Malaga, Nerja, and arriving in Granada (Day 1) - Apr 7

Rachel writing:
Monday we left Seville around 8:30 am and drove to Malaga.  The drive was beautiful, rolling hills, olive orchards, vineyards, and wheat fields covered both sides of the highway the whole way to Malaga.  So green and pretty.  The mountains were beautiful and were even partly culitvated up the side.  The kids watched "Frozen" for the 5th time since we left Doha.  Miss A and Big E play out parts of the movie. Miss A is always Ana and Big E is always Elsa at her insistence.
Malaga was nice. We stopped at a beautiful park and let the kids play at the playground. There were parrots flying around among the trees. Very tropical feeling with all the beautiful plants around. The sun was hot and if we had brought swim suites, it would have been nice go for a swim, but as we found out in Nerja, (and we weren't surprised) the water was very cold.  We ate lunch at a little restaurant at the beach.

Steve writing:
It was called Chiringuito Sicsu. I tried to order some paella, but the waiter told me it wouldn't be ready until 2:00. So I said, "What do you have?"
"Todo," he said. Everything.
"Okaaaay... how about fried octopus?"
"Mmmmm, no," he said and laughed. "This is a cheese shop, is it not?" I wanted to say.
Finally I got some swordfish steak with salad. Amelia practiced her ABC's, which she always sings as "A-B-C-D-F-G-E, next time won't you sing at me?" And I told her and Elliott an Ana story in which Ana fights a sand monster, and another in which she and Elsa vanquish a sunscreen stealing villainous octopus under the sea.

Rachel writing:
Then we drove to Nerja.  Some of the drive wasn't planned as we missed an exit, but it was very scenic along the coast.  The drive a bit farther inland was up higher than the road that went right along the coast and provided much more scenic views.
Nerja was great.  It was very touristy, but fun.  The outlook over the Med. Sea [called the Balcon de Europa] was beautiful.  We got some treats at a little shop and then Steve managed to get the stroller down the very deep, steps to the beach.  You can't be within sight of the Med Sea and not at least touch it.  The water was so cold I wouldn't have gotten in more than my toes had I brought a swim suit.  I just touched it with my hand.  But there were people swimming in it.

Then we drove to Granada.  The mountains on the way to Granada reminded me of the Rocky Mountains.  Not as lush as the mountains on the way to Malaga.
We found the host of the place we stayed at through aribnb without trouble.  He had a parking garage only for this apartment. It's an absolute nightmare to get into, but it's much cheaper than other parking and across the narrow street (think small European streets were one car can fit with out much trouble, but there isn't any more room, and some streets are too narrow for a car to go through at all.) The apartment is small but modern and cute.  There is a loft with a full sized bed. Under the loft is a couch with folds into a bed.  There is a small kitchenette and a washing machine. The street outside isn't much to look at, but the apartment is nice.

After we settle everything with the host (he showed us around the apartment and told us what we had available to us that he'd purchased just for us. He's the best host we've had using airbnb.  He had a tourist map and showed us were we were in relation to the major sites.  He also has a tourist book about Granada in Spanish and one in English for those who stay here.  So nice!) We went to El Corte Ingles, which is a large department store with multiple levels.  One of those levels is a grocery store. We bought food for all our meals and by the time we got home it was at least 7:30 and the kids didn't get to bed until 9.  They handled the late night and late dinner (with lots of snacks before hand) quite well.

Seville Day 2 (with Cordoba, too!) - Apr 6

After a breakfast of yogurt with fresh strawberries and granola bars crumbled into it (Elliott's and my idea), we left the apartment for the Mezquita in Cordoba around 9:00 in a hurry since it would close at 11:00 and we didn't know what time the box office closed. When we got there, I dropped Elliott and Rachel together by the Roman bridge so they could walk up the hill straight to the Mezquita and I could go park while they got tickets. Amelia was asleep in the back seat. I found parking not too far away, so I caught up with them just after Rachel bought the tickets. I'd been there before, so I just suggested she take the kids in for free without me while I refreshed my memory of where to find the other good sites nearby in order to save us wandering time later.

I enjoyed walking around the familiar places and finding the Calleja de las Flores to show to Rachel. It's a narrow whitewashed alleyway lined cieling to floor on both sides with wall-hanging pots of flowers, and the view out from it points directly at the Mezquita's bell tower.

When the family came out of the Mezquita at 11:30, I took them there, then through the narrow streets of shops back down to the Plaza del Triomfo and its big arch, then onto the Roman bridge, along the river past the waterwheel, and back inland when we hit the Alcazar.

That road led us to where I'd parked, so we ate snacks of cheese and apples and pita in the car as we drove back to Seville. We enjoyed the beautiful green rolling fields, the yellow wildflowers, the white little farmhouses and small cities, what looked like a giant solar collector power plant with a giant glowing tower at the center of a circle of solar panels/reflectors with beams of light shooting up from them toward the tower, and the ubiquitous giant black bull billboards that don't advertise anything anymore. It was nice to just drive at a leisurely pace for once after several days of being in a hurry and always late. We listened to Primary songs and Rachel prepared a lesson for the kids since we discovered that our internet connection at the apartment wasn't fast enough to watch General Conference. We caught up with some talks later in the week as we drove, though, or before bed.
At home, we finished lunch, then spent two hours at the Cathedral where we saw the tomb of Christopher Colombus, lots of jewel-encrusted reliquaries, and the spot where Magellan and his men prayed to give thanks for a safe return after circumnavigating the earth.

We marvelled at the amount of work it must have taken to build the cathedral with its enormous stone pillars and arches, its intricate carvings in both wood and stone, its gold and silver and brass everythings in the dozens of chapels along the sides, etc.
At the apartment again in the evening, we scraped together a dinner from ingredients our host had left behind, saying we could use what we liked. So multicolored rotini noodles + laughing cow cheese + milk + fresh minced garlic + salt + pepper sort of = a nice pasta alfredo with a side of steamed carrots. Then Rachel gave us a lesson on eternal families and talked about the temple we'd be visiting in Madrid later this week. I bathed the kids while Rachel did the dishes by hand, then she read to them and put them to bed while I planned where we should stop in Malaga and Nerja on our drive to Granada.