Three Week Trip to Europe: Part 2 (Spain)

After our flight from Germany to Spain, we walked through some doors at the airport and saw Bob waiting for us. We were all so thrilled that we ran to each other and hugged. We were so happy to see Bob again, especially Amy and Josh, who hadn't seen him for 10 months. We picked up our rental car, drove to our hotel, and ate typical Spanish food for dinner. The next day (Saturday), we visited El Escorial, a huge, stunning monastery/palace that contains numerous pieces of art.

Us in front of El Escorial:

After that, we visited the school where Bob worked, met Bob's friend Ana and her daughter Vega, who were both very nice, and ate at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.
Here we are in front of Bob's school:

 Here we are with Ana and Vega in front of a castle we visited:

On Sunday, we attended sacrament meeting, then drove to Segovia and toured the cathedral there.

Here, we are standing in front of an old Roman aqueduct in Segovia:

 The cathedral:

We also walked around Segovia, bought souvenirs, and saw a castle that inspired one of the Disney princesses' castles. Here it is:

After that, we visited the gorgeous gardens of La Granja, a palace.
Here's Dad acting silly in front of a fountain at La Granja:

Here is a beautiful view of the palace and the gardens at La Granja:

That night, we watched the Euro cup championship soccer game, Spain vs. Italy, at a small restaurant with a TV. Fortunately, Spain won the game, which engendered much celebration by the Spaniards, including a chorus of "yo soy español." We also saw people playing in a fountain that they filled with dish soap.
Here we are watching the game, with Bob and Mom in Spanish soccer jerseys:

On Monday, July 2, we walked around downtown Madrid. We saw the royal palace, a bull-fighting ring, beautiful buildings everywhere, and El Retiro park. We also rode in a teleferico, which allowed us to see the city from above.
A picture of downtown Madrid:

 Amy, Josh, and Mom on the teleferico:

 The five of us at Retiro Park:

On Tuesday, we left Madrid and drove a few hours to Granada. Dad did some impressive driving in the skinny roads of Granada to reach our hotel. After dinner that night, we walked to a place with an incredible view of the Alhambra, a palace built by the Moors in the 14th century.
Here is La Alhambra:

On Wednesday, we toured La Alhambra, which has beautiful gardens and intricate designs covering every wall throughout the palace. We enjoyed our tour despite the heat.
Here's an idea of the amazingly detailed designs in the Alhambra:

At 10 pm, we returned to the palace for a night tour, during which we viewed the Nasrid palaces.
Here's what the inside of the Nasrid palaces looks like:

During the time between our day tour and our night tour, we visited the cathedral in which King Fernando and Queen Isabel are buried. We also ate dinner at a restaurant with a spectacular view of La Alhambra, though the food was not too appealing.
Here we are at the restaurant:

On Thursday, we spent a lot of time in the car, traveling to a new city in the South of Spain. On our way there, we stopped at many beaches. Unfortunately, Mom got stung by a jellyfish, which she sometimes accidentally calls a "jellybean." :) We got to our hotel, which had a beautiful outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees.
Josh and Bob in front of the pool at the hotel:

On Friday, we woke up early, drove an hour or so to Tarifa, and eventually got on a ferry to Morocco. The ferry ride took about an hour, and after some trouble with customs forms, we were allowed to enter Morocco. We were instantly followed by a salesman, and we eventually took his offer. He provided us with a tour guide called Ahmed La Roussi, an energetic, 75-year-old man wearing a funny robe. He walked us around Tangiers and even showed us a snake charmer. First, the charmer brought out a black cobra, followed by a harmless orange snake that he wrapped around Amy's, Dad's, and Bob's necks.

Here's Dad with our tour guide, La Roussi:

And other pictures from Morocco:

 

We also saw Kasbah palace, a gross market that almost turned Amy and Mom into vegetarians, and a carpet store, where we bought a small green woven carpet. For lunch, La Roussi took us to a restaurant where we were fed a typical Moroccan lunch. We then took the ferry back to Spain and visited a beautiful beach, where we basked in the warm sand and swam in the cold water.
The boys on the beach:

On Saturday (Amy's 17th birthday), we returned to the beach, where we found 10 dead jellyfish. Needless to say, Mom and Amy lost their desire to swim. Amy opened a few gifts, including a pretty dress from Granada and a Frankfurt bag from Josh, and then we drove 500 miles to Salamanca. That night, we walked around Salamanca, which is a beautiful city with an old university and several pretty cathedrals.
Here's Dad and Bob in front of a cathedral in Salamanca:

We ate a fantastic dinner at an Italian restaurant that night. We ate Italian the majority of the time we were in Spain, and we ate lots of gelato as well. :) On Sunday, we attended church and then we packed up and drove to the cathedral that pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago visit at the end of their journey. We toured it, and then drove to our next hotel.
Here's the cathedral:

On Monday (July 9), we drove to Bilbao. Dad felt really sick, so Mom, Josh, Bob, and I remained in the hotel and ate dinner out of the vending machine since the grocery store had closed. On Tuesday, we drove to San Sebastian, stopped to dip our feet in the ocean (where we saw at least 30 dead jellyfish in the sand), rode a funicular up a steep hill to see a beautiful panoramic view of San Sebastian, and then drove to our next hotel, which was barely within the borders of France.
Here's Amy in San Sebastian with her newly discovered favorite flowers:

 Here's the beautiful view of San Sebastian:

 Here are Bob and Josh in the funicular:

We all really enjoyed our time in the beautiful country of Spain, and it was great to have Bob as our tour guide.