Spain Day 5

Today was our last morning at the hotel Barceló in Sevilla. We started off our morning the same as usual, with breakfast. Bennett and I tried the churros and chocolate this morning. They were okay but I’m sure much better fresh. 

After breakfast we spent a little time packing before I took the kids swimming. We had to check out of our hotel at 1:00 and the earliest train to Granada didn’t leave until 3:55, so we had time for the kids to get their wiggles out, plus it was raining out... again AND the taxi drivers were on strike from 10-1, so we couldn’t leave the hotel. We swam for over an hour and headed for the train station around 1:30. We had our usual McDonalds in the train station, much to the kids’ delight. The Sevilla McDonalds had a play area for the kids, which was AMAZING. Plus they handed out balloons for the kids to play basketball with. It was the perfect way to waste some time.




The train ride was kind of stressful because Caroline was crabby and tired, and she had to sit on my lap. It was also super confusing because we knew we needed to get off the train at some point and board a bus because the train tracks to Granada were under construction. I was following where we were in Google Maps since I have cellular service on my phone, and at one point, there was a lot of hubbub on the train. I felt like we were getting close to our stop, but we were only halfway to Granada. A guy sitting near us, who I was fairly certain was going to Granada, was not in his seat. Finally he came back but showed no sign of sitting down so I asked, “Granada?” And he said yes, as did another lady, “Si. Granada. Autobus.” So then we were in a mad rush to gather our things and get off the train. On top of all this, Caroline was soooooo tired and crabby. Everything was making her massively angry and triggering tantrums.




Finally we made it on the bus and according to Google Maps we were still 1.5 hours from Granada, after being in the train for 2 hours. And the bus didn’t have a bathroom. I immediately started praying that neither of the kids would need to pee because i don’t know what we would’ve done. 

Finally we arrived in Granada around 7:30. Caroline had fallen asleep on the bus about 10 minutes before we arrived. Annoying. I was able to carry her off the bus, and we got on a taxi. The taxi driver was a lady for once, and she was sooooo nice. She was weaving through traffic and the streets were only about one car ride. During the train/bus fiasco, i was wondering why we didn’t just rent a car so that we could take our time. As she drove us to our hotel, i was instantly happy we didn’t drive ourselves. No picture of our hotel yet by it is pretty cool. It clearly used to be an old home at some point in time, and the courtyards has roofs out over then. We are super close to the Plaza Nueva, and walked in that direction for dinner.




We passed a gyro place that served pizza. Not my idea of a Spanish dinner but Joel wanted a gyro and the kids wanted pizza. To their credit, Bennett ate a lot of my gyro meat and Caroline ate half of the pizza. Bennett did not drink the beer but when the server asked us what size we wanted, we said, “BIG.”  Honestly after a day of travel, we deserved it, plus I was on Caroline duty all day. I definitely deserved it. Haha. 






After dinner Joel said he wanted to get lost, so we took a walk. We didn’t have the stroller and Caroline only wanted to be carried. Joel felt like his back was going out, so I was carrying Caroline and did not feel like taking a long walk through the winding roads. We opted for gelato, which Caroline told me made her stomach feel better. Right. The girls working the counter were enamored with the kids, very amused when Bennett would try to speak Spanish. The boys had Kinder egg and mango gelatos. Caroline and I had pomegranate and tiramisu. I’m sure we’ll be having a lot more.


Now back at our hotel we’re hoping to go to bed somewhat early but it is nearly 11 pm. Spain time is TOUGH. It is fine if we can get up late every day but on Sunday we have to be out the door by 7:45 am to go to Alhambra. The kids and I haven’t been up before 9 am on any day so I’m not sure how it is going to go. Hopefully we can get up at 9 tomorrow... and 7:15 on Sunday?? Just kidding. I mean, we WILL do that because we have to but we will definitely have some ANGRY kids that day. Anyway, we will just enjoy tomorrow as it is not supposed to rain. YAY! We’ve only had one sunny day so far. 

I will say since arriving in Granada, there is definitely a different feel from Seville. The North African, Moroccian influences are definitely apparent, like in the doors and architecture, many more restaurants that serve that type of food. And finally, fun fact: Granada means ‘pomegranate’ in Spanish. We are in the town of pomegranate.