More Spain

Arcos de la Frontera is a small village that sits on the cliffs. This village is well known for it's whitewashed buildings. The view from the top of the hill shows the river in the above picture quite full. You can see how much rain they've had, as the trees are sitting in the river. I visited this beautiful village with a group of spouses while the husband's were in their conference.
This village has very narrow cobblestone streets. I loved this one in particular with the moss growing in the sides and the pots around the door.
This shows how narrow the streets were. You can see the scrapes on the wall. Many cars are either missing the front parts of their mirrors or have scratches and dents everywhere. The scratched/dented cars were quite common everywhere we went. We were lucky enough to escape without any scratches or dents to the rental car. This is a convent to a closed order, meaning these nuns don't come out (at very seldom under special circumstances.) Before it became a convent in 1642 it was actually a prison! You can buy cookies and buscuits made by the nuns. In the doorway there is a buzzer, the nuns take your order and it's delivered in a revolving door. I couldn't imagine being kept inside with the same people day in and day out. I'm sure they look forward to seeing new faces when the doors open to sell the goodies.

Me waiting in front of the revolving door
The boxes of treats available. Each box had a different kind. I ended up getting the shortbread type with a small almond sliver on top. MMMM!



These pictures are taken from our day trip to Sevilla. A bit out of order but it'll be ok. Here we are sitting down to eat lunch. We went for the traditional tapas restaurant which are basically appetizers. You can pick many from a menu and either end up completely full or just "satisfied". While out with the "ladies" I was able to learn which ones to order when I go out alone. We loved the fried squid and the tortilla de papas which is basically a Spanish omelette with potatoes inside. They're absolutely delicious! Most things in Spain are fried, but they claim they use olive oil, therefore they're healthy right? :-)
The above picture is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. His remains are said to be inside.
outside in the court of oranges with the bell tower in the back ground.
The above picture is called the "High Altar" This is the largest altar piece ever made. It's 65 feet tall, with 44 scenes from the life of Jesus carved out of walnut and chestnut, covered in gold leaf and dust. The story is told left to right with the crucifixion at the very top. The bull ring of Sevilla.
The Cathedral is amazing!!!! It is Europe's 3rd largest. Here is a bit of history on the cathedral.
"The Christians bragged " We'll build a cathedral so huge that anyone who sees it will take us for madmen." Construction began in 1402 and continued until 1506. Church workers gave half their salaries to build this monster! The above picture shows part of the 7000 pipe organ which is still played during Mass.


Before we headed off to Sevilla, we stopped in to the "gypsy market". It's only held on Wednesday's right outside the Rota Air Station gate. It's seriously like walking into Tijuana, with everyone trying to sell things to you. The shoes Mike has in his hands, we bought for each man in the family. They'll be in the mail soon! :-)
We spent our evenings walking the beach. The Portuguese man- of -war was found all over the sand. I wouldn't have gotten into that water for nothing! We did have fun stepping on them, making them POP!


The weather was quite windy and cool. We did enjoy the sunshine though. We had a fantastic 5 days in Southern Spain. We have the best friends back home who watched the kids while we ran around town.
This Man is pretty handsome! Videos are from the beach and Gibraltar.