The Best For Last

Here we are, ready to leave for the airport in 6 hours. We had a great time! 

Today was the perfect day. The wether was spectacular. We ate lunch outside at the shops on the pier. Check out the selfie I took using the reflection from the overhang of the building as we sat on the patio underneath. 

We also visited Park Guell which was such a unique place to see! Some really interesting sculptures and architecture...and breathtaking views of the city.

Then at night we visited a Tapas bar. It was a tiny little place with room for no more than maybe 25 people at a time. But it was hands down the best meal we've had during the trip. It was also the first "traditional" tapas bar versus the others that were mostly just restaurants serving small portions the way we get tapas in the US. Apparently the *real* way is that it's literally a bar (like a sushi bar) and there's no menu, you just point to what you want - everything is on plates on the bar. Everything we tried there was amazing including the sangria!

And then we came back to the hotel, finished packing up, got Naina to sleep, and Amit & I sat down for a final drink before we wake up in a few hours. A perfect day to end a wonderful trip. 

Back to Barcelona

We're back in Barcelona and winding down as trip nears an end... Tomorrow is our last day here :(

We're planning to have a shopping filled day - can't wait!

Today was mostly about traveling back here (btw we finally got our laundry back this morning!). Once we got here and dropped our luggage off in the hotel, we headed out for some strolling, shopping and dinner. 

Our hotel this time is even nicer than Le Meridien! We got a couple of glasses of champagne at check-in, the room is fancy and the hotel bar is über nice. We wound down the evening with a couple of cocktails there tonight after we got back from an evening around town.

"Happy"

Rum & Cokes (this time Pepsi) are mostly rum here. All this for usually about 5-6 Euros which is about maybe $7-9 I think. At this moment it's the happiest 2:02pm of my life ;-)

Road trip!

My sixth sense has failed me. I thought for sure that Grenada was going to be perfect. I had pictured us smiling for pictures and gazing pensively at the architecture during a visit to the Alhambra. Wrong.

First - you're supposed to buy Alhambra tickets in advance online. Several people told us that there are a fixed number of tickets also available for same day purchase - you show up there and it's first come first serve. We knew many people who got tickets this way especially around this time of year. 

We weren't sure which day we'd be in Granada since we were hell bent on being "flexible" about every days' plans, so we decided this was the game we wanted to play too. 

Two days ago we had planned this day trip, but it's 2.5 hrs from Sevilla and we needed to leave by about 8am which meant a 6:30 wakeup. Well - of course that is the one night when jetlag decided to rear its ugly head and we both laid wide awake in bed till...you won't believe it...5am!! So we quickly ditched the Grenada trip and rescheduled it for today.

Today had its problems too. For starters, the laundry place where we dropped our clothes yesterday didn't actually get around to doing the laundry. And they don't speak a lick of English. So we lost some time before we even left and headed out on the trip. (Tomorrow's update will let you know the fate of our laundry - we are all completely out of umm...important garments...so things are getting really interesting now!) :-@

Finally we hit the road. It was an eventful ride and we enjoyed seeing the countryside. Not much between here and Grenada so we just zipped right along and got there by about noon. Headed straight to the Alhambra to get our tickets so we'd know our assigned entry time.

We stood in the not-too-long but incredibly slow line. About 20 minutes and 5 steps later they announced that the day visit tickets were sold out and only night visit (after 8pm) and gardens were available. So we thought OK, we're here, let's at least see the gardens even though it's the dead of winter. 15 minutes and 3 steps later, the announcement notified us that the gardens were sold out, reminded us that tickets are only sold for same day visits so tomorrow was apparently not an option. We were super disappointed to not make it into Alhambra!

We ended up spending the rest of the day shopping in Grenada's Centro (old town downtown) and got back to Seville around 9pm. It was such a cute area and streets and streets of stores. We mostly window shopped, bought a couple of things, and had a pretty enjoyable afternoon.

Our treat for the day - chocolate cake in bed at the end of a long but what turned out to be fun day!

I heart Seville

So the weather cleared up and wow - what an amazing city! We are feeling very European right now (except our inability to communicate with 90% of the people around us). The architecture is breathtaking - especially all lit up with Christmas lights. 

Naina was super excited to see a Flamenco show and Sevilla is known for it so - we went to one. Let's be real and call it a glorified tap dance. But ok, the show wasn't bad and N was mesmerized. 

We did some "lite" shopping today and Amit has promised that I can really focus on it after tomorrow's day trip to Granada. :-) 

The really amazing thing here is how kid friendly everything is. It's almost too much so. At every random turn, there's some kids' land mine - a jumpy house, a pop-up carnival, a balloon selling dude, some fake rideable "ponies" that double as strollers, a ferris wheel...the list goes on. We're having our fun so we let N have a little fun of her own today too.

Naina's having a ball - and not just because of the rides :-) We're trying not to drag her into museums and instead sticking with more interesting (for her) places. She's intrigued by the gardens, castles and fortresses that we've seen, and even seems to be enjoying some of the amazing architecture and the general vibe in these cities. And she's asking every day when we'll get to go shoe shopping. So am I.... :-)

Rainy Seville

Remind me not to compliment the weather. As soon as I mentioned the "great weather" in my last post, the next morning greeted us with cold winds and rain that followed us all the way to Seville.

The drive to Seville was short - 90 mins. We checked in to the hotel which didn't quite meet expectations so this morning's first task was to check out 3 nights early and check in someplace nicer. So...Hello Novotel. 

Once we were settled in at the new hotel, we didn't let the weather stop our exploration of the city, but it did result in adding some new cold weather accessories to Naina's closet.

Tomorrow we are heading out on a day trip to Granada where I am on a mission to buy shoes...just cuz. And we are planning to visit Alhambra. It's a 3 hr drive so we've set our alarms for 6:30 am (wish us luck with that wake up!). For anyone who's wondering we stayed true to form for this trip and again woke up at 10:30 this morning. Getting back to reality when we get home is going to be a rude awakening...literally :)

Top of the morning?

We seem to have some sort of vendetta against the mornings here. We again woke up past 11 this morning and missed visiting the stadium. All we had time for was showers, packing up, a quick bite and it was time to catch our train to Cordoba. Not to worry - there's a day and a half more in Barcelona at the end of the trip so still plenty of time for the rest of sights on our agenda!

Naina's favorite part of the train trip to Cordoba was that there are no rules like there are on planes - she got to keep her tray table open all the time, no seatbelts, and she should walk around as she pleased. 

The hotel in AC Palacio Hotel in Cordoba is super nice and perfectly located immediately across from "the wall". We wandered around the old town (aka other side of the wall), had a wonderful dinner, and took a late night photo-opp walk to the Mosque Cathedral (is it a Mosque or is it a Cathedral you ask? Well it's both! The cathedral is IN the mosque.) and the Roman Bridge.

Tomorrow we are planning to wake up in time for breakfast !!

Then we'll check out the highlights around town, rent a car, and drive to Sevilla.

The weather has been great btw. A nip in the air at night but that just adds to the holiday ambiance that's all over town. Three cheers for the "off season" so far!

Paella, Sangria, and Cold Meds...yum!

Thanks to the immediate onset of jetlag last night, we all woke up at nearly 11 this morning! By the time we showered and left the hotel it was getting close to 1pm. We wandered around some small lanes in the Gothic Quarter and ate at a small cafe en route to the Cathedral. 

We walked a lot today - but I still didn't manage to cross 13,000 on my FitBit. Maybe if we can wake up a tad bit earlier tomorrow...

Tonight's first dinner was around 5pm and was a delicious paella which we washed down with a lot of sangria (but we probably could have had more). Second dinner was tapas around 10pm and this time a lot more sangria. Aahhh, this is what a vacation feels like!

Unfortunately Naina's cold is pretty bad, and mine is improving albeit slowly...so we've become familiar with the local pharmacy already. But still having fun (with our pockets full of tissues).

Tomorrow's plans include seeing the soccer stadium and taking the train down to Cordoba. 

Day 0.25 in Barcelona

We learned something today. Four and a half year olds don't particularly enjoy 10 hour flights. About an hour in, Naina was not a happy camper. Add to it her congestion and clogged ears, and jeez were we ever so happy to land in Barcelona! She (and therefore I) didn't sleep more than maybe an hour on the entire flight. Amit was awake for maybe an hour during the entire flight :-). 

Finally in Barca and Le Meridien as always doesn't disappoint. It's right on La Rambla which is buzzing with activity and lit up beautifully for the holidays.

We were exhausted from the travel (I'm sporting a cold too) so we showered, stepped out for tapas & wine, and headed back to sleep after a short exploratory walk on La Rambla.

Not sure what we'll do tomorrow...

What's this? Another year gone by?

Well, here we are - December 2013. It seems I only blog in the first half of each year anymore...
So much has happened in the 18 months since my last post, but I'll fast forward to the fun stuff that will surely keep you coming back to read more... We are headed off to Spain in just over 2 weeks.  The plan is a couple of days in Barcelona, and then take a train down south, then spend the rest of the time driving around from city to city. 

So...stay tuned...exciting trip updates will start on December 21 when we land in Barcelona!