Mis Padres.

So I think it is safe to say that when I have visitors here in Spain, my blog gets neglected.
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While in Honduras last year Rachel’s parents made the crazy trip to our mountain to visit for a week. At this point I already knew that I was heading to Spain, and didn’t expect my parents to come visit me during the 6 months I was in Honduras. However, I had every expectation that they would come and visit me while I lived in Spain for 10 months, and this became an even higher expectation when I found out Jay would also be in Spain at the same time studying in Seville (higher expectation because between Jay and I, and then my uncle, aunt and cousin, there were a lot of people to visit). Thus, a week before I left last August, my parents bought tickets to come.

They have now come and gone, and it went quickly. They arrived last Thursday and I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was an awesome week with them—I only went one day without seeing them, and the itinerary went as planned.

Their flight arrived on time and after a scare at the baggage claim (their baggage was sent to a different carrousel, but it took 30 minutes and the panic of lost baggage to figure that out) we were on our way to Algeciras. We arrived and spent the rest of the night just hanging out.




Friday we drove out to the lookout point you have seen before and snapped some pictures of Africa.


We then backtracked and picked up my cousin Christopher and went to a town (I believe it was Sabinillas) and had an awesome lunch right on the Mediterranean. I could tell that my parents were both giddy at the fact that they were in Spain, and that they were sitting on the Mediterranean. It was a lot of fun to observe.


Saturday morning we woke up early and headed towards Bolonia, the location of the Roman ruins my uncle took me to back in August and also went to with Jay in January. We walked around the ruins and then went and grabbed a bite to eat near the beach.




After enjoying another great meal we headed back towards Algeciras, but not before stopping off at the lookout again for a coffee and the clearest view of Africa I have seen yet from that spot.



My parents, Jay and I then packed up our things and headed up towards Seville. After dropping my parents off near their rented flat, and a crazy time trying to find a parking spot, we went out for dinner in Seville. Afterwards I took my parents for a night walk around the historical center of town, most notably the Cathedral and La Giralda, which both look incredible lit up at night.

Sunday morning we woke up, went out for breakfast, and started our long walking tour around Seville. This included El Museo de Bella Artes, Triana and Jay’s homestay, the Real Alcazar and Plaza de España. We grabbed some dinner at one of my favorite tapas bars and went out for ice cream. (Note: at this point I left my parents and Jay to go watch the Michigan vs. Duke basketball game at a Tex-Mex bar I had discovered when I lived there, and that Rachel and I had visited and watched the NFL at back in December. There was a Duke fan there, as well three current Michigan students. What a heart breaker of a game…)





Monday morning we woke up and went out to breakfast. We then headed towards the Cathedral and La Giralda. My parents, especially mom, were pretty overwhelmed at its’ size, but they really enjoyed the views from La Giralda.




After checking this out we began our adventure of trying to figure out how to get out of Seville, and on to the highway towards Malaga on our way to Nerja, where my parents had rented a flat for the rest of the week. This proved to be very difficult with the confusing roads, lack of street signs, and road construction. What should have probably only taken 20-25 minutes ended up taking us over an hour. Finally, after a couple of wrong turns, roundabouts, and finally asking someone where the highway was, we were on our way. However, we were soon slowed down again as we came upon a giant oversize truck carrying an enormous steel structure that was taking up both lanes of the highway and not letting anyone pass. We were stuck going between 30-60 km/hour for over an hour. Eventually it took an exit and we were on our way. We made it to Nerja, found the flat, and went grocery shopping.

Tuesday night after classes Michael Lynn, Emily and I hopped in the car and drove to Nerja to have dinner with my parents. My parents had walked down to the beach and spent the afternoon relaxing (I took all their pictures off my mom’s new camera before they left).




Wednesday ended up being the only day I didn’t see them, but Thursday night Emily and I went to Nerja after our classes and we all went out to dinner. We went to a local place that was owned by a British couple, which was a short walk from the flat. It was quite the interesting restaurant. The menu was only in English (they may have had a Spanish one), but no one in the restaurant was speaking Spanish, only English and Norwegian. It was pretty good food, though.

Friday morning (yesterday) we drove up to Granada. We again went on a walking tour of another culturally rich Spanish town that included seeing the Cathedral, walking through the Albaicin neighborhood, and the Alhambra.





After a long day in Granada we made a quick stop in Motril to show my parents my flat and grabbed a bite to eat. We then headed back to Nerja.

This morning we were up at 5:30 and were off to Malaga by 6:45.

The week went by fast, but it was a treat to have my parents come all the way to Spain to visit. I am super fortunate that they were able to come and my expectations were met!

Thanks mom and dad!