Tarifa and Malaga, Spain

The end of our trip didn't go as planned.  It honestly was ... well... let's just say meh.  After the kids had been sick the week before our trip, I had been sick the first bunch of days of the trip... Todd finally came down with the crazy cold (mostly chest... somewhat in the nose.)  We drove from Gibraltar to Tarifa with the intent of having a somewhat lazy day near the beach.  

So when we finally made it to Tarifa... it seemed like a beautiful day.  But it was JUST SO WINDY.  I mean, so windy that we were covered in sand by the end of the day and we were still finding sand in our hair days later.  We walked down to the beach and found a little bar where we had a couple of drinks and played in the sand for a couple of hours.

The kids were just happy to have their toes in the sand, even if it was windy.

Natalie gives the beach a thumbs up!

Since Grant took his shoes and socks off, they became fair game for these dogs. The lab came right over and tried to take Grant's shoe (ummm, NO.)  We managed to grab that back, but HE managed to get away with a sock.  I said, "Oh we're never seeing that sock again!" as they took off running down the beach with it.  (They did bring it back eventually!  The dog owner had to retrieve it ha ha.)

I spy Morocco in the distance (mainly on the left behind the edge of Tarifa.)

I love this little cutie at a beach bar in Tarifa.

Natalie clearly felt that she needed some vitamin D.  So she grabbed one of the little beach "chairs" and plopped it down in the sand. 

Grant's new thing is drawing out wars on paper.  He says he doesn't like war, but he likes seeing borders change.  He's really into maps right now, and you KNOW he gets that from me.  So he plopped right down at one of these barrels after Daddy drew the outline of Asia's current countries and he got to work on moving those borders around with each takeover.

Todd took this picture when he went to the bathroom because these signs were not helpful to him.  (Side note: He guessed right!)

At one point, I decided to walk down to the water with the kids.  The sand was blowing so hard as you can see by the little streets of blowing sand in the above picture.

Tarifa was really beautiful, and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves (see Morocco on the far right in the distance?)

It's a little sign from my dad!  Near the bottom of the Seagram's gin bottle, you can see, "Lawrenceburg, IN."  My dad used to work in that factory!  Not all of the Seagram's bottles have the town name though.

We finally decided our lengthy happy hour was over and decided to walk back through the town of Tarifa.  The Castle of Tarifa looms over the port and it was built in 960!

These potted plants made me miss Córdoba a little bit.  Don't walk through Tarifa in March during siesta, because there was hardly ANYTHING open.

Because it was siesta time, we hit up the only open place in the whole city (the grocery store) and grabbed some tapas and wine and decided to enjoy our super awesome back patio.

It even came equipped with Astroturf.  It was warmer and less windy in the back, where Todd and Grant are sitting here.

The views were so beautiful though.  This picture makes it look really warm (and not so windy.)

As the sun began to go down, you really got a nice view of Morocco.

Adios, sunshine.

The sun setting over the Atlantic.

The kids enjoyed the sunset with us.  Even after it was gone!

Lordy, the next day was so trying.  We had previously purchased tickets on the ferry from Tarifa to Tangiers, Morocco, several months in advance.  We planned on a day tour of Tangiers with a guide, and then to return in the late evening to Tarifa.  So we strolled down to the port, passing the old bull ring on the way.  Doesn't every Spanish city have a bull ring?

The kids were SO looking forward to getting "another continent." But it just wasn't in the cards today.  The winds were so awful, that all of the ferries from Tarifa were cancelled.  They told us that ferries were going out of Algeciras but they were delayed by several hours, and each trip was taking MUCH longer than they had planned.  When FRS told us they would refund all of our money, we took them up on that and cancelled our trip to Morocco.  This is what a VERY disappointed family looks like.

Because it was SO windy in Tarifa, and because there was just NOTHING to do in this town this time of year, we decided to leave and head for Málaga instead.  We still had another night planned in Tarifa, but with the cancellation of our planned trip to Morocco, it just didn't make sense to stay there.  So we went back to our beautiful apartment (look at these colors!  It's totally unfiltered!), packed up our stuff, and drove to Málaga.

We made the two hour drive to Málaga and the kids were begging for pizza so we stopped at an Italian restaurant and had some beer and pizza in the sunshine.  Too bad Todd couldn't join us for this.

Whoa!  There's a lot going on in this picture!  Look at those windows!

We strolled around the city and passed the Málaga Cathedral (also known as Our Lady of Incarnation.)  We didn't go in, for fear of Grant leaving his EpiPen inside (I kid, of course!) but it was sure pretty from the outside!

Our panorama of the facade of the Cathedral made it look round! HA!  Work was started on it in 1530 but it wasn't finished for 100+ years.

The beautiful Spanish Baroque Palacio Episcopal, or the Bishop's Palace is across the street from the Cathedral.

We decided to walk over to the big Mirador Princess Ferris wheel and passed this really cool tree and red flowers behind the tourist information stand.

What a cool tree!  I'm such a nerd!

OF COURSE the Ferris wheel was closed for most of March so we couldn't ride it. Boo.  That's just how this trip ended.

My dad had a beautiful bird of paradise in the front of my parents house, which my mom just sold and moved out of a few weeks prior to this.  I love these plants, mostly for that, but partly because they come in Auburn colors.

I also loved this brunfelsia pauciflora tree (native to Brazil) which is commonly known as "Morning, Noon and Night."

We had a really nice time strolling around the Parque de Málaga, which sits parallel to the harbor.

Across the street from the Parque de Málaga, the University of Málaga has a beautiful main building where the President's offices are located.

Málaga even has a Roman Theater that dates back to the first century BC.  It was only used until the 3rd century AD when it pretty much fell into disrepair until the Moors used parts of it to build the Alcazaba that you see behind it. 

Grant needs a bigger head ha ha.  My little bullfighter and flamenco dancer.

Malaga's manhole covers weren't as impressive as some others I've seen.  Maybe they were nicer when they were newer!

We had a late day flight the next day from Málaga to Madrid, so we headed back to the car (that we had pre-filled with all of our bags earlier in the day).  As we were paying for our two day parking, I noticed this on the wall. WHAT?  Every parking garage should have one of these!  Heck, I want one of these for myself!

Speaking of breathalyzers... We had bought a bottle of wine at one of our stops on this trip, and we kept the wine with us with the intent to finish it.  Of course that never happened, so I said, "Take a picture of me drinking some of this wine!"  (Right before I dumped it out of course!)

We took off south from Málaga over the Mediterranean.  It was just so pretty!

Once we got up to our hotel near the Madrid airport, we wanted to get some food, but the restaurant didn't open until 8pm!  They did serve some little snackies which we had with our happy hour, but then we went back to the room and had the kids get ready for bed and get ourselves packed up to go home the following day.  When we finally got to eat dinner, we splurged a bit and got the flan for dessert!  YUM!

Ok I'm only putting this picture here to remind myself of the time that I was NERDING OUT over seeing Kelvin Helmholtz waves in the clouds for the first time from our airplane at the Madrid airport as we were flying back to Munich!  They weren't as pronounced as some others may have seen, but the remnants were there none the less. You can barely see them (center, and slightly to the left) because I was using my iPhone to capture it (and you know you can't zoom in with an iPhone and expect the photo to be clear) but I saw them and that's all that matters.  Meteorology geeks, unite!

Until next time, Spain!  And you know there will totally be a next time!  See ya in 2033!