Monday, 31 March 2008 -- We bid the Iberian Peninsula farewell

All told, we had a fabulous time together. The most telling is the fact that we are all still friends!

Adios!

Sunday, 30 March 2008 -- Dinner at Arzak’s Restaurant

It took longer to rid ourselves of the memory of the chanquetes than we realized. Some of us are still suffering. Today was a day of mass, a long, leisurely lunch and packing. Since the weather was warm and bright, we headed back to one of our favorite spots, El Molinillo, so we could enjoy safe food and a few cervezas while the kids played about in Plaza Mayor. The highlight of the children’s day was scrambling into the candy shop to buy sweets on their own. The afternoon was spent cleaning up and packing while the kids set up their restaurant (Arzak’s) and practiced their dance numbers. The kids served us a wonderful meal and treated us to a fabulous show afterwards. Our evening at Arzak’s is, by far, our best dining experience of the trip! Tomorrow we leave this 400 year old abode for our circa 21st century quarters.

Saturday, 29 March 2008 -- Giving Sevilla another go, "Wow! Pasta!" & "What did we just eat?"

Recall that our first trip to Sevilla on Holy Thursday left us sopping wet and having missed all the sites due to abbreviated hours. So, we gave it another go on this gorgeous, sunny day. This go 'round, we enjoyed touring the Sevilla Cathedral, which dates from the 1100's, houses beautiful artwork, ornate adornments, an interesting oval room and the tomb of Christopher Columbus. We climbed La Giralda bell tower which, to Annie’s relief, employs ramps, not a skinny set of spiral stairs to reach the top. The views were spectacular, especially on such a clear, warm day. Working up quite a hunger after climbing 90 meters, we lunched at DuPlex. Communicating Karen’s need for a well-done hamburguesa had to be done with gestures and sizzle sounds and we scored big points with the kids when pasta with bolognese sauce arrived. (They actually shrieked with pleasure at the sight of noodles and sauce.) We passed by the Sevilla bullring on our return to the parking garage and, as there was a fight scheduled for the evening, vendors were set up on the sidewalks selling seat cushions and drinks and souvenirs while TV cameras poised themselves on long extensions above the ring. It very much resembled the excitement outside Camden Yards on a game night. We dodged bullfight traffic, made it out of the city and back to Osuna in time to take in a local football match. CJ played some football with a few local boys on the back pitch and the girls, after losing interest in the match, proceeded to play High School Musical, with Abby staring as Gabriella. When the match ended the kids ran around on the football pitch....until the sprinklers came on. Actually, they didn’t seem to mind the water and continued to run around as well as through it. For dinner, we headed out to another quaint little place that the Tafler’s recommended, hoping for a TV so we could catch some football with our meal. We decided to do a tapas style dinner and ordered a few familiar, and some not so familiar items from the menu. The kids chowed on, go figure, bread and scrambled eggs and the adults happily plunged into salads and fried onion rings. But wait! Why do these onion rings have perfectly placed flecks of pepper? Annie seems to know the answer...that’s not pepper. They’re eyes! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Chanquetes! The one food that we had successfully avoided for 12 days had finally found us. We did not make the discovery until well after we had all had a few nibbles. After that, we had to order more wine to dull the pain and calm our churning stomachs. To add to the fun, the football match had ended and we were now graced to be viewing a live bullfight. Disgusted and now feeling rather morose and depressed and full of pity for this pathetic, bloodied, dying bull, we wandered home, but only after settling our shockingly high dinner bill. All told, I suppose this was not one of our better dining experiences.

Here’s a few fun facts about chanquetes (from www.almunecar.com/Visitor_Guide/Food_and_Drink/Local_Dishes.html)

Chanquetes (Whitebait)-- These tiny fish are illegal to sell, either in the markets or in the restaurants, although some establishments still insist on offering them to their 'preferred' customers. The reason for their ban is that the traditional chanquete, a fully grown but tiny fish, is often caught along with other immature species, wiping out breeding stocks before they can grow. The result is that a plate of chanquetes is usually a mixture of ungrown anchovies, sardines and other fish, quite tasteless compared to the original and often preserved with dangerous chemicals or urine. (We reckon that's a good enough reason for avoiding them without going any further). To make matters more confusing, frozen Japanese chanquetes are legally imported and can be sold in restaurants which makes a mockery of current legislation. Our advice: there are much tastier, more wholesome and safer foods on offer, so why not stick to them?

Driving in Spain

Miscellaneous Fun Bits and Missed Photos

Amber and Fiona’s divergent directions (Amber is the sultry voiced Derzak GPS unit, while Fiona is the apparently better educated Arnold GPS!)

CJ Arnold

Claire Derzak

Deep discussions of coches including strategizing on how to import some of our favorites to the U.S. Our rental cars each seat 7, have diesel engines, the middle section of seats has 3 individually moving, adjustable seats, the engine has plenty of power, and, ironically, both are made by American companies (Ford and GM). Oh, that’s right. There’s the problem—fat Americans need more than 2 cupholders!

CJ was amused by Lee’s posing of this scenario in the caves: if he dropped his Blackberry and it fell deep in the caverns, someone would discover it someday and put it in a glass case.

Claire and Abby have the potential to ruin international relations by chanting to the little Spanish children “Na Na boo boo you can’t get me” while playing in the plaza. The teachers at Sacred Heart should be very thankful that these 2 are not in the same class or grade!

CJ’ first upper tooth fell out in Carmona. He is very skeptical about the abilities of the tooth fairy to find him in Spain, so we are still carting around the tooth, waiting for a more opportune time to leave it for her.



The Cattle




The Alhambra

La Alhambra, one wet foot and sing-a-longs

Friday, 28 March 2008

Today’s excursion was a perfect one. The entire cast was dressed, fed, out the door and on the road by 8:30am. The drive to Granada took less time than expected so we were poised to secure our tickets to enter the palaces (there are a few sections of La Alhambra that require specific tickets—some folks reserve them months in advance but a portion are saved for same day sale) and the weather could not have been more perfect! The views of the snowcapped Sierra Nevadas were gorgeous. We hit the ground running upon our arrival, waiting in line just a short time until Annie discerned the line was not necessary (Chris’ lemmings theory), and she proceeded to purchase our tickets via a machine, reserving a 6:30pm viewing time of the palaces for our fiesta de nueve. We paced ourselves accordingly, enjoying a lunch in the warm sunshine before exploring the gardens. The gardens (Generalife) were everything they were designed to be: peaceful and serene, beautiful and relaxing, filled with fountains and all the flora and fauna necessary to create the perfect sense of awe. The kids (and Chris) had a great laugh and entertained others with their antics on the Water Steps, a staircase with fountains on each of the three landings and water runs down the stairs (like mini aquaducts). They would create a dam at the top and then open it up to create a mad rush of water. In all my excitement of their escapades, I turned around and planted my right foot in the fountain and walked around with one sock off in a squishy shoe for the remainder of the day. By the time we finished roaming the Alacazar (fortress) we realized it was 6:20pm and we should get in line for the palaces. When we reached the ticket taker we were rejected—it was 6:32pm. We had misunderstood that our viewing time range was expressly between 6pm and 6:30pm. Despite making a case for the fact that we were in line in time, it was of no use and we had to abandon our plans to tour the palaces. (I think my sockless foot may have had something to do with our rejection.) Our despair was quickly lost on the stroll back to the car as the kids tickled us with a catchy jingle they created for PapPap’s (I’m still singing it). We were certainly disappointed about missing our tour of the palaces but, overall, it was a fantastic, beautiful, happy day out and we leave La Alhambra behind with peace of mind and soul (its beauty really does that to you), a few souvenirs, loads of photographs, and this wonderful dictation for our blog.

Seashells and Caves

Thursday, 27 March 2008

We are no longer buying our pastries at the candy shop—now we make them ourselves! Store-bought croissants and a jar of Nutella make a great breakfast! Today we set off to explore caves near the beach. The weather was looking very dodgy for most of the drive but finally cleared once we got through the mountains after which, blue sky and warm sunshine dominated the rest of the day. General consensus is that the caves are cool but the kids could not get their minds off their ultimate goal—the beach! We spent about 1.5 hours on the beach—the kids collecting shells, CJ and Abby seemingly undisturbed by the frigid water. After lunch and picking sand out of our hair, we took the coastal road west into Malaga and explored the Castillo de Gibralfaro, which we found out, after a lot of perplexity, does not lead to our next destination, the Alcazaba and roman ampitheatre. Put off by a 30 minute walk down (which, naturally, would end in a 30+ minute return hike) we drove down to the Alcazaba on a road reminiscent of those near Ronda. The Alcazaba architecture is Moorish with recycled Roman bits. Very interesting. Tonight needs to be an early night because we are setting out for Granada in the morning—if we are early enough, we may be able to procure tickets for viewing the palaces at La Alhambra.

Ronda and “Mooooooo”

Wednesday, 26 March 2008

Recalling our previous drives to Ronda (twisty, crazy, frightening, guardrail-less switchbacks) we synchronized our GPS units and set off early, not wanting to drive back down the mountain in moonlight. Both of our families had experienced the drive to Ronda coming in from the south, which is one very hairy, be-sure-your-life-insurance-and-will-are-up-to-date experiences. However, our approach from the north was practically uneventful, a little disappointing, really, except for the shock of watching one tractor trailer pass another on a hill in the mountains! We entered Ronda through a newer section that I never realized existed and we did so in record time. We took in the bullring first, Plaza de Toros, one of Spain’s oldest and most important bullrings, as it is the Mecca for matadors from all over the country—a dream and a privilege to fight here. (CJ and Caroline will demonstrate a bullfight for you in the attached video.) The picturesque high cliffs are a favorite of Annie’s—she particularly enjoys the secure abutments from which we took many of our scenic photos. Today’s lunch was surely one of our best. When we stumbled upon some mothers collecting their children from school to go home for siesta, Annie stopped one and inquired about a place for lunch. At first, the lady directed us to McDonald’s. Once Annie made it clear that we wanted something more authentic, away from the tourist areas, she recommended Café San Francisco but felt that we would have to drive there (she clearly was unaware of our group’s expert hiking status). We made it on foot in 10 minutes and had the best lunch ever! Meandering the old bridges and walkways makes for fabulous exercise, but they really are a parent’s worst nightmare—decrepit railings and open stairs that shock any American accustomed to higher standards of safety or fearful of legal recourse. We wound our way along the city wall and stopped at the Arab baths. Contrary to Annie’s information however, the baths are no longer in use. Claire avoided journaling about the baths because she felt it would be an “inappropriate thing to share with the class.” This may have been generated from Chris’ comment to the kids to “look out for men in towels!” We left Ronda in hopes of a quick return trip to Osuna for dinner only to arrive home much later than desired because of GPS highjinx that resulted in a Formula 1 style ride home (those switchbacks with no guardrails that we thought we had avoided)…by moonlight! Our delayed arrival into Osuna was coupled with a frustrating search for dinner—this time, despite the late hour we could not find an open restaurant,! We finally managed to stumble into a place willing to serve our fiesta de nueve. Most entertaining was Chris inquiring of our waiter how to say “cow” in Spanish, which he communicated by “mooing.”

Testing Annie and Lee’s command of Spanish

Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Today was a day of discovery of the compound effect of long, late days and short nights over a period of time (n) where n=8 and parental patience level=n x 0. After our four hour march yesterday we reckoned that a long rest and big brunch would be sufficient to power us through a gentle day. We set out for Carmona just after 2pm, enjoying a leisurely drive through the gorgeous, green, rolling countryside punctuated by skies of azul. Our first stop was at the edge of town, at Necropolis Romana, where Lee and Annie struck up a conversation with a friendly, enthusiastic tour guide who emphatically tried to relay to us his vast knowledge of the Necropolis, complete with generous hand gestures. The place truly was fascinating--the Romans were quite a bright bunch! Once inside the Roman gates, we stumbled upon the plaza and enjoyed a few nibbles and drinks and helado (ice cream) while the children played ball in the plaza. One throw flew past the receiver and ended up in an older lady’s lap. When she refused to return the ball and vigorously waved her index finger at us I was certain she was angry and when she approached Caroline my fists were in the ready position. Turns out she only wanted a kiss and proceeded to give Caroline a kiss on the cheek. After our snack, we wandered about the old part of the city for a while, taking in the architecture of this quaint little town. We made an unexpected but fun discovery: for all of you Loyola Greyhounds out there, the sword of Ignatius Loyola is located in a church in Carmona. After wandering around for 30 minutes in search of an open restaurant, we discovered that most restaurants would not open until about 9pm. So, our attempt at a leisurely, early dinner was thwarted and we decided to drive back and feed the gang in Osuna, getting them into bed a bit earlier with the hopes of fresher minds and bodies for Wednesday’s mountaintop adventure.

OMG!

Monday, 24 March 2008
O.M.G.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A four hour, round trip hike to the top of Gibraltar with kids via narrow roads with no accommodations for pedestrians, psychotic apes, excessive prices, and bloody, blistered feet. Need we say more? We don’t, but we will. We were witnesses to an ape family attacking a young girl and stealing her coat. We spent 25 euro for 5 bottles of water and 5 ice cream bars. We needed to jump in the ditch every 30 seconds to avoid cars. Actually, I’m not certain who is more psychotic—us or the apes. We were the idiots who insisted on walking in order to save the cost of riding the funicular and to avoid being ripped off by the taxis. Picture, if you will, Annie and Karen hobbling back, one going down stairs backwards to save her knee, the other shuffling in pain with blisters while Jackie and Caroline are skipping along, telling stories and completely oblivious to the ragged old farts who are escorting them. In Abby’s words, “PAFETIC!” We left the Rock in complete disgust feeling horribly abused by the British government, our tummies frantically indicating the need to refuel. Quickly making our way back over the border, we stopped for dinner at a much more posh restaurant than we expected but, having foregone lunch and fluids for the better part of four hours, we reconciled the prices to be lunch AND dinner combined. Anyway, the service and food were fantastic and we have salvaged our day while also discovering that a diesel Ford CMax can take a speed hump much faster than the posted limit! Ouch!

Running of the Bulls?

Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008
We were supposed to avoid the running of the bulls, right?

I’m certain our title has you tremendously curious but first you will have to wade through the diatribe of our morning and early afternoon, both of which were fairly mild. The Easter Bunny found us here in Osuna, at #28 Navalagrulla and left some treats behind for the kids. With plans to visit El Torcal in the afternoon, we managed to get everyone up and out in their Sunday travel best to attend mass at 8:30am. When we arrived at church at 8:28am to find all the doors locked, we were concerned that we misunderstood. A local chap informed us that mass was at 9:30am so we dashed home, waited, then came back to find the doors still locked but that same chap also waiting outside. Did the padre oversleep? We then chased a few older fellows in suits, thinking that, surely, they MUST be on their way to mass. They weren’t, but he told us without reservation that mass is at noon. This time, we returned home and napped and did eventually make it to mass early enough to get good seats. Our second row seats however did little to facilitate our understanding the homily but those of us with a keener grasp of the language hopefully gleaned a little more meaning. I was only able to discern Maria Magdelena and Alleluia. So, with God now on our side, we were ready for the next REALLY entertaining adventure….

We went hiking at El Torcal, a breathtaking natural park of limestone rock. After a twisty, bendy, fun, frightening drive to the entrance, we embarked on the “green” path—the one of lesser difficulty and length. When this trail met with the “yellow” path—which added an hour and was a bit more demanding of our skills, the kids carried on, leaving the adults no choice but to follow. I consider us all to be relatively athletic and strong but, during this march, the kids certainly were more nimble. We climbed rocks, slid through mud pits, squeezed through a cave, and climbed huge hills to find ourselves in front of the most beautiful landscape we have ever seen! The kids hiked every meter without hesitation or complaint. As we neared the end of the trail, I bustled ahead with Claire after a brief photo session atop some rocks, proclaiming we’d meet the others at the park station. They took longer than expected to return and, when they did return, they looked rather stressed and unwound. A herd of bulls had stumbled upon the Derzak-Arnold posse, clawing the earth and seemingly mounting an attack. Unaware of the potential danger, Caroline had at first proclaimed, “Look! Cattle!” The group managed to scuttle onto rocks and everyone avoided being impaled but we quickly drove home for a change of undergarments and a comforting meal of Chef Lee’s paella.

Groceries and Cordoba

Holy Saturday, 22 March 2008
Groceries and Cordoba

Groceries, at last! And I have finally been successful at locating the paneria (bakery) around the corner (admittedly, I was a bit obsessed with accomplishing this). This is critical because we have discovered that bread, cerveza and Fanta go a long way.

We drove about an hour to Cordoba to fulfill Annie’s overwhelming need to check the Mezquita off her list of things to see in her lifetime. And thank goodness we did because it is truly amazing. Here is a place with such a sordid (almost comical) history that I can certainly appreciate Annie’s fascination with it. The Mezqita’s beginnings were the product of the demolition of a Christian church in the late 700s in order for the Moors to make way for a mosque that was later reclaimed by the Christians in the 16th century, who, out of spite or simple practicality, constructed a cathedral right smack dab in the center of it. Ironically, the structure embodies the two religions that tried to eradicate one another; however, it is still used by the Catholic Church today. Our cool idea for a photo op. (having all the kids line up amongst the columns in the Mezquita and prostrate themselves toward Mecca) was quickly shot down by Caroline, who suggested we may be breaking the First Commandment by doing so. Yikes! Not wanting to create ill will with God, we finished our day in Cordoba touring the Jewish quarter, complete with 14th Century synagogue and the Alcazar, which included a harrowing climb up a spiral staircase and a gentle stroll through lovely gardens. The kids grabbed a few fallen oranges and we did contemplate snagging a few lemons from the lemon trees to enjoy with our cocktails. Since we had procured groceries earlier in the day, we managed a light, inexpensive dinner of bread, cheese and an assortment of meats with strawberries for dessert. Oh, I mustn’t forget to mention the cheap, but incredibly delicious, red wine!

Rehabilitation in Osuna - Friday

Good Friday, 21 March 2008
Rehabilitation in Osuna

The rigors of travel and long walks in the rain have finally caught up to us and so, we are enjoying a well-deserved day of rest here in Osuna. Our only pickle has been a lack of access to a grocery store – everything is shut for the holiday. We’ve been making breakfast via the local candy store, which, thankfully, also provides yummy chocolate pastries and juice boxes and we have discovered that beer and bread go a long way. Lunches and dinners are long and filling (yet draining on our wallets) and it is possible that we may be becoming too accustomed to cerveza with every meal.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather and so meandered about the town, up the huge hill past Plaza Mayor to take in the views and some historic buildings and then we wound our way back down to the square for a spot of pizza. After lunch, the kids were invited to play some football in the street with some local children—I’m not certain just how they communicated but, thankfully, sports are universal. We then wandered slowly home and, after experimenting with the washing machine, enjoyed our siesta (Lee and Chris napping in the garden, Annie on the couch, and Karen upstairs) while the children played about unsupervised (yes, there were a few incidents and we are thankful for guardian angels). Attempting to carry on with our day of “light” activity, we ended up taking a much longer walk to dinner than anticipated, due to some mild navigational errors. However, the extra exercise was good and we eventually found our way to a wonderful little restaurant where Lee’s double portion of salmon seemed to be a bit more filling than he expected. Thankfully, Abby awoke from her nap in time to help him finish it off. The rest of the children enjoyed juevos (scrambled eggs) and bread for dinner.

Thursday - "We want to be Penitents"

We spent the day in pouring rain in Seville and got stymied at every turn. We didn’t get to see the major sights due to abbreviated operating hours, but the kids did get to splash around in the downpour. We decided hauling around 5 soaking wet kids was not exactly a recipe for a good time, so we headed home to Osuna by late afternoon. We ate dinner in Café Molinillo which is right in the main square of Osuna. The restaurant itself is slightly smaller than an average one car garage! The only seating is outside, so we sat at tables on the edge of the square with prime viewing for the Holy Thursday processions. It was the perfect location, as the adults could sit and eat (and drink!) while the kids could play in the square. They made a new friend and spent a couple of hours racing around and climbing trees while we…watched. The procession finally came through the square and we got some great shots of the hooded penitents and the religious float. We then headed for home because our house is right on the procession route. A couple of hours later the penitents and floats passed right by our front door. The kids were able to sit outside on the little upstairs balconies and watch the procession. Very moving and solemn…until you heard 2 little voices calling out “Hi penitents, look at us, up here, hello little penitents, hi there, etc…!” (Abby and Claire were doing their best to further American/Spanish relations) After the processions had passed, the kids were wrapping themselves in blankets to make hoods and declared “We want to be penitents,” before we knew it, 1:00am had arrived again and the kids finally turned in. The adults were right behind them…