Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

This morning we woke up to a beautiful view from our window at the parador

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

The parador had a beautiful indoor courtyard

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

We drove north to Sevilla where we first stopped at the Plaza de España

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

Next was a stop for churros con chocolate!

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

A short walk brought us to another restaurant where we ate lunch.  Food seems to be a running theme in Spain!

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

It was time to say goodbye to our travel companions, but not before we took the best picture of the trip!

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

We checked in to our hotel for the night, the Casa de Imperial, which was a great hotel in the city center but on a quiet street and very large rooms.  The hotel was built in 1560 as the steward quarters for the adjacent Casa de Pilatos, a stunning palace built for the Marqués of Tarifa (they are connected by an underground passage).

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

Next was a visit to the Alcázar de Sevilla, a wonderful example of mudéjar architecture (my favorite)

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

Next door is the Cathedral of Sevilla and La Giralda, a former minaret that was converted to a bell tower

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

We walked north all the way to the Macarena district. It was a dreary day but it was nice to see more locals milling around.

From Spain 2013 Day 4--Sevilla

That night, we ate tapas at a restaurant that specialized in vegetarian dishes.  We had more Salmorejo.

To see all of our pictures from day 4 click here.

Spain 2013 Day 3--Conil de la Frontera and Vejer de la Frontera

On our way out of town today we passed by a cute children's clothing store. This picture is not that great but it shows you how people dress their children in Spain--very dressy! Children are daily in what we would call our "Sunday best". Ricardo said in Bilbao (where he is from) they dress up even more! A lot of these clothes remind me of how southerners love to dress their kids. Smocking anyone?

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

We drove south to the seaside town of Conil de la Frontera. It was very windy (LeeAnn I stole some pictures from your blog)!

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

You'll be seeing a lot more of photos like this. Flower pots hung on the walls are everywhere in Andalucia. We are planning to steal the idea and bring it to our backyard!

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

After stopping for more Salmorejo, we drove to the nearby town of Vejer de la Frontera where we saw the two sweetest cats trying to stay warm (it was unseasonably cold)

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

A nice view of Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

We had lunch at an excellent middle eastern restaurant that LeeAnn and Ricardo had been to before, El Jardin del Califa.

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

When we were done with lunch, the sun had come out!

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

One of my favorite pictures of the day:

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

That night back in Arcos, we had tapas at the Parador (more Salmorejo and my favorite in Spain, Croquetas!)

From Spain Day 3--Conil, Vejer de la Frontera

To see all of our pictures from day 3 click here.

Spain 2013 Days 1 and 2-Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

We traveled to Spain in April 2013 to visit our friends Ricardo, LeeAnn and their new baby girl, Carolina!


Chris and Carolina were fast friends

From Spain 2013 Day 1--arriving in Madrid

The first day we arrived was time to rest and catch up. On our second day we planned to drive south to Andalucia but first we started with a delicious breakfast that was our introduction to Nocilla, a Spanish hazelnut spread that is my new favorite treat!

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

Our first stop was the town of Cáceres. We had a nice lunch overlooking the Plaza Mayor

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

Azulejo's in Cáceres (painted tiles)

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

After a leisurely walk around town, we drove south to our destination for the next two nights: Arcos de la Frontera, one of the "Pueblos Blancos" (white towns) of Andalucia. Our hotel was the Parador de Arcos de la Frontera. Parador's are historic buildings such as convents and palaces that have been converted into state-run hotels. This parador is located in the city center and we had to drive up a very narrow street to reach it, but we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset when we arrived

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

Our first experience eating Salmorejo (a thick gazpacho--an Andalucian specialty)

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

The cutest dinner date

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

After tapas we walked around the town of Arcos

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

All the apartments we saw in Andalucia have beautiful tiles in the entrance, and some seemed to keep their front door open which was good for us! We would see much more of this

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

It must have been a full moon that night. The view from our room at the Parador:

From Spain 2013 Day 2--Caceres and Arcos de la Frontera

To see all our pictures from day 2 click here.

Pacific Grove and Monterey, California

A few weeks ago we drove to Pacific Grove, California to spend the weekend with our friends, Eddie and Jessica. I had never been to the Monterey area and a visit was long overdue.

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

We woke up one morning to a deer in the next door neighbor's back yard

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

I was of course obsessed with this deer and came to the conclusion that he must be hurt because why else would he stay in the next door neighbor's backyard when we were so close? I later saw him walking away with a limp:(

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

Some of the charming houses of Pacific Grove

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

We took a drive down Highway 1 past Carmel

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

We kept driving south of Big Sur on Highway 1 to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to see McWay Falls, a 80 foot waterfall on the beach

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

On the way back to LA we stopped at Pinnacles National Monument so that I could get another stamp on my National Parks Passport. The "pinnacles" are eroded leftovers of an extinct volcano.

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

We took backroads home through cow fields. Cows were grazing along the roads, not many cars come by here.

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

We stopped by Carrizo Plain National Monument to see what it looked like in the middle of summer. A very big contrast to what it looked like covered in wildflowers just two and a half months earlier

July 2010

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

March 2010

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

July 2010

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010

March 2010

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

Soda Lake dries up in the summer and leaves behind a crust of sodium sulfates and carbonates.

From Pacific Grove with Eddie and Jessica July 4th weekend 2010