Andalusia 5 -- Malaga

We let everyone sleep in a little bit and then we decided to visit a Ceramics and Glass Museum that everyone was raving about.

Some bright houses on the way

 The museum is in the house of a man who is a very eccentric aristocrat.  We didn't realize it at first, but he was the one doing our tour!  It was quite an experience!  He has his collection set up so that most of the pieces are incorporated into his decor.

 He pointed our EVERY single detail, haha!  And we could barely understand his accent, but became used to it after a while.

 He had a beautiful old piano that he insisted we should hear -- so Lucinda fortunately obliged and played a lovely piece by Rocherolle

 Archie's feelings about most of it

 But I think the olders enjoyed it!

 "Just touch it.  Touch it!!!"  That is how he was most of the tour.  Along with assertions that he just "had to have" such and such and that he did it for us!  So he could share it with us!

 A little video so that you can truly experience his individuality

 Phin trying to make it more fun

Whew!  The boys were free at last!!!  We grabbed some delicious kebabs and then headed over to the Castle!

 There is always cool street art to be found

 There is the castle!  Let's go there!

 Oops!  We walked past the entrance and thinking it was just around the corner, went for an hour long hike up a very very steep hill!  It was hot!  But the view was nice

 Lots of breaks

 Okay, back on track!  It was fine that we went for an unexpected hike, but we just get a little bit stressed because all of the attractions close early during the Winter and we didn't want to miss the main event.

 More Moorish architecture -- lovely arches, beautiful gardens and fountains.

After we left the castle, Matthew took Charles, Lucinda, Ibby, and Phin on a Segway tour of the city.  I don't have pics of that -- my phone must've died or something... Ella, Archie, and I went and found a little playground and had a bit of gelado while we waited.  It was a wonderful day!

Andalusia 4 -- Sevilla and Ronda

We had to check out of our apartment by 11 so we had a little breakfast, packed up our things, tidied up and decided that we had seen what needed to be seen in Sevilla. 

We felt like we stayed in an Ikea display 

Much to Charles' delight we stopped at Carrefour on our way out of town so that we'd have supplies for lunch.

 Once again, we were amazed by the glorious Andalusian countryside!  We decided to take some back roads to Malaga instead of staying on the main autovias.  Not too far out of town, I spied a lonely castle about 1/2 mile off of the road.  Of course, we had to go explore!  As we drove up, we were so happy to see that the gate was open, inviting us in.

 There were no guard rails attached to the crumbling stairways... Phin looked up at me and said, "I don't think we should be going up there.  I can see about twenty different ways to die!"  He did eventually go up, along with everyone else, but Archie and I stayed safely on the ground.

 Charles claimed it with his red Ikea blanket

 We wound our way through the beautiful hills, catching glimpses of whitewashed villages perched on peaks and nestled in valleys.  In the late afternoon, we stopped in Ronda to get a closer look.

 It's hard to see in these pictures, but there are cave houses built in to the hillsides

 The town has two sides straddled across a gulch

 This "new" bridge was built in 1793.  Ibby and Charles found a little path and went all the way to the bottom of the gorge.  They took some incredible pictures, but I don't have them at the moment.

 Matthew took the boys down into the bridge and then to a guitar store, so that left me with the two older girls.  We chose to visit a palace.

 A lovely doorway on our way

 This palace had many courtyards, gardens, fountains, etc.  It also was the city's museum so it documented history all the way back to 40,000 b.c.  There are skeletal remains and tools from that time period! I love that stuff!  And was happily analyzing timelines and charts while the girls grew a bit impatient with me.

 When we were finished, we browsed through some quaint little shops

 And eventually caught up with the rest of the family for some more views of the countryside and tasting of local delicacies.  We had some delicious almond/cinnamon pastries -- always my favorite.

 The sun was going down as we made our way out of the last curvy hills so we went directly into Malaga to find our next stopping place.  Directly, ha!  We drove in circles for a bit and then Ella and I waited at the apartment to meet the owner while everyone else searched out a parking spot.  Hey!  It's Ikea again!  Fun!  

 We made sandwiches for dinner and then Matthew and I were the only ones who felt like exploring so we had a fun little walk by ourselves.  Isn't Andalusia gorgeous?  We totally want to live there.