Andalusia

Do you have a bucket list? I kind of do. It consists mostly of places I absolutely must visit. Like Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Portugal, the South of France, Capri, Crete, Bali, San Francisco, the northern fjords, and countless others. Seriously, countless! If I calculate the number of years till I turn 80, and am probably too old to travel, I will never be able to visit all of the places on this list. How depressing is that? Am I the only crazy person out there to go through this exercise?

To be honest I did the same calculation with my must- read books list...

I have always loved travelling. I love the anticipation leading up to the trip, the hustle and bustle of the airport, and especially that first glimpse of your destination.

Spain has always been one of my dream destinations, and it did not disappoint. The weather was perfect, the beach incredible, the food delicious and the sights....breathtaking. We managed to sight see quite a bit, in Malaga, Granada, Gibraltar and Seville.

Andalusia is a beautiful region, the landscape is peppered with olive groves, there is wild oleander growing everywhere, and the streets are lined with orange trees. The colors are just overwhelmingly beautiful. The architecture is striking as well. The south of Spain was heavily influenced by the Moors, and that is particularly reflected in the buildings you see. Walking the streets in these cities, visiting the Palaces and cathedrals, you can't help but be in awe at the beauty of it all.

I could go on and on about each of these destinations, but I know that I would never be able to convey the beauty of it all. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I leave you with a sample of the 2466 photos I managed to take (I'm nuts, I know!)

First, the beach of course. We stayed in Torremolinos, about 10 minutes outside of Malaga. It's a beautiful stretch. It was never too crowded, simply the perfect place to relax with a book, or stroll along before sunset.  Can you believe that there are wild parrots flying about?

And then there's the food...oh the food, let me give you an idea:

I've already mentioned the flowers, right?

At night, once A. was in bed, the hubs and I would relax on the balcony, with a glass (OK, bottle) of wine, absorbing this view:

One of our side-trips we took was to Gibraltar, also called the Monkey-Rock. It's the last place in Europe where wild monkeys have survived. It is a maze of little streets, a very lively place, especially since it was getting ready for the Queen's jubilee celebration.

Next was Granada, where we visited the Alhambra palace, the most visited site in Spain. "Incredible" does not do it justice.

Malaga did not disappoint either.

A.loved running around this fortress with a map in his hand looking for treasure at every turn.

It was unbelievably hard to say good-bye, we all hope to go back one day.

There are hundreds more photos, and I will be posting quite a few on flickr, for anyone who's curious.

I will have a separate post for Seville, because as I discovered, it is a knitter's city, so stay tuned!