Rachael and Riley's Big Adventure: Spain

Cadiz

View of the city from the top of the cathedral bell tower

We arrived in Cadiz, Spain and it was sunny and beautiful. We had decided since we had been here before we would use this time as our vacation from our travels and just enjoy the beach and relax. When we travel on the ship there are no weekend days off. We are either in country on in school on the ship, and we forget to take time off. This time I planned for Spain to be our time off. Because we were not going to Morocco anymore we stayed in Cadiz, Spain for 2 extra days, and then we were going to Canary Islands for 2 days, which are part of Spain.

We hit the beach as soon as we arrived in Spain, and enjoyed some sunny weather. Mother nature had other plans and on the 3rd day the skies opened up and the rain started to fall and it continued until the last day :( The girls loved getting some beach time in and we all felt much better after some time with the waves and sand. With all the rain we mostly rested on the ship, but we would venture out for some yummy spanish food when the rain let up a bit. (it was a warm rain)

We also climbed to the top of the cathedral belltower and the girls loved the adventure of getting to the top seeing the ship and city from up high. There was also a religious procession carrying an alter of Mary through the streets of the city. Rachael managed to get to the front and was enthralled by everything. We also got to talk to the girls school back home through ichat, and they really, really loved seeing their friends at home. They answered questions and told the class what we had been doing on our travels.

there was a cathedral close to the ship just like in Belgium

inside the cathedral was not as fancy as the one in Belgium, but still expansive and white.

finally some warm weather and we hit the beach

playing on the shore

the girls noticed that the beaches were different than home; some women were topless and everyone wore bikinis no matter what kind of body you have or how old you are.

the girls worked together on a sand castle fairy home.

Rachael found a hermit crab in the rocks, and made a home for it in a bucket.

Yummiest gelato we found in Cadiz

Yum!

A warm rain started to fall as the sun set.

can you find Rachael?

LOVED chasing the pigeons

playing with new toys

relaxing during a rainy day

venturing out into the rain to get some afternoon snack

we can see the ship from up here!

walking back down the belltower

ocean view from the top of the belltower

a huge window on the way to the top of the belltower

Made it to the top of the belltower

A tiny window on the way to the top of the belltower

the girls loved talking to their classmates while we were in Spain, and seeing their classroom back at home.

Canary Islands (Tenerife island)

We were only two days in Canary Islands, and it was not quite the cultural mecca that Morocco promised to be, so we decided to extend our vacation in the Canary Islands. I discovered that there were more to the islands than just beaches, there were also some conifer forests. So we rented a car and explored the island, and drove partway up the volcano Tiede. It was a very high volcano and rose to about 12,000 feet in elevation. It was warm, and rained on and off the entire time we were there so we got to see lots of rainbows.

We arrived on a Sunday and all the shops were closed, except the flea market and produce markets. We spent the morning of our arrival exploring these and both girls picked something out at the flea market. It reminded both of them of the swap meet back home.

We picked up our rental car and decided to drive up the side of the volcano until we got to some pine forests. We climbed in elevation very quickly, and it got cold fast. We drove into the clouds and found a side road in the forest that led to some hiking trails. We got out of the car and both girls immediately said it smelled like home! The silence of the trees was a welcome change after the constant noise of being on the ship and big cities. We crossed some creeks and all the water was being diverted into pipes down to sea level so all the creeks were bone dry! One even looked like it would have a tiered waterfall in the rocks. I pointed out to the girls if all the water goes to the people below, the forest critters don't have any water. The only critters we saw in the forest were bugs and birds, since it is a volcanic island it did not have much mammal life.

We found a caldera while we were walking and it had been converted into a picnic area with picnic tables up the sides and a playground in the middle. Riley found a pretty pink fungus ball shaped fungus growing on the wood of the tables, and there was a small pond of rain water in the middle. The girls were amazed that it used to be a volcano vent and lava hot gasses used to come out of it. The volcano Tiede is still an active volcano, and erupted last in the 1900's, so the girls decided that the bubbles coming out of the pond water were the volcano letting out some gasses.

We all loved being in a place where there were more trees than people for a change, and it was difficult to leave the forest when it it was time to head back to the ship. We were wishing we had more than just two days to explore the island, and wanted to spend more time hiking in the trees.