Ronda, Crazy but Wonderful Parents, and the Costa del Sol

Greetings -

We've had a fun filled weekend! Starting Thursday when Emily's parents came to see this awesome country, and of course, Emily. On Thursday alone, they visited the Plaza de America, Plaza de Espana, Barrio de Santa Cruz (one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sevilla), the Alcazar (the old palace where the king and queen would stay), the Cathedral, and climbed las Setas (a modern structure in the center of the city). All four of us hoped on the bus Friday morning to head to Ronda. Another field trip with our school. The drive was a site to see. Ronda is a fortress that has withstood many wars because of its location in the mountains, hence a beautiful and windy trip.

Ronda is the birth place of bullfights in Spain and we were lucky enough to see the oldest plaza de toros.

However, this was not nearly our favorite spot in Ronda. A group of us (we call ourselves the "rebel" group) decided to cross over the bridge. The two parts of Ronda are connected by a magnificent puenta (bridge). We were told not to cross the bridge so that we could experience the other side of Ronda with the group. Needless to say, none of us regret this decision.

This was our view at first, if you can believe it gets even better!

We noticed a path that lead right underneath this crazy awesome bridge, so why not go on a bit of a hike?! We took off on what started as a paved path, then gravel, then dirt, then we scaled the wall (okay, this is a bit of an exaggeration). We are still amazed at the beautiful views we saw down in the valley.

 The view from where we were hiking - the waterfall was sweet. 

 The look out view of rural Ronda
 

This was by far our favorite school field trip. Our previous trips we toured many Cathedrals, museums and the like (which are all very beautiful), but here we got to experience a bit of God's creation. We can't wait to see more of it! 

Emily and her parents!! 

The next part of our day consisted of going on a tour with the rest of our group and seeing more of the ancient city of Ronda. We returned to Sevilla that night, and although very tired Emily and her parents stuck it out and went to Carboneria - a famous flamenco bar in Sevilla.

The next part of our crazy weekend consisted of us packing up our things once again, renting a car, and trying to find the Costa del Sol which is the Southern coastline of Spain. At first you may think, "Oh, that sounds easy. Just pack up the things and drive South." But in reality, its always a little more complicated than that. My parents brought their handy dandy Garmin for this journey, but as it turns out, the directions given in other countries are more like suggestions. After we finally arrived, we soon learned that it was St. Patricks Day! The restaurant at our timeshare gave us free hats, and we ate all kinds of good things. Kerianne and I learned how to play the card game pitch, and everyone just had a really good time.

The following days were spent on the beach tanning, reading, and relaxing. We were actually so close to the Rock of Gibralter, that we could see Africa from the beach!

Seeing my (Emily) parents experience Europe for the first time, and exploring it with them has been one of the best experiences of my life. I was so thankful that I could be with them for their first time in Europe, and I think they were very thankful that they had Kerianne and I as well, especially for the language barrier. This coming weekend, my parents and I are headed to Barcelona for one more adventure.

We miss all of you and you are always in our thoughts and prayers!! Until next time...

One Ring to Rule Them All

Kerianne and I have already had the amazing experience to travel throughout parts of Spain, and in the near future, all over Europe. This past weekend, the students of the Acento de Trinity program boarded a bus, and took off for what was once, one of the most important cities in Southern Europe, Toledo. 

We took a short pit-stop to see the windmills of Don Quijote. Don Quijote is a famous fictional character who was known for his unique imagination. In the book, Don Quijote thought the windmills were giants that he tried to slay with his wooden sword on his noble stead, a donkey. 

Toledo is known for a variety of things: it was once the capital of Spain and a very important political power in Southern Europe, the cathedral, it's art history, and what all of you are actually interested in... Toledo has made almost all of the swords, guns, rings, and daggers throughout Hollywood's movies. Some of these include, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Alexander the Great, and the Samuri. 

Since Toledo is 6 hours away from Sevilla via bus, our program had reserved hotel rooms for us. I don't know about you all, but Kerianne and I absolutely love school road trips and activities! It was so much fun to hang out and get to know different people from the program a little bit better. Here, I would also like to give a huge shout-out to my sister Tayler who made it to the state championship game for basketball while I was in Toledo. I listened to it at 2:00 a.m. in my hotel room, I am so proud. :)

The hotel offered a free continental breakfast that Kerianne and I took full advantage of before we started our day. We toured the cathedral and then had free time to roam and explore the city. 

 A cool statue :)

 The Cathedral

 A monastery that we toured

 Las Puertas, be looking for our third album coming out in Ronda.

 The tower of the Cathedral

 The view of Toledo from a neighboring hillside 

Toledo was a very fun weekend trip with our classmates, exploring even more history of God's world.

Vacation Time!

Last week was a blur of events. On February 24 we set off for Palma de Mallorca for a 5 day vacation on an island in Spain. This island is in the Mediterranean Sea and we found ourselves reflecting often about how we were touching the same Sea that Jesus had once touched. Our flight over was with Ryanair, a cheap European airline that prides itself on being on time. After every flight, there is a recording of trumpets that is played to announce that your flight was on time! If you're ever searching for Ryanair in the airport, just go to the last terminal or check in counter that you can find, and Ryanair will be there.

We packed our backpacks full with our swimsuits, changes of clothes, and snacks for the beach. We wanted to save as much money as possible without missing out on the experience, so we decided that making bocadillos for lunch would be best. Hence this picture:

We didn't have to buy lunch once, but decided to splurge a bit for dinner!

The first night we were there we arrived around 10 pm and checked into our hostel. The first thing that we wanted to do was to touch the Mediterranean Sea and find a good tapas restaurant to fill our empty stomaches. We stumbled upon a small family owned restaurant that was filled with locals who were all very welcoming. The next day we woke up to a continental breakfast and spoke with our very helpful hostel receptionists. They told us literally everything we needed to know about Palma. We caught the number 15 bus into the center of Palma to explore the capital city. Of course, it has a massive, gothic Cathedral that overlooked the ocean, so we had to check it out.

Although we stayed right by the beach, the city of Palma is known for its ports. We found it very interesting to look at the many beautiful and huge boats, hoping that someone would take us out into the ocean for a day. The rest of our day consisted of getting lost in the streets and looking at some sweet shops.

I was so happy!

Streets of Palma. 

Saturday evening three of our friends arrived, so on Sunday we decided to have a relaxing day on the beach! There was hardly anyone laying out because it is still winter for these locals and not peak season for tourists, but us crazy Americans found this weather to be perfect.  Saturday night, we all got dressed and took the bus back into Palma to eat and hang out. We stumbled upon an American run diner in the middle of Palma!!! What luck!! Naturally, we went in, and enjoyed one of our first truly American meals since we left the states. It was delicious, cheap, and more food than we could eat!

We successfully watched all 4 sunsets! :)

Monday was fun day! We took a day trip into Porto Cristo, on the other side of the island to see the world famous Caves of Drach! While we were taking a tour, there was a ten minute classical concert and boat show in the large lake within the cave which added even more beauty. Porto Cristo was a really quaint beach town and all in all it was a great day trip. 

On our last day in Palma we decided that we wanted to relax and spend another day on the beach. We got to enjoy all of Tuesday because our flight didn't take off till late in the evening. We were sad to leave Palma, but once we got off at our bus stop in Sevilla we were surprised how much we miss this city!