Ben and Lex in Spain!

The Rock of Gibraltar

We finished up our Christmas travels with a trip to Gibraltar. We stayed on the Spanish side of the border in La Linea de la Conception seen in the picture below. The border is actually also a runway for airplanes. We drove across it each day to get to the British side.

Gibraltar is famous for its Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkeys in Europe.

We walked through the old siege tunnels that go all the way through the rock.

And went down into St. Michael's Cave

We climbed down the Mediterranean Steps that take you from the very top of the Rock down to the shore of the Mediterranean.

At Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibralter there is a huge Mosque.

From there you can see Africa! Those mountains in the picture below are in Morocco, across the strait of Gibraltar.

El Torcal de Antequera

On our way back from Granada we stopped in El Torcal de Antequera for a day of hiking.

Granada

In Granada we walked around the huge park that surrounds the Alhambra, the famous moorish palace. We weren't able to go inside it this trip, we're saving that for another time.

We did a neat hike up into the hills which led to a little chapel and an amazing view of the city. That's the Alhambra in the distance.

Little Hobbit holes were scattered all over the hills.

Those are the snow covered Sierra Nevadas where Ben went snowboarding in the distance.

Cabalgata de Reyes Magos: Three Kings Day Parade in Granada

Here in Spain Three Kings Day (Epiphany) is the big gift giving holiday instead of Christmas. On this day most towns and cities have a Cabalgata, a parade where the three kings come and throw candy and toys to the children. We were in Granada to see the Cabalgata.