Olivia - Superstar

Llegamos a Barcelona

Thursday, Nov 2 - Today was a quiet day... Karina is not feeling very well so we hung out at Valeria's house and I got caught up on work a little... back to reality... I knew it could not last very long.

Today I went with Oli to the Mercado to buy some fruit and had a Swarma at the plaza near Valeria's house. Oli is soooo Cute...

Tomorrow I am planning on taking Valeria's bike and going for a tour around the city... Let's see how the sun rises.

Murcia - Visit Dede

Tuesday, Oct 31 - Today we drove from Arcos de la Frontera to Murcia to visit Karina's cousin (Dede). On the way we stopped in Granada. What a city... too bad we had to change our trip around and will not be staying the night.

We spent the afternoon walking around and had lunch at the Parador on the La Alhambra. It was a perfect day without a cloud in the Sky... I think we can go back 10 times and we will not get so lucky. We did not have all that much time, as we needed to get to Murcia at a reasonable hour.

After spending the afternoon at the Alhambra we drove to Murcia arriving around 8 PM. We were very well received by Karina's cousin and had a nice meal, a Cigar, and watched the Barcelona game for the UEFA Champions league. A nice evening... (Special Thanks to our Hosts)

Wednesday, Nov 1 - (I can't believe we are already in November... Where has this year gone???)

We had breakfast at Dede's house and then went for a stroll in the old town. Murcia is a nice city but without anything special... It seems to be going through a Boom due to heavy British investment... The Brits all want to come over and enjoy a little sun and a much cheaper cost of living. It is crazy to see how Spain is booming... there is construction all over the place. Michel (Dede's Husband) said that the area has been growing at a staggering rate for the past few years catching up with the rest of Spain... If I only had a few million EU$ laying around...

Leaving Murcia around 1 PM we drove to Barcelona to meet up with Valeria... It was a +/- 6-hour drive with a few stops on the way... I personally much rather drive around EU than to fly when the distances are reasonable. Uneventful drive... We had a short stop at the Valencia Airport for Lunch and arrived in Barcelona in the evening.

We were well received by Valeria and Gianni and Olivia (a true inspiration of a Baby). Had a nice meal and chat... Makes me miss the real world a little.

Arcos de La Frontera

Today we picked up the car at the Santa Justa Train Station in Seville and drove south to Arcos de la Frontera. Arcos is a Small little town east of Cadiz. It is said to be one of the nicest Villas Blancas. It took us al but 10 minutes to explore the Villa. It is quite small but full of charm... We stayed at a cute little hotel that had an unbelievable deck with a breathtaking view from above.

After trying to find something to eat in the Villa and failing miserably as it was a little late (4:00 PM). We ended up at the Hotel again and had a nice snack on the deck. Karina can't see anther Tapa in front of her if not I will be the one ending up with a tapa. The south of Spain is great... But you better like tapas as this is what you will get.

We ended up watching the Sunset sipping some wine and realized that it is often better to visit the smaller little towns than going to the bigger cities... We relaxed and then took a little Nap...

At night we went to the Restaurante del Convento and made a special request... Boiled potatoes!!! We needed something neutral to balance the pH in our stomachs.