Hola Espana!

This about sums it up - hot nights (and days) amid the fairytale lights (here, of old Toledo), shared with the odd grumpy princess and ogre-like 10 year old or two, but nothing that a dip in the hotel pool couldn't fix

This one's ready for the Riviera.

Sam: "The first city we stayed in was very satisfying, it had a pool, soft beds and good airconditioning. Wich was a very important factor to our hotels. After we got settled in we drove into torledo wich is on a hill and suronded by a magnif river."

And this one's willing a gold Mastercard to come along, or at least hoping the 1 euro fantas from the dairy in Toledo's central square hold off sunstroke for a bit.

Souvenir shopping, well, looking actually since we've yet (almost) to buy anything.

We make a friend, the tourist office lady in Orgaz who informs us we're on the wrong road to get to Granada. Jac: "We were feeling so confident in our abilities we decided GPS was for wimps & who needs a map, not the mighty Pennies. So we set off in a non-English speaking country without a map or guidance system in the middle of a heat wave. What were we thinking?"

Even in Granada there is such a thing as a Time-Out.

If you think the drinking fountain is impressive, imagine the Alhambra that's attached to it (but you don't have to, since the pix are below).

This one's for Uncle Mike.

We went on the night tour.

Jac: "We hiked down this beautiful garden to have kebabs alfresco, but then had to hike back up again. The usual waiting in queues to explore one of the wonders of the world eventually drove some of us to tears, not exactly at the beauty of the place but from exhaustion. It was 11 o’clock at night and the heat was still there, not that it taught the responsible parents a lesson."

A strange shop in Ronda that sold only white stuff.

If you can read this, you'll see it lets you smoke in the cafe.

Where the bulls are kept before they run into the ring.

"Look kids, blood!" Nah,not really, we didn't get to a bullfight though Phil was keen - Ticketek's not up to much in southern Spain and under-14s aren't allowed.

Lara: "The bull ring was very cool - because you got to go in to the ring and got to pretended to be the matador and you could ... " (run out of steam).

Look closely under Sam's chin and you may see the notches left by the bull's horns on these, the protective barriers for bullfighters dotted round the ring. The gorge at Ronda, impressive if you weren't sub 11, hungry and hot.


We discover that not only is "Rosa" obviously of Spanish origin, but so is "Lara".

Massive, centuries'-old "Dragon" (magnolia) trees dot Cadiz - and unlike in France, the locals don't mind if you climb them (though they think it odd when it's hot).

Lara: "We went to teh bech and buid a sandcatle."

Each day at the mercado central we checked out a new stall, this one with a catchy name.

Rosa: "We went to the bech and swim in the Bech."
Jac: "Our family stood out in many ways, only kids in sun tops, blinding white skin, wearing goggles in the sea and parents who lay there reading rather than talking to each other."

Ellie: "It was an apartment on the forth floor and there was no lift. So we had to go up the steps. There was 84 steps."

Jac: "At night Phil & I dragged our mattress into the lobby, Ellie put hers directly under the air con pump & the girls slept on the couches next to it. Sam the lizard was the only one who slept in a bedroom."

At the Catedral after witnessing a "passionate!"/"boring!" flamenco (song, not dance) performance on a 1.5 metre wide first floor balcony.

Bingo at Cadiz Yacht Club, as you do.

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Snorkelling was top notch for Europe, if at times a bit shallow.

Miss Beach Girl Cadiz 2010, at right.

Spanish church decorations - all saints, Mary and ... pirates?

For 80 euro or so they let us into the World Famous, One and Only, Dancing Andalusian Horses of Jerez.

Rosa: "The dancing horses was boring."

Jac: "The show was 2 hours long and 10 mins in, one little voice said 'I wish they were dancing dogs'. I’m sure if you know a lot about horses it would be incredible & it was good but there is a limit to how many ways you can get horses to go round an arena."

Phil: "Yeh, I'm up for organising another such visit - what a blast."

And homeward bound on the Jerez-Cadiz bus.

La Caleta, the main beach on old Cadiz town, and where we swam most days.

Our apartment in the foreground with the curved balcony, El Catedral behind.

The last day in Cadiz Sam and Phil went up the Torre Tavira, a tower with a camera obscura on top. Great - and on the way down we realised tourists could see across to this view, of our apartment, and into the living room where we were wont to wander round in our smalls.

Next stop Sevilla, which takes top prize next only to Gaudi/Barcelona for the world's trippiest cathedral design.
Jac:"Catching the flash cool metro was easy but finding somewhere to eat in touristful expensive Sevilla was not. After traipsing along beautiful but still hot streets for an hour we bought a horrible ice cream. Actually sat down in one restaurant & then realized we could only afford the water, so hastily got up again. Another half an hour later poor Rosa was almost shaking, we were in danger of putting all the minis into the depths of heat stroke & there we saw the oasis, yellow arches. Here are the children who never get to go into MacDonald’s but wait till they hit the famous cities of Paris & now Sevilla. But who can beat a meal, a drink & a toy for 3 Euro each! Heat stroke narrowly averted, Phil & I found a kebab shop nearby & the owner was greatly amused at the girls who sat on the floor & watched the local Spanish comedy show for half an hour, he thought they were engrossed I think they were about to pass out from exhaustion."

Cordoba offered Batman cartoons and Patrick Swayze in Spanish on TV.

Somewhat less cool than that was the Mezquita - though the older tourists thought it topped the lot.

Jac: "Phil actually took video footage of me having a hissed rave at them, in fact I told them to hike it outside but they came back after the guard told them they weren’t allowed outside without an adult. I just avoided eye contact as we left."

Our own Romeo and Juliet, overlooking the courtyard at a convent-turned-hotel in historic Cuenca. Pity it was the bathroom window.

Some photos are merely to prove, We Was There. Jac: "We lied to the minis saying we were going out for ice cream but just happened to go past the Prado, the famous art gallery. 'We’ll just pop in here for 10 mins'. Half an hour later all trust was broken."

And the raison d'etre for all this wandering, the historic, one of its kind, Madrid Theme Park.

Look closely at left and you may see Sam in the blue shirt, handing upside down.

Somewhere under the spray are the minis and Jac - while this was a hit the little cars that went down the hills scored bigger with Rosa; she went on them 17 times.

We master the Madrid metro ticket system.

The final hurrah on an open-top tour bus round Madrid, aka 'The Boil Your Brain' tour.

About to catch the tube for Madrid airport - left Spain, 36 degrees, hopped off the plane in London it's 18 degrees & raining. Summer time in England

Jac: "I’ve decided I want to come back as a Spaniard. I absolutely love the people, country & life style. Hot weather, cheap good wine & food and a country full of people who like to chill out chatting.

"But I think we have put our children off visiting historic places for life - my theory, we’ve stuffed them full of culture now so in their 20’s they can trip round Europe’s beaches & pubs without any guilt."