This year, we decided on Christmas in Spain, with a plan to be back in Baku in time for New Year's Eve.
We left at 4am out of Baku and traveled through Frankfurt to get to Madrid.
Grandma Craft met us at the airport in Madrid and from there we rented a car and drove 4 hours to Granada.
We rented an apartment in Granada and walked around to tour the city for a few days. In Granada, the kids entertained themselves with some gutters full of water. Seriously, I'm not kidding. They found leaves and dropped them in the gutter and watched them go downhill in the water. They were thrilled like they were at an amusement park! Screaming, yelling, happy as can be!
Next, we drove to Cordoba, a few hours away from Granda, on the way to Seville. In Cordoba, we walked a LOT! That is an understatement! See the pictures below!
We rented an apartment in Seville. This one scared the daylights out of me as it had a crazy circle staircase that leads to the upstairs bedroom, bathroom, and patio. While the patio has an amazing view.....I couldn't go up and down the staircase without freaking out from my fear of heights. Grandma was a trooper and stayed up there while the kids and daddy and I took the 2 downstairs bedrooms.
We walked around Seville for a few days and we also took a day trip to Cadiz where we found an amazing seafood market.
However, the highlight of the whole trip was on Christmas day. We left our apartment early in the morning to drive to Portugal for the day and visited many beaches there and had a picnic lunch at one of our stops. The views were beyond amazing.
After Christmas it was time to head up to Toledo for 2 days. I was surprised that it was a city within old fort with brick walls surrounding us on all sides. We had 2 hotel rooms and the kids spent both nights with Grandma. From what I hear, they were up late both nights telling funny (supposed to be scary but not) stories.
Our last night was in Madrid didn't lead up to our expectations at all. Unfortunately, the city was jam packed as it was the day after Christmas. There were way too many people there. We could hardly walk around at all and it really took away from the experience. So we headed towards the hotel, had a late lunch that ended up being lunch and dinner and called it a day. The evening was spent relaxing in the hotel tub and packing for the long day ahead of us back to Baku.
Final thoughts are that Spain is nice, but probably a better spring than Christmas trip. There were many Christmas markets but none with mulled wine as there had been at Christmastime in Germany......Portugal was stunning.......so if I was to do it all over again......I would probably have stayed 5 or 6 days in Portugal and driven to Spain for a day or two! The grass is always greener!
Here are the pics:
Here are the pics:
Grandma Craft and the kids.
Grandma Craft, Daddy, Grace, and Ty.
My babies and I.
Grace and Ty under the orange trees. There were millions and millions of orange trees in every city we went to!
A lovely hot chocolate break to warm up from the cold.
After walking uphill, the kids found some drainage spouts full of water and leaves. They spent hours putting leaves in there and watching them go down the hill in the water. They were enamoured! The little things that make kids happy are so amazing!
You can see the rift in the sidewalk behind Grace and Ty. That is where the water was. Like a gutter kind of.
Happy twins playing in the water.
Grandma and Daddy had already walked up the hill and turned around to see what was taking us so long?
After playing with the water, they found many leaves to play in too!
More leaves.
The twins and daddy found a cool statue of a naked guy with a wolf?
While Grandma and Daddy got tickets, Ty played with a yo-yo souvenir.
He said mom please send this to my friend Madeline. I miss her.
Grace and Ty at the top of the hill.
Once we got there, we found a place called the General of Life. It was a large botanical garden full of trees and greenery. It was stunning and the kids really enjoyed running around it outside.
They found a maze made out of bushes so they pretended to be in a Harry Potter movie. Here they are casting a Harry Potter spell. Grace says it is the "Lomes" spell which "puts a light on the end of your wand".
Another orange tree.
The view from the top. Wow.
Daddy, Ty, and Grace at the top of the stairs.
Walking back under some trees pulled together like a canopy just talking and singing like all siblings do right? I love it when they get along like this.
Now in Cordoba, we walked around in the city then climbed up several steps to the top. What a view.
Ok, a tiny bit was downhill, but mostly uphill.
Look at this view.
I was too out of shape and out of breath to take any more pics on the way up. Just trust me, it was a lot of steps/stairs! Here we are finally at the top to take a break and the kids were happy to get out their kindles while the adults were happy for some wine/sangria.
The view from the top.
We were starving when we finally made our way back down and found this cafe with seafood Grace just loved. Here she is pulling an octopus leg apart before she ate it.
Ty just had spaghetti, he is not into seafood or anything besides spaghetti. Who am I to talk? I had ratatouille....it was delicious....but strange watching Daddy, Grace, and Grandma devour the seafood platter!
Ok sometimes even downhill we need a break.
Back in Granada, checking out the city.
Ty found the biggest angry bird we've ever seen! We had to buy it. Not at first, he actually left the bird at the store initially as we said we'd find it cheaper on amazon.....but after looking on amazon and finding it for $165!!!! we bought the big red bird for $39 Euro! What a bargain!
Grace on a tour of a palace in Cordoba we went on.
Cordoba with Grandma Craft.
Ty posing with his favourite Santa/Snoopy hat on.
The kids found more water and put leaves in again to see what would happen.
A beautiful bridge in Cordoba.
More water!
I like this shot of Grace under an orange tree. I laid down on the ground to get it:) Grandma thought that was funny so she took a pic of me doing that! But I am NOT posting that!
An awesome tree in Cadiz.
Ty found a Santa his size in Cadiz.
Ty was very mad here as I wouldn't let him play in the water/sand before lunch.
Grace was freezing as we walked around a seafood market in Cadiz so she borrowed my jacket but she LOVED (that is an understatement) seeing all of the fish! Meanwhile Ty and I were green and about to barf from the smell! Again no pictures of that!!!!!!!!
Grace wishing Daddy would buy and cook some fresh fish.
Ty is pointing at the squid. He is a huge Finding Dory fan and really hated this seafood market. Notice his glove holding his nose so he wouldn't smell it and puke.
Grace cracking me up, "yum mom!"
Hard to see but if you look closely you will see this is a swordfish.
Eel.
Found several playground there.
Ty LOVES the playgrounds.
Ok seriously? Barry and Grace ate this fish who is fried who looks to be eating his own tail/fin? Awwwwwww!!!!!!!!!They also ate the fried sardines you see on the other side of the plate and the fried fish in the middle. Both loved all of it! Yuck I say!
Grace is showing off her fish bone from the fish she ate.
Enjoying her meal.
She is loving this restaurant.
Lovely spanish music in the restaurant. Not sure what they were singing about, I caught the words family and crazy and baby..... lol
Grace enjoying the music on Daddy's lap.
Christmas Day on the beaches of Portugal.
This may look like a postcard...but it is real!
Grace and a beautiful Portugal background.
Mom, this cactus is as big as us, and by the way, we can't see! The sun is soooooo bright!
My beautiful girl in Portugal!
Gracie in Portugal!
My baby boy on the Portugal beach.
Breathtaking Portugal.
This picture reminds me of a beach in California I went to with my dad and Annie and I took a picture in a rock formation like this!
Ty in the rock formation!
Grace and Daddy enjoying the beach.
Our yummy Christmas day picnic lunch on a beach in Portugal.
Grandma enjoying the beach in Portugal.
Grace found a rock to throw in the ocean!
My little man growing up way too fast.
Grace and Ty had so much fun here they didn't want to leave.
Ty looking sullen but having a great time with Grace.
Throwing rocks.
They sat here for hours.....pushing the sand into the water and watching the waves come in. They really love the water.
Waiting for the waves to come back in.
Ty and Grace say look mom our hands are clean, we are not playing in the dirt!
My little girl growing up too fast!
Love this kid!
Ok mom, cheese!
We found someone else who spoke English in Portugal who wrote Merry Christmas on the sand.
Ty was done with pictures here so Daddy, Gma, and Grace posed. Notice no jackets. It was nice and warm in the sun here. We even saw a few brave souls swimming.....just a few....
Ty is trying to see what else is out there....
My boy.....
Our traveling group.........
Ty throwing rocks in the water...
Watching the water come in through this cove was super cool.
Grace was writing Merry Christmas......had to correct her spelling....the teacher in me just couldn't resist....
Love this pic of my boy.......all smiles....
Still working on her "Marry Christmas" lol.....
Ty checking out the cove....
And Merry Christmas is kind of fixed....
More fun near the cove.
Daddy enjoyed exploring all of the trails near the coves.
Portugal was sooooo beautiful.
Writing Merry Christmas again!
A great shot of me and my babies.....closeup
and far away.....
And now with Gma....
Ty LOVES being in the dirt!
My beautiful babies!
Gma, Daddy, G, and T!
G and T play in the dirt while Daddy explores......
Incredible.
Gma, Daddy, Grace, and Ty in Toledo, Spain.
Daddy, Gma, and Grace in Toledo, Spain.
Daddy did the Zip Line in Toledo!
Here he goes!
This is where the zip line went....over this river, next to this bridge.....no way I was doing that! But Daddy loved it! The kids.....not so much.....check out Gma's video on Facebook....you can hear Ty yelling......"did Daddy die?"....both kids were convinced it was NOT safe!
A different view/angle of the river daddy went over via zip line.
The bridge next to the zip line.
Grace just chilling out.
Ty is not happy, he is ready for lunch!
