Warm and wonderful Spain and home for Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Dawn

Its so very nice to be warm and dry!  Southern Spain is so wonderful and beautiful.  We flew into Malaga and rented an apartment in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol in Andalusia.  We can see the ocean and hear the nightly church bells from our balcony and we have spent everyday walking the beach and going to the park and enjoying the great food and beautiful views.

The park that is across the street from our apartment is Parque de la Paloma but the children call it “chicken park” -  because there are so many chickens, but there are also peacocks, bunnies, guinea pigs, swans, emus, mountain goats (or are they ram?).  This park is so big and beautiful with cactus gardens and ponds and playgrounds. 

There is also a local theme park 5 minutes from our apartment that was offering free admission because it is their slow season and we went and felt like we had the entire theme park to ourselves.  The children had a great time.  There is something special about riding theme park rides over and over again.  They went on the bumper cars over 20 times!  And the view from the ferris wheel was amazing – mountains on one side and beautfiul beaches on the other.

This part of the Costa del Sol is “expatriate central “- we have met tons of English and Irish, Germans, Dutch and French.  There are mostly English and Irish restaurants and most everyone speaks English – which is good for us – since my Spanish is limited to what we learned on Dora and Diego and from our dear friend Patricia:)

I have realized what beach babies I have.  Marissa and Shane are in heaven when they are close to the beach.  They could play there forever.

I know that generalaties are not wise – but it seems that Spanish people LOVE children.  The kids have been adored by total strangers everywhere we go.

One afternoon after an early dinner we were walking on the beach and ran into three couples – young adults from south Africa that engaged the children in playing soccer for over an hour.  They were so happy and everyone had such a nice time.

 Our rental car is about the size of Shanes toy car that he drives around our cul de sac:)  It is amazing how small cars are here – it cannot fit all of our suitcases.  But our apartment has parking and a washing machine – and a grocery store about 20 meters away – but best of all it is one block from the beautiful beach.

Marissa found a pretty flamenco dress and thinks she is now a Spanish princess.

We drove to Madrid and the mountains were breathtaking and it was such fun to drive through.  Some of the mountains were snow capped but we didnt get to play in snow.  We did pull over at one point to dance in the clouds at our feet and pick olives.

It truly is beautiful and relaxing here and we love it….and…

 We are coming home for Christmas.  We miss our home, friends and family and can’t imagine Christmas without them  – so we will continue our journey later.

For more of our pictures from Spain click here -http://www.flickr.com/photos/blisstravelers/sets/72157622813517463/