After our crazy adventures in Morocco, we arrived in Malaga and were happy to find a wonderful beach town that had more playgrounds and fun areas for kids than we’ve ever seen. While we were only there a short time, we enjoyed every minute of it. We then took the train to Barcelona, where our time to take in the sights there was cut short by the first illness of the trip (poor Paxton was the unlucky one). We still managed to see a tour of half the city by bus, catch a soccer match between FC Barcelona and Arsenal, and Maria got to tour Antoni GaudÃ’s amazing Sagrada FamÃlia church (the pictures below don’t begin to convey the wonder and spectacle that it is).
Malaga
Our last view of the African continent…but it is Cueta, Spain (a gift to Spain from the King of Morocco).A nice tile picture of what Malaga used to look like.The waves of the Mediterranean with downtown Malaga in the distance. Look close and you can see two ladies floating in the water…up and over waves as they come.One of the many play areas for kids on the beautiful Malaga beach.These old chimneys were in many places in MalagaOne of several outdoor cooking “boats” at restaurants on the beach.Paxton being adventurous and trying his first sardine.A fun water pad next to the beach. Kids would throw their sandals up on top of the yellow surface and the water would shoot them out as it poured down on everyone. Paxton is in the center of the photo.
Barcelona
Upon arriving in Barcelona, we found a restaurant nearby where we were staying and while we were eating, saw this brash parakeet stealing food from the pigeons. The pigeons were trying to break down large pieces of bread/crackers to more manageable bite-size pieces, but the parakeet kept swooping in and grabbing the entire huge piece of food and flying up to a tree to have it all to itself. A parakeet condominium in this tree. I count at least four nests made from twigs. If you look close, you can see some of the birds inside. Some sailors on leaveThis ice cream shop on the corner of where we were staying often had long lines like this in the afternoon and night. We didn’t try any…but must be some amazing ice cream. I don’t think Obama is a spanish word…so must be a shop/restaurant named in his honor?Saw these “Horse meat disco” signs throughout the city. We can only imagine what that party is like. The site of the opening ceremony for the 1992 Olympics.Trying to get a city view from a moving bus. The tree is typical of trying to get a shot of something from a moving vehicle…inevitably something stationary gets in the way.At first I thought this dude was naked…but turns out he’s wearing shorts.This architectural museum was first created for the 1929 Barcelona World’s Fair.The big bullfighting ring in Barcelona. Unlike the rest of the country, they banned bullfighting in 2010.Cool lady walking down the streetOne of the various buildings built in Barcelona by Antoni Gaudà in the late 19th century. He was known for his avant garde approach to design.Another Gaudi building, which brings us to…
Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Church
This crazy church was only about half way done when Gaudi died in the late 1800s. These pictures don’t do the building justice, but hopefully give a sense of all of the amazing details put into it.
This guy is killing babies?!?Inside the church
FC Barcelona vs Arsenal
This was not a regular season game, but the 100K seat arena was filled to capacity.
The festivities started hours before the game’s 8pm start time.Table soccer?Messi takes the field (but didn’t end up playing)Barca super fan sectionThe sheer size of the crowd is pretty amazingArsenal was leading most of the game, but Barca ended up winning.The wave heading our way. It went around the stadium quite a few times and all 100k of us took part.
