It has been quite sometimes since I last updated this blog of mine. I've actually got quite a few long overdue posts in my list, just don't know when can I find the time to do them. Anyway, let me start with this very special entry first. I think this entry is gonna be quite long and probably a lot of pictures, so please bear with me.
January is always a special month for me because it's the birthday month of my lovely girls, my wife and my princess Mia. So, I planned a surprise birthday vacation for my wife. I think I started the plan about a month or two before her birthday, scouting some perfect locations to celebrate her birthday, searching the best packages and make bookings. Finally I decided to go to Andalusia, a perfect place to go during winter time.
Andalusia is a region in Southern of Spain which consists of a few cities/towns like Seville, Malaga, Cordoba, Granada, Almeria and maybe a few more that I've forgotten. I think it's location is at the bottom tip of Europe before reaching to Africa. Therefore the weather is just perfect, sunny most of the time and moderate temperature, not too cold and not too hot especially during winter. We departed from London to Malaga and the flight took about 2.5 hours. Prior arriving to Malaga, I made an arrangement to book a car which was very convenient for us with 2 kids to move around while we were there. I think it is the best option if you go there with family, less hassle and you have the total freedom to manage your own time. I figured it would be difficult if we joined a tour because the kids won't be able to enjoy themselves due to the fact that normally tours are all prearranged and have schedule to follow. I just don't want us to disturb other people's plan and most importantly I want us especially the kids to have a great and memorable time that we spent together there.
Our hotel is Riu Ferrara Hotel and it's located in Torrox Costa, a seaside. It's about 45 minutes drive from the Malaga Airport. Since we went there right after the long Christmas and New Year holiday, so the place wasn't that busy, not so many tourists, which is great because we can have quite time to enjoy ourselves. We stayed in a 2 bedrooms self-catering apartment which I think is perfect for our family. We love the hotel, everything is just lovely, the facilities, the hospitality, the environment, the location that close to the beach and the quite and beautiful surrounding area. Oh, there are also lots of eating places, souvenir shops and other facilities like supermarkets, banks and petrol stations in that area. I think they are all walking distance. So on first day, we just spent our time in the hotel, the beach and the nearby area. So happy to see the kids having a great time at the beach.
Me and my kids having a wonderful time together at the beach. Yup, I made that sand castle for Adam. It took me ages to do it because because Adam kept crushing it down. My wife had to distract him playing with the water so that I could complete the sand castle. It was totally worth it because Adam loved it!
The second day was the highlight of the trip because it was my wife birthday and it was the day we went to one of our dream places, Alhambra. It's located in Granada and about 1.5 hours drive from our hotel. Alhambra literally means "the red one" if I'm not mistaken. This is because the material that was used to built the palace and the fortress is red. It's one of the major attractions in Spain and famous with its Islamic Architecture that was embedded in the design and decoration of most of the buildings in Alhambra especially the Palace of Nasrids.
This picture was taken inside The Palace of Charles V, The Roman Emperor. It was built and integrated in Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications after the Christians conquered the Andalusia region.
After that, we went to The Palace of Nasrids which is one of the main attractions in Alhambra. When we bought the entry tickets, we were given the time to enter this palace. This is because only a certain number of visitors can go inside the palace at a time. So you have to come at your given time and if you missed it, you might not be able to go inside which is a really, really big waste because you're gonna regret to miss something historical and so beautiful.
The picture on the left I think is a typical picture that people will take when they come here or search about Alhambra from the internet.
It looks majestic...
Islamic art is beautifully integrated in every design of the building in Alhambra.
The pool in Alhambra complex
The view of Albaycin of Granada from Alhambra.
Visiting Alhambra was a wonderful experience for all of us. Like my wife said, it is a place unlike any others that we have been before, it's unique and truly magnificent. An experience that we never forget. So we went back to hotel with a very satisfied heart and I was glad to see my wife enjoying her time there on her birthday.
Originally the plan was on the next day I wanted to bring my wife to Cordoba, another historical place which famous with its Islamic influence architecture. If I'm not mistaken it has a Cathedral-Mosque which is known as Mezquita. Initially, it was a church, then it became the Great Mosque of Cordoba during Muslim era in Andalusia before it was converted back to a church until now. However, Cordoba is quite far away from our hotel and takes more than 2 hours to drive. The kids were already tired and we thought the long drive to and back is just too much for the kids especially like Adam and Mia who hardly stay still..hehe.. so we decided to just stay and spend our time to relax and rest in the hotel and the beach. After that, we took the opportunity to go to the city centre of Malaga and of course I also brought them to La Rosaleda, the home ground of Malaga Football Club..hehe..
Whenever we have the opportunity to go to a place where we have never been before, we always love to try the local food, just to experience something different and new. We were lucky because there are loads of restaurants near our hotel. I think seafood is quite famous in Spain and they are relatively cheap. Our favourite is the bottom right dish called seafood "paella" and it's Spain's national dish. It's delicious and Mia loved it very much!
So I guess, that's it our memorable family vacation to the world of Andalusia, particularly Alhambra to celebrate my lovely wife's birthday. Hope she had a great time there, I certainly had and hopefully one day we can come back here again.
Finally, the picture of the gorgeous sunset near our hotel.
