Spain Trip 2012 - andres3009
This summer we set out for Spain looking for adventure and a hearty dose of Spanish culture. The city of Malaga delivered in both areas and we will share pictures and stories of our escapades in...

Around Malaga
Malaga, Spain
\As we walk to the Alcazaba we saw this interesting Fountain and multiple horse drawn carriages passed us by.
Then we arrived at the Alcazaba, an ancient moorish palace from the 9th century. In front of the palace was a Roman theater shown in the picture. Here is a picture of my sister and I standing in one section of the castle and here is another picture of my sister fumbling with a no hands water Fountain.
Here's a picture of Daddy getting used to using a clothesline.
written by  andres3009 on June 29, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012

Inside The Alcazaba
Malaga, Spain
The Alcazaba is the remains of an ancient moorish palace erected in the 9th or 10th century when the Arabs began to lose their grip on Andalusia. Because it was constructed with softer sandstone it has been recronstructed. Ferdinand and Isabella stayed in this palace when they reconquered Malaga from the Arabs. Inside the Alcazaba we saw amazing Arab artwork and architecture as well as beautiful indoor gardens shown in the following pictures
In the following pictures there is an ancient kiln used by the moors and Gabi next to a bath tub Fountain that we found inside.
written by  andres3009 on July 4, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012

At the Gibralfaro
Malaga, Spain
Today we went to the Gibralfaro a moorish fort for protecting the town and the Alcazaba in the 9th and 10th centuries, when a huge wall surronded the whole city. The wall is no longer present. From the top of the Gibralfaro we saw amazing views of the city shown in the pictures below. In the pictures there are the cathedral, town hall, and bull fighting ring. And go check out previous posts as I have revised and added more pictures to them.
written by  andres3009 on July 7, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012

Visit to Sevilla
Sevilla, Spain
From Sunday until mid-tuesday we were in Sevilla, and were able to visit some pretty incredible things. First off we visited a cathedral constructed in the 10th century on top of a moorish mosque after the Spanish reconquered the city. The cathedral is the 3rd largest in all Europe, and was pretty spectacular. It features some stunning works of art from painters of that period, and a massive pipe organ that was unlike anything I'd ever seen. It also features a 34 Story Tower called the Giralada, built wide enough for the moors to ride a horse up it. The Tower is the only thing that the Spanish kept from the old mosque.
Then we visited a flamenco show that we unfortunately have no pictures of, but was very fun and the guitar player was really good.
Then we walked around Sevilla and found a little plaza where merchants sold their goods, but one gypsy was not very kind to mom. It was a building with a large Tower and Fountain.
Then we visited the Alcasar, a palace built in the 14th century by Pedro the 1st, featuring moorish and christian architecture called Mudejar style. It's a very large palace with huge grounds and a large garden that make it even bigger.
But then it was time to go back to Malaga and we said adios to Sevilla.
written by  andres3009 on July 11, 2012 from Sevilla, Spain

Grand Granada
Granada, Spain
The past few days we have been in Granada (which actually means pomegranate in spanish) in order to see the Alhambra and a couple of other places.
The next day we went to the Alhambra, a Moorish palace converted to a fort by the Spanish when they reconquered Spain. The Alhambra was the winter palace for the Moorish roaylty while the adjacent Generalife was occupied in the Summer.
Here is the Alhambra from the outside:
But the Interior was the neat part with numerous courtyards, and the spanish/moorish architecture used in many of the palaces we've visited. Here is one of the more famous sections of the Alhambra, el patio de los leonares, featuring a Fountain surronded by lions which spray water from their mouths.
We stayed at the site for a good 4 and a half hours and here are the pictures we took.
The Alhambra is the most popular tourist destination in Spain and it isn't hard to see why. It was easily the grandest palace we've visited and one of the overall coolest period.
On our final day in Granada we visited the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's House. He was a socialist and a homosexual during Franco's regime and he was assasinated for his ideals in 1936. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.
And that was it for Granada, a neat stop on our trip.
written by  andres3009 on July 15, 2012 from Granada, Spain

Beach Dayz
Hello everybody! For our last three day excursion we will be in Madrid! So I will not be posting anything for a short time. Until then I have decided to put up some pictures we took of the beach that we have been visiting, called La Malagueta, and there's a big sign on the beach and a picture of us standing in front of it. We'll see you soon!
written by  andres3009 on July 17, 2012 from Malaga, Spain

Marvelous Madrid
Madrid, Spain
For the past four days we have been in Madrid, and it was easily the biggest city we've visited. We took a super fast AVE train there and it could go at top speeds of 280 km an hour! It made a 7 hour bus journey into a 2 and a half hour journey! Once we arrived at the hotel we decided to visit the Retiro park which has a man made lake, historical statues, and the Crystal Palace, a former green house that was created in 1887 to house exotic plants as part of an exhibition on the Philippines, which was then still a Spanish colony.
We also walked around town a bit and took some pics along the way.
We walked to a market where we saw a huge pile of cherries and we also saw many street performers along the way, muscicians, costumed people etc. but these two people were one of the coolest.
The second day we went to the Palacio Real, (Royal Palace) where the Spanish royalty have all lived. We weren't allowed to take many pictures inside, but I got some anyway ;) This is the palace.
The first room we went into was the royal pharmacy which kept everything used for making medicine a long time ago. There were hundred of jars of roots, etc filling entire walls. There was even an Alchemist's room where the mixing took place.
Inside the palace there were many grand rooms with large chandeliers and paintings on every ceiling.
In most of the other rooms there were guards and I couldn't sneak any pictures, but there were multiple throne rooms, and a huge dining room that was probably as big as my house or bigger.
Afterwards we rode the metro (first time ever for my sister and I) to Gran Villa, a street with many old buildings and shops kind of like 5th Avenue in New York. Here are some of the buildings.
The third day we went to two art museums. The first one we went to was the Reina Sofia named after the current Queen of Spain. It's a modern art museum, and we saw some very bizarre things (just google James Coleman) among them a whole room that you have to go down to the basement to enter, that is completely dark and loud booming noises are emitted from. It's a creepy atmosphere, but once you get completely into the room all it is is clips of boxing on a tv. Throughout a lot of the museum I was completely confused. But the highlight of the museum was Pablo Picasso's masterpiece illustrating the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Guernica. It was probably the largest painting I've ever seen.
After that we went to The Prado, an art museum with more traditional artwork, including many works about the Bible and Greek mythology. But the highlight of this one was Las Meninas painted by Diego Velazquez, and was one of the more famous paintings in the museum.
At the end of the day we went on a cable car ride across a large park in Madrid, and we could see most of the city from it.
And that was it in Madrid, a great stop on our trip. We have only a week left in Spain and we are going to try to go to some more places before we leave.
written by  andres3009 on July 22, 2012 from Madrid, Spain

Gibraltar: One of the smallest countries ever!
Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Two days ago we visited Gibraltar and it was awesome! Unfortunatley I had no time to upload as we were out with friends the following day! Packed days! And on Sunday we are going to be back in San Diego! :( So were going to hit the beach one last time, but first I had to write about Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is it's own country, but is still, for the most part, a part of Britain, and this flag is a good example of that. It's the Gibraltar flag on the UK flag.
Gibraltar is most famous for "The Rock" as they call it, a huge, well, rock that actually has roads on it and our tour bus could drive up.
Along the way to "The Rock" we went to a point where we could see Africa from! But vaguely because it was a little misty :(. At this point there was a lighthouse and a huge mosque shown in the picture.
Then we went to St. Michael's caves, in Greek mythology said to be the entrance to the underworld ruled by Hades. It was very nice, but nothing compared to the Caves of Nerja which we visited the next day and are the largest in Spain (sorry no pics :(.
Here is some of the inside of St. Michael's caves.
Then we left the caves for the highlight of the tour; MONKEYS! We got to be very up close with them and took lots of pictures.
Nobody is exactly sure how the monkeys originally got to Gibraltar, but one General thought that if the monkeys stayed the british would stay and brought tons of monkeys from Africa to Gibraltar and now there are more than 150.
Then we visited the American memorial for the collaboration between the American and British forces in World War 1 and 2.
Then we walked along Main Street for a dose of British culture and it was very fun. I liked the people's accents and we got some fish and chips. Tasty
After that it was time for the three hour bus ride back to Malaga. Gibraltar was our last travel spot and I enjoyed it a lot.
written by  andres3009 on July 27, 2012 from Gibraltar, Gibraltar

Nerja Our Last Stop
Nerja, Spain
Well it's been 3 days since we got back from Spain, and it's been fun to be back in San Diego, but I'm going to miss Spain. On one of our last days we went to Nerja with some friends because we had been told it was nice, and that there were caves there.
The Caves of Nerja are the largest in Spain, and were spectacular. We couldn't take pictures because our camera died, but you can look them up and see for yourself.
Secondly, Nerja was beautiful! It was a gorgeous day, and the beaches were great! It was great fun walking around and we got some pictures.
And that was it for our trip. We were there for a total of five weeks, and I'd never done anything like it. It was so different adjusting to Spanish all around, it seems weird that I never notice it in the states if it's there. Because I definetely noticed if there was English translation of something in Spain.
And I also saw things that you could never find in the US, such as castles, massive cathedrals, monkeys in the wild and Christopher Columbus' tomb, which I couldn't put up a picture of because the computer hates me.
All in all it was just a fantastic trip and I'm glad I could do this to show you all our adventures.
Andres is out.
written by  andres3009 on August 1, 2012 from Nerja, Spain