ESPANA!

Well, we survived! And Spain was AMAZING. We loved every minute there, and Maya was the superstar toddler of America. We expected the worst, but she tricked us and even on the long 10 hour flights there and back she was wonderful.

We visited 5 cities: Madrid, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, and Segovia. And each city had unique features and things we loved. The countryside in Spain is simply gorgeous. Big, rocky mountains and rolling green hills. We rented a car, and thought we would get so lucky to have a little european car, and they gave us a ford focus! I'll give you some highlights of each city.

MADRID: Since we are somewhat cheap people, and Madrid is a very expensive city, and the dollar has no value whatsoever, we decided to stay in a little hostel. We arrive at the hostel and find that we have to CLIMB 4 flights of stairs to reach the hostel. Already it's 8am in Madrid and we haven't slept the night before, we were on the airplane, and Maya is in her jogger. So Evan and I with bags on our backs haul Maya up the 4 flights of stairs only to be told that the people staying in our room will not be out for 4 more hours. The number 4 is the lucky number at that hostel, 4 flights of stairs, 4 hours til we can even get in the hostel. And the hostel was about 10 x 10 and LOUD. Evan kept reassuring me that this was the most "un-nice" place we were staying! But, in Madrid we discovered something so delicous- churros and chocolate. Melted semi-sweet chocolate, which tastes so much better outside the U.S., and you dip a churro in it. It's the most delicious treat. We saw the King of Spain's castle, the Plaza Mayor, and loved the architecture there.

GRANADA: Granada is 2 hours south of Madrid and is near the Sierra Nevadas, which still had snow on the top, reminding me of the west. So lovely. We toured the Alhambra, ate chocolate filled croissants each morning, and ate the best lebanese food, and most wonderful dinner we had in Spain. We had the unfortunate event of getting lost until a nice man named Miguel got in our car and directed us to our hotel. Bless this man. By saying man he seems old, he was only about 20 or so. He got out of the car, and I was still holding onto his jacket, saying how grateful I was in my limited Spanish and trying to pay him.

RONDA: Little white mountain village. The drive to Ronda was the most beautiful drive in Spain. We saw the Mediterranean, and the mountains were majestic and the the valleys were green and lush. Ronda still has many of the streets in cobblestone, and was built over a canyon. It had great shopping, wonderful tours and we even took a little carriage ride there.

CORDOBA: We didn't love this town, too many people and too touristy, but it holds the Mezquite, which was a muslim mosque that had been taken over by the catholics and was now a cathedral, very impressive. It's known for it's red and white arches inside.

SEGOVIA: Wonderful! A little village up in the mountains north of Madrid. There is a castle there, which the castle in Sleeping Beauty was rendered after. We were able to stay in a hotel right on the main plaza, and eat chocolate croissants and churros and chocolate as well. We ate delicious crepes, and toured the castle. We loved this city and were happy it was our last stay.

It was great to go, and we were a little sad to come back to the ghetto, but we were so happy we had the chance.