last stop--caceres

On our way home to Madrid we made a stop in Caceres, also in the province of Caceres..... small correction: the picture with only me is in Valdivia. Bebeto and Ruben's town (friends of juan), good peaches by the way.

Merida--Roman city

During our stay in La Haba we went to Merida one day. Merida is a beautiful roman city where we went to see a play in the roman theatre at night. (see picture) it was pretty cold and we had to buy two little belly floats for kids to sit on because we took the seats at the top and they are a little "rugged"... i didn't understand the play but the experience was nice and Juan explained the plot to me afterwards.

Extremadura--La Haba

Next we went to the community of Extremadura in the province of Badajoz to a small, small town called La Haba. This is the town where Juan's dad is from. It's hot and dry so good thing there is a nice big pool there to with lots of shade and of course there are plenty of bars.

next stop- Cordoba

We stopped in Cordoba to see the Mesquitta, an arabic church which was taken over by the catholics. It is beautiful and definately worth a visit. If you go in the morning its free entrance.

Granada

I liked Granada a lot. The highlight of course is the Alhambra. tip: you need about 4-5 hours to visit the alhambra and its best to book the tickets in advance cuz they tell you what time you can go, either morning, afternoon, or evening.

Next stop- Sevilla

Sevilla is a beautiful city but very hot. its probly better to visit in the spring or fall. the pictures are of the catherdral- the "giralda" jardines de alcazaba and plaza de españa.

Andalucia - first stop Lepe

We took a trip to the south of Spain... to the communities of Andalucia and Extremadura. Our first stop was in the town of Lepe in the province of Huelva. We stayed with friends. Can I say seafood gallore? If you don't like seafood then stay away. I even got sick of it and i like seafood. Lepe is close to Portugal so we spent one day in Villamoura at the beach. These pics are from Portugal.

America's Cup

We went to see America's Cup one day in Valencia since it's only about 30min from Cullera. Switzerland won for the second time in a row... woooo hooooooooo. The next races will be in Valencia again in 2009.

San Juan

The weekend of San Juan (June 24) there are lots of bon fires on the beach at night. Some people even have a pic-nic on the beach. At midnight everyone throws money in the water and makes a wish. After that people jump over the fires.
In march there is a festival in Valencia with fallas. These are huge sculptures made of carton and wood which get lighted on fire at night. For the week-end of San Juan they had one falla which Juan told me was just a small one compared to the ones they have in march.

Cullera

We started off with 2 weeks on the beach in Cullera (Valencia). Yes I have a tan, and no, i'm not red.

welcome party

The first week-end in spain started with a welcome party. The menu: lamb (cordero) and a little piggy (cochinillo). After there was singing and instruments... all flemenco style of course. Banner translation: welcome to spain rebelino (juan) and rachel. Check out the video...