Espana!

 

Embarking on our adventure from MCO to Spain (via Frankfurt)...T is a strong boy these days.  I knew there was a reason we brought him along. :)

 

 Unfortunately we were delayed over three hours departing due to FL storms...T kicked back and sipped his root beer while we waited. :)

 

 Once on the plane, around midnight, T took advantage of the extra seat in our row and crashed for at least four hours which was great!

 

 We missed our connection in Frankfurt but Lufthansa quickly got us booked on the next flight out...and we arrived in Barcelona around 6 PM with gorgeous weather!  And the architecture...WOW!!

 After checking into our hotel, we noticed this Jamoneria across the street...

 

 YEP, that is CONES of MEAT!!  :)

 

 The foyer of our Barcelona hotel - so ornate and beautiful. The hotel was built in 1890 and had so much history.  In the Gothic Quarter of the city too so a great convenient location.

 

 Enjoyed some traditional spanish tapas our first night...fried cod, iberian ham, spanish omelet with egg and potato, anchovy and manchego with olive oil, and smoked salmon and creme fraiche.  Also lots of olives, patatas braves with aoili, and calamari (not pictured).

 

 T was very intrigued by the bidets on this visit to Europe.  He would randomly just be like "time to wash my butt!" out of the blue!  :)

 

 The first morning, I ordered a cup of "hot chocolate" from the cafe.  It had a lid on it so when I brought it back to Taylor in the room, he took a LOOOOOONG chug and then showed me a toothy grin covered in FUDGE. I literally got HOT CHOCOLATE - melted fudge basically, no milk!  Something lost in translation, I think.  LOL!

 

Now who do you think requested this pic?  :)  In the middle of Placa Catalunya, by the way.

 

The beaches of Barcelona.  Even in Europe, turns out I am a beach girl.  Just love it!

 

T and D in front of La Sagrada Familia - the most famous temple designed by Gaudi.  It is super impressive!

 

More tapas for lunch the next day...

 

Spanish beer and some yummy sangria too

 

Family pic on top of Tibidabo  Mountain

 

Overlooking Barclona - from the mountains to the Mediterranean

 

Back down the STEEP funicular!

 

T in his utopia - Camp Nou!  Stadium of his favorite team, FC Barcelona!

 

Inside the trophy room next to the Messi's MVP awards

 

T and D inside the stadium

 

The next day we hit the Picasso Museum.  We gave T about 12 postcards of Picasso paintings before and he had to find them inside the museum.  This little scavenger hunt made it much more enjoyable for both him and us!

 

Afterward, he was inspired to sit down outside of the museum and create his own "abstract" drawings...

 

Behold...The One Eyed Dragon by Taylor!

 

We also tried Vermut in Barcelona - a very popular sweet-ish wine that is super floral and herbacious and served over ice.  Gotta admit - neither of us loved it!

 

That afternoon, we took a very scenic train ride along the coast to Valencia...

 

The view from our room balcony in Valencia - 

 

T in the sand...it has the feel of our powdery gulf beaches but the color of our atlantic beaches.

 

HAD to dip our toes in the Mediterranean!

Mama and her handsome boy

 

T in front of our resort...we only stayed here for one night but it was fabulous!

 

We enjoyed traditional Valencian paella - it had rabbit, chicken, roasted artichokes and roasted green beans mixed in with the saffron rice that was crispy and chewy and DELICIOUS

 

Walking back to the hotel after dinner...it was the low season, can you tell?  :)

 

T in front of this cool sand castle...notice the bat?  For some reason, the BAT is the mascot animal for the city of Valencia.

 

T climbing this cool rope jungle gym thing on the beach

 

Then back to the train station for a trip to the capital...Madrid!

 

The spanish countryside along the way...our weather was perfect!

 

Picking the nose of the giant baby head statue in Madrid...Americans just keepin' it classy abroad!

 

T and D in a gin bar - the seats were these cool metal swings hanging from the ceiling

 

A gin and tonic...in a GOBLET?!?!  :)  It was tasty though!

 

Their fries served with these amazing little fried crispy peppers - they were sweet and smoky...so yummy!

 

Drinks that evening...every time we ordered a round of drinks, we would get this plate of tapas for free - I mean, it was cracking us up bc it was a lot of food!!

 

T in front of the Puerta de Toledo which was just down the hill from our hotel in the La Latina quarter.

 

T in front of the Prado Museum and a Goya statue.

 

Same plan in The Prado with the postcards...this time he was searching for Diego Velazquez and Goya paintings but we also found a Rembrandt, some Rubens, and many more.

 

The Prado is HUGE!!!

 

One of the castles in Madrid...anyone notice the "Refugees Welcome" sign hanging in the middle??

 

The Palacio Real

 

T on top of our hotel, overlooking the city

 

The hotel's sundeck...one of the MANY things I loved about Spain is that all our hotels seemed to have SOME sort of outdoor space and that is not always the case in hotels in other European cities we have visited.

 

Also loved these!  Instead of our ketchup packets, they would give these tonight EVOO packets...and of course the EVOO is amazing in Spain!

 

We bid adieu to Espana that next morning but had one more little treat...at the Frankfurt airport, they had this amazing caviar shop...so T and I shared 20 grams of some right tasty fish eggs before boarding the 10-hour flight back to The States!

 

When we got home that evening, T was happily surprised to see that the Easter Bunny had left him a basket while we were gone...nice little treat to come home to!

All in all, Spain was one of my favorite countries we have ever visited - a great "city" vibe combined with a relaxed beach vibe.  The food was great and the people were relaxed and nice. The architecture was some of the most gorgeous I have ever seen.  I would definitely return!!