in the life of kristy kadish: Spanish Day Trips

We had some fun day trips this past week

Wednesday was discovering more of Granada!

We went to the Alhambra museum and then went on a walk up the hill to a foresty area and had a picnic lunch to “El Carmen de los Martides” which translates to “The Carmen of the Martyr’s” It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The grounds surrounding the Carmen (house) were HUGE! And the gardens were SO SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Some flamenco dancers in Granada in a plaza. I got a video too! They were great! I love when I am in the right place at the right time to catch things like this!

Antonio freezing in the yogurt isle at the store... Haha

One of these things is not like the other...

Look at those eggs!

Ok they are all candy too... But it's funny.

Dropped by to say hi to Antonio at work

Beautiful view of Granada

Love the Arabic architecture all over the city!

These two were waiting outside of the gates of the gardens with us as we were waiting for them to open. I love the contract of the 2!

Arabic doorway

That's part of the Alhambra behind me- so excited to get to go inside soon!

This is the Alhambra museum

It was a palace that was built by king Carlos V

It is a big beautiful palace! Unfortunately it was never used as a palace.

Thursday! we took a DAY TRIP! To Seville!

Such a BEAUTIFUL city!

We are on summer schedule here in Spain. Which means that we stay up til 2 or 3 am and wake up around 10 or 11. (NOT complaining here.)

The only problem with this schedule is it cuts out all of the morning hours.

And the problem with those hours being lost is that it gets really hot during the day -

So those morning hours are a much nicer temperature.

It also creates minor problems when we need to wake up earlier for something specific. And then there are minor disputes over deciding when to wake up.

We decided that we would go on a day trip to Saville. So last night we had dinner and watched the first ½ of IT. We have been watching episodes of “Un Principe Pada Laura. Which translates to “Prince for Laura.” Which is a Spanish version of The Bachelorette. It is actually really funny. Plus it is good for me to listen to the Spanish and Adam translates for me.

But last night Adam really wanted to watch It… and I have actually never seen that move. So that’s what we watched. By the time we were headed to bed at 2ish we decided what time (ish) we would leave and what time we needed to get up to make that happen.

I got up at 8 a.m. And proceeded to get ready. Our projected departure time was 9ish. There was a question in the back of my mind if my 2 compadres would get up and we would make it today. There were some doubts! But we made it! By 10:30 we were in the car with the cooler packed and ready to take our day trip to Saville.

The supposed 3 hour drive was actually only a little over 2 hours. So it was nice to find that the drive was not as long as we thought it would be.

We got into Saville and drive toward the city center. We ended up turning down a road that we were not sure if we were supposed to be on.

There are some little streets in Spain that barley fit a car - sometimes you have to have a special pass to go down certain little streets. As we drove along Adam was fairly certain that we were not supposed to be on this road. And we were not sure where he road was leading either. Because of he layout of this specific street there were no turn offs - so we had to just keep going. We were right in the center of the city. The building were beautiful and ad commented that it looked like we were about to drive right up to the presidents palace.

(No the president does not live in Sevilla, nor does he live in a palace)

So the joke of the day became

Remember when we drove through the palace, and through the cathedral and into the kings home, etc.

We were able to score an amazing parking space right next to the city center for only 1€!! Because parkin in the space we found was free for the afternoon - so we only had to pay for 30 minutes! Yeah!! Thank you parking fairy!

We walked by the bus station which the back of was covered by my favorite graffiti artist:

Then we walked along the river and found a place to stop and have some lunch.

We then walked around Saville

What a BEAUTIFUL city!

We walked through some beautiful gardens and went to the

Plaza de Espania

This was an incredible sight to see! Such amazing architecture! It's only about 100 years old - and the 4 bridges in the plaza represent the 4 kingdoms of Spain.

Fun fact: This is also a place that was used In the filming of Star Wars episode 1

Plaza De Americana

We stopped and rested on the grass in some shade of a while - today was REALLY hot! Around 95 degrees and we were in the sun a lot! (No worries I had sunscreen on!) and I tried my darnedest to stay hydrated!

We got popsicles from a vendor in the park and it was just about the most delicious icy treat I have ever had in my life! I would jut like to reiterate that today was REALLY HOT!!!

The cathedral ___________

This is the largest gothic cathedral on the world and is the 3rd largest church in the world.

As we walked to out next destination we ran into this little gem:

And of course we had to go in!

American cereal, marshmallows, cake mixes, frosting, brown sugar, Hershey's chocolate, American soda, pop tarts, bagels, animal crackers, etc. All kinds of American things for Adam and Antonio to be excited over.

I had to drag the boys out of that store so that we could continue on our way.

Next we saw THIS:

photo below

This is the largest wooden structure in the world.

We discovered that there were some ancient roman ruins underneath it as well.

We decided to go and get some dinner and head back to the car. As we walked along we saw a church that Antonio guesses might be open. We crossed the street to see. Not only was the cathedral open - there was a concert in progress. We snuck into the back and sat for a while and listened to a young woman choir from England sing.

It was beautiful! The acoustics of the cathedral echoed The sweet notes of the angelic chorus. I am really glad that we stepped in and were able to feel the spirit from the music!

We got dinner and then hit the road.

I will now ask the chicos their favorite thing from today:

"Adam what is your favorite thing from today?"

"I laughed out loud 3 times at plaza Espania - which means it was really beautifu!...

I also really liked sitting on the floor under the big wooden structure!

...and Taking a nap...

And looking up things in google and Wikipedia to learn more about Saville....

Oh!...and I really enjoyed listening the the choir in the church!

Antonio

"My favorite thing was Plaza Espania - it's beautiful! I love that place!"

I (like Adam) have lots of favorite things about today! I am really excited to see and share all of the photos that I took today of this BEAUTIFUL place!

Today a friend of mine texted me and asked me why I am traveling so much. My answer boiled down to 3 simple words: "because I can"

Of course there are many reasons that I find myself in Spain this summer-

Because I want to see and spend time with 2 of my very best friends!

Because I want to learn and grow and stretch in ways that only traveling can make possible for a person

Because I don't have a reason not to- I have nothing tying me to a certain place or time frame

...

Because... Well again it Really it all boils down to

Because I can!

I was told a long time ago-

There is never enough time and never enough money!

I think that this is so true! Concerning so many aspects of life! Which is why I have decided that I am going to decide the things that I want and the places I want to go an the things I want to do and see and make them happen - despite all of the thing that could possible hold me back.

And I feel SO BLESSED that I can!

And So So happy that I do!