around easy and very comfortable. The people there were so friendly and there were far fewer tourists. 

An early highlight was the "live" statues they had in the streets. Many were rather neat, but by far the coolest was this one (both people were real)...

We had lunch at what i would say is a traditional tapas bar. It was so busy, the waiters worked so hard and couldn't keep up. It was delicious. 

Our next stop was the Alcazaba. It is indicated as a "mini-Alhambra". Given we missed out on the Alhambra we cannot do a direct comparison... which is really too bad because we really enjoyed the Alcazaba. It cost 7 Euros for us all to get in. Again, it was not all that stroller friendly, but the guards let us leave it at the door and we put Emily in the carrier. This time Mark was on baby duty and I was on camera duty. Selecting pictures will be difficult for this post as we took a ton! A good part of the Alcazaba has been rebuilt, but they have done a really neat job of it. You can walk freely throughout the grounds and you can climb on the walls and everywhere... something I doubt you can do at the Alhambra (although it is probably original with less rebuilding). A few pics... if you want to see more we took a ton here...

After the Alcazaba we headed back to the Cathedral. Unfortunately our timing was a bit off and it was closing in 30 minutes. It was 5 Euros to get in (each) and we didn't feel like shelling out the money. I read after that it is not just a cathedral, but more like a museum as it has lots of artifacts etc. It would have been neat to see if we had more time. It looked massive from the outside. Again it seemed like the town was preparing for more Easter celebrations/festivals, but this time we decided to head out before they came. 

Cueva de Nerja

After a day touring around Granada we decided to stay closer to home and do some sightseeing around where we were staying. The big attraction around Nerja seemed to be the caves. We were rather excited to check the caves out. Although their "slogan" is "one of the most visited attractions in Spain" - we were still confident this would be a less visited attraction. I think the "one of the most" gave it away. 

The caves are a relatively recent discovery - they were found in 1959 by some school kids. The caves date back to prehistoric times. They have been used over the years by man and animals for a variety of functions. I think it would be an archeologists dream give the artifacts that are still being found in the caves. They have done a really good job setting up the caves for visitors. They have even created a little theatre in one of the big areas and they hold concerts there in the summer time. I think it would be an incredible venue. 

This was clearly not a stroller venue so it was a good thing we brought the carrier. I was on baby duty and Mark was on camera duty. We were not allowed to use a flash. However, Mark still got some really great photos!

Granada

Again, I am behind... I will post in chronological order on what we did. I have a few posts done, but won't be able to get them all up right away. First Granada...

After a day of rest and checking out Nerja we decided to head into Granada for some sightseeing. The drive was easy enough with our iPad/GPS. We made it to Alhambra without incident. When we arrived we learnt the most important traveling lesson yet. Check major attractions to see if you need tickets in advance! Turns out that the tickets for Alhambra were sold out until April 5!! Unfortunately by that time we are headed off in the other direction so we unfortunately we will not be able to see the Alhambra on this trip. We were quite disappointed, but were determined not to let it get us down. 

We headed into town to check things out. Today is the day Emily *really* started talking. She "chatted" all the way down the hill into town - and hasn't stopped much since then. She is practicing so she can compete with her cousin Anika. Nadia might not be able to get a word in edgewise with those two around!

After wandering without purpose for a bit we headed up the hill for the lookout spot that the guidebook said not to miss. Mark wasn't convinced it would be worth it, his reluctance could be a result of him having to do most (all) of the pushing of the stoller up the hill. This reminded us of Slovakia with the Sills - only quadruple the stairs and only two sets of adult hands to push/carry the stroller. Sills you owe us stroller carrying! The hike was worth it because the views of Granada and Alhambra was worth it. It was spectacular. 

Emily at the top sleeping as usual...

We then made our way (down the more used path which turned out to be much easier than my backwards way) to see the cathedral. It looked incredible from the outside... unfortunately it was not open. Given it was Ash Wednesday we figure it was closed for preparations. Outside the cathedral was bleachers set up and you could tell the town was getting reading for a festival. The guidebook indicated that today was one of the biggest festivals of the town. After some more wandering we noticed the street had been closed to traffic and people were starting to gather. We decided it would be worth the wait. Emily was sleeping in the stroller so we camped out near a fountain and waited. You could hear the drums in the distance and could see the cross being carried a ways away. We ended up waiting watching for a couple of hours it was really neat. Tons of locals came out to partake. 

Emily and Mom enjoying the parade. 

Following the festival we headed back up the hill to the car. The push up was easier than the previous stairs (but again, we thought of the Sills :-)). 

On the way home we stopped in at Nerja for dinner. We decided to check out Oliva - a restaurant recommended in the guidebook. If you are ever in this part of Spain you must check out this restaurant. It was spectacular. A little bit expensive, but for what you get it is a great deal compared to Canada. So good we headed back for another night.