Alicante & Benidorm with Rafael & Pepi Sebastia

After leaving Santa Fe we drove several hours north to Alicante. It rained the entire time and it was quite late when we arrived. We met Gary's friends Rafael Sebastia and his wife Pepi at a Burger King parking lot and they took us to their beach apartment in Alicante, where they graciously allowed us to stay for a few days.

The next morning they took us to Benidorm, which is a resort area north of Alicante.  We went to MundoMar, which is a sealife park alot like Sea World. There were flamingos everywhere!

And the meerkats were so close you could reach out and touch them!  But they always ran away...

 

The sea park is built against a hillside, and the dolphin show was at the top of the hill so the views were spectacular.

There was one part of the dolphin show where they bring kids from the audience in and let them ride in boats while the dolphins push the boat around.  The little girl they chose looked EXACTLY like Laney!  She turned her head just as I snapped the photo, but she looked so much like Laney is was crazy.

Here is Gary with Pepi and Rafael.  Pepi's name is really Josephine, but she goes by Pepi.  And anyone in Spain named Joseph goes by Pepe as well.  Just different spellings.  They don't use the name Jose for Joseph, like they do in Mexico.

The views from the sea park were really great - all across the mountains and hills around Alicante.

  

That evening we drove down into the town of Benidorm and walked along the beachfront area to a lookout point that is made completely of marble and limestone.  Here are the steps down to the pier.

This is the chapel plaza in Benidorm.

The beach of Benidorm from the plaza lookout.

The chapel in Benidorm.

Inside they are having Mass.  It was pretty packed, apparently because it was Halloween!

A Day in Santa Fe Spain

It was raining Monday morning when we left Granada to head north to Alicante. We had been able to get in touch with one of the sisters who Gary had baptized while on his mission in Granada - Mary Jose. We made plans to meet her at the Plaza Nuevo just down the street from our hotel, and then we followed her to her sister's house in Santa Fe, about ten miles outside of Granada.

When we got to her sister's house we found that Mary Jose had been able to get both of her sisters and her mother together to see Gary.  Gary had baptized all three of the sisters while on his mission.  They were just teenagers at the time, and it was so great to be able to see them and visit with them.

They had us stay to dinner, which was wonderful!  And we sat around and visited for hours.  Mary Jose speaks English so she and I were able to visit, but none of the other sisters or their mother speaks English, so they all just chattered a million miles an hour with Gary.

This is Mary Jose, me, Eva and Mary Cruz.  We met at Mary Cruz's house in Santa Fe, where she and her husband have a tile workshop and warehouse.  They make hand painted tiles for home decor..

The outside walls of the house and warehouse is decorated with different examples of the tiles they make and the designs that can be created.

This is what the tiles look like after they come out of the ovens.  The colors are so bright and vibrant.

Here is a before and after shot of what the tiles look like before they are baked and after.  You can see how much brighter they are after baking.

Here is a sample of one of the metallic tiles - they are bright bronze and absolutely beautiful.

The back wall of the warehouse, which is visible from the freeway that runs behind the building, is decorated with two enormous mosaic depictions of The Albambra Palace.  These mosaics are about 10 feet by 8 feet and are gorgeous.

We bought a smaller version of the exterior view of the Alhambra to have set and framed for our home.

It was such a treat to visit with these women and spend some time with them.  They are such great people and Gary is so glad to be able to get back in touch with so many people from his mission.

Spanish Kitties!!

Everywhere you look in Spain you see cats.  And these are not scary wild feral cats, these are clean, fluffy, playful cats wandering all over the city.  They are at the palaces, they are at the cafes, the are at the hotels.  They wander among us and rub up against our legs and curl at our feet.  Gary thinks I'm crazy to take photos but I can't help it!  The first cats I saw were tiny kittens romping around the park by the Plaza de Espana, but I couldn't get to my camera fast enough.  I will keep my camera handy from now on and see how many Spanish kitties I can snap!

The Amazing Alhambra Palace

We were able to spend the day at the Alhambra Palace in Granada and it was absolutely spectacular! We were on a bit of a time crunch because we had both worked on our computers until about 4 am, and had to be at the Nasrid Palaces by 9 am for our tour, so we hoofed it as fast as possible through the streets of Granada to the palace, which happens to be at the top of a very steep hill.  We arrived huffing and puffing and sweaty, but just in time!  As we came around the corner to the entryway we couldn't believe the amount of intricate bass relief carving above the very basic doorway.

Once inside the palace the designs and colors were absolutely amazing,  The bass relief carvings are from the reign of the Moors, around 800 bc to 1400 bc.

This is a ceiling of inlaid hand carved wood.  Each tiny piece is carved and painted by hand, then fitted into the ceiling.

The highlight of The Alhambra Palace is the Courtyard of the Lions, where there is a limestone fountain sitting on the backs of carved lions.  The fountain was recently taken apart and sent away to be cleaned and restored - it was replaced with a replica fountain during that time, but the original is back in place.

The entire courtyard and many other places in the Nasrid Palaces are filled with bass relief carvings.  These are made by coating the wall with plaster, then carving intricate designs into the plaster before it dries.  When it dries the honeycomb designs are visible when light and shadow fall upon the walls.

The views from the Palace are amazing as well....

I would have had so many more photos of the Alhambra, but my camera battery died about 25 minutes into the tour - BLAST!!  But that was OK because Gary had his camera.  Which disappeared at the end of the day.  We have no idea what happened to it.  One minute we had it and then it was gone...

Oh well, somewhere I have photos on my iPod and when I figure out how to download them I will share!

Sunday in Spain

Sunday morning in Granada - absolutely gorgeous!  We got up early because we had to figure out how to find the church in Granada.  We tried to find it on Google maps and on our GPS and realized that we didn't trust either of them, so we took a cab.

 We met up with Pepe and Loli Sanchez, Rafael and Manuel at the ward in Granada.  Pepe was just 14 years old and a newly baptized member when Gary was serving in Granada. He is married now (converted his wife Loli) and has three children who are all doing well and active in the Church.  Rafael is also married and his wife is in the Relief Society Presidency in Granada.  Manuel was the second member of the Church in Granada and is still active.

Church was amazing!  There were three sisters in Relief Society who spoke English so they translated for me and the lesson was great.  It was about being self sufficient, home improvement, food storage etc and it was a VERY lively discussion!  The ladies all just speak out and talk over the top of one another and it is hilarious.  They get very passionate about their ideas and it is a blast to watch them interact with eachother.

After Church we went back to our little hotel, which was located in the streets right beneath the Alhambra Palace.

We walked up the street and found a great little tapas bar for lunch.  The streets were crowded with Sunday crowds so we ate our lunch on the wall by the river.  It was great just to sit and watch the people walk by.

 

The people in Spain, especially the women, are very very stylish!  They get all dressed up whenever they go out, even if it is just to the market to pick up fresh bread and cheese.  The standard uniform of the Spanish woman is a skirt, sweater, scarf and boots with heels.  Or designer jeans, a sweater, scarf and boots with heels!  I think I need to invest in a pair of chic boots with heels!

After lunch we decided to do a little exploring.  The streets around our hotel were full of gorgeous old buildings that had been palacios and estates in the 15th and 16th centuries, but have now been turned into hotels and apartments. Our hotel had a fresco in the entry courtyard which was painted in the 1700's.

There was also the most adorable little church in the plaza just down the street from the hotel.  It is like the perfect little village church!

This is a view from across the street up the little stairway to our hotel

The bridge across from our hotel.  It leads to a little cluster of hotels just below the Alhambra Palace

The hotels below the Alhambra Palace.

We walked down the street from our hotel to the Christopher Columbus Plaza.  Gary used to cash his missionary checks at the bank on the corner!

We were then able to wander through a few streets until we found the street that Gary used to live on, and the apartment he lived in!

 

Next, we wandered into the central part of Granada to the Cathedral.  There were so many buildings that had been built around it that it is almost hidden.  You can see the spires of the cathedral over this palacio.

Here is one of the entrances to the Cathedral.

 

The main entrance to the Cathdral is down a narrow alley that opens into a big plaza.

  

Across from the main entry to the Cathedral is the Convent - gorgeous building!

Here is the dome inside the Cathedral.  It was very ornately painted and absolutely gorgeous!  All in all, our Sunday in Granada was spectactular!!