Good Eats: Palena and Ice Cream Sandwiches

After a long, lonely day of unpacking boxes with Wilson, I was very excited to hear that Tom wanted to go out to dinner when he got home. We live near a bunch of restaurants and had to decide between Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, American, Mexican, or Italian. I'm sure there are more choices but I am still not that familiar with the restaurants near us.

We did a quick scope out of the row of restaurants before settling at Palena, an Italian restaurant.

I ordered the gnocchi with peas, bacon (only fancier - I just can't remember what it was) and goat cheese. This was my second time having gnocchi ever, and I am very happy I gave it another try. It was delicious! It had a hint of lemon which made it the perfect summer dish. I was in love with it and was sad to take my last bite. 

Tom had their grilled Salmon which was even more delicious than the gnocchi. And you certainly did not need ketchup with these fries. A dip into the salmon's sauce was more than enough.

Since it was about 93 degrees when we got out of dinner, we decided to hit up Sugar Magnolia on our way back to the apartment. It's a cute little cookie bakery that has unique ice cream flavors as well as homemade ice cream sandwiches. 

We both grabbed the salted caramel ice cream sandwich with chocolate cookies. I really enjoyed the sandwich if I "forgot" that it was supposed to be salted caramel. Otherwise, I couldn't really tell that it was caramel or salted. It was a nice little treat to cool us off for the rest of our trip home.

Adventures in Malaga, Day 2: Picasso, Beach, and Croquetas

This is the last post of our trip to Spain-recap. You can check out the other posts by using the tab above labeled "Explore the World"

We woke up early and went for a run along the beach on June 15th. It was only around 8:00 am, but it was already super hot and foggy. We found our way to a run-down party hall along the beach. I can imagine that it used to be quite the happening place some years ago, but it certainly needed a little help now.

After the run we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast made our rooms a few Euros pricier per day, but it was so worth it. Fresh juice, fruit, bread and pastries, cheese and cured meats, yogurt and delicious granola. A super start to the day. An American breakfast, Spanish style.

Outside of one of the cathedrals

Once our belly's were full we headed into the city. First stop: The Picasso Museum. Tom loved this place. It was fairly new, and millions of Euros had been put into the construction of it. What was fascinating to see was the Roman ruins that were in the "basement" of the museum. The entire building had been built over the ruins. Of course, it was also neat to see how Picasso's styles changed over the years in all of his paintings. 

Someone in my group *coughtomcough* may have snagged this photo without  permission....

Love the ceilings

Courtyard in the Picasso Museum

 We strolled around the city after the museum, looking at shops and the cathedrals before heading to the Alcazaba (near the Castillo de Gibralfaro). The Alcazaba was built in the 11th century by the Moors and was used as a military fortress. It sits on a hill, but had its own elevator, so we didn't get a workout like we did the day before.

Foggy Malaga

My over excitement of the view caused me to momentarily lose a sandal

We spent the remaining afternoon hours at the BEACH! It was amazing to sit there and do NOTHING! Tom finished reading Born to Run, and I finished Life of Pi. We did a lot of people watching. Men with coolers kept coming by to try to sell us beverages, but we had stopped at the supermercado to pick up water and jamon (ham) chips before the trip down. 

That night we went back into the city for some dinner. As always, it took us a while to figure out where we would end up eating. We needed an English menu and wanted to sit outside. We landed ourselves at the perfect restaurant and were finally on Spanish time! I do believe that we ate around 8:30 or 9:00. (Please notice how light it is in the photos below)

We ordered croquetas to start. And good thing! These were THE BEST croquetas of our trip, and the best I had ever eaten up to that point. Tom had some a white fish for dinner and I had chicken kebabs. 

It was pretty amazing to watch the sun go down. It didn't get dark until after 10:00pm! I was not ready to head back to the hotel, especially knowing that when we woke up in the morning we would have to head to the airport. 

So we didn't go to the hotel. We went for gelato. 

Yes. You can get gelato at 10:30pm in Spain. Or 12:30am. Doesn't matter! It's there for you!

On our way back we walked by a construction site that was the home to a lot of cats! They made us a little excited to be heading home, only because we would be seeing The Will (Wilson) again.

We went up to the roof of the hotel one final time when we got back and found something strange: An orange moon! There was a lunar eclipse and we hadn't heard anything about it! By the time we went to bed the eclipse was ending, but it was pretty neat (and spooky) to be seeing it in Spain

A very blurry photo of the lunar eclipse in Malaga

This is the end of our Spanish Adventure recap. We had an awesome time in Spain: great memories, new tans, and a more restful body and mind. Hopefully that isn't the only time we go, but who knows where our next adventure will take us.

Heading home. Adios Espana!

Adventures in Granada: Day 3 - Flamenco

After our visit to the enchanting Alhambra, Tom and I picked up a few gifts in the shops near Plaza Nueva for our families. We found gorgeous clay bowls, a pencil/pen holder for my brother with detailed wood inlay, and a musical instrument for Tom's dad.

We were hungry and stopped at a teteria (a Moorish tea house) for schwarmas. Only we ordered falafels instead. Oops! My taste buds weren't expecting the falafel when I took my first bite, especially since I had never tried one. We tried a mint limonada (lemonade) that I enjoyed, but Tom was hoping for something more traditional. 

By now it was siesta. Most stores were closed, but not El Corte Ingles. This gave us opportunity to buy more gifts: Damasco Jewelry for Tom's mom and a soccer beer glass for Tom's brother. Only we got the wrong team. D'oh! After Corte, we spent time at the new H&M of Granada and I swear that I could have spent my entire summer's wage in there.

And of course, we had to stop for Gelato #4. I ordered Ferrero Rocher and fruit of the forest. Best flavor combo EVER! Tom wasn't in the mood for any more ice cream but I forced him to try a bite. He immediately got up and ordered himself a cone. 

We had tickets to a Flamenco show later in the evening so we had plenty of time to kill. The next part of our journey took us westward in the city, back toward the train station. 

I fell in love with Tom's new hat from H&M

For the life of me I cannot remember the name to this park near the bull ring in Granada. We walked around a bit and turned back toward our hotel.

He was the only one that could understand Tom's English

The full moon was starting to rise behind the Spanish flag

Evidence from the days of Moorish rule can be seen all over the city. This was a puerta (gate) in the wall around the city.

I'm trying to figure out how to get an apartment in here....

A quick stop at the hotel was in store so we could get fancy for the Flamenco show

Our tickets included a bus ride to and from the cave in which the Flamenco show was being held. It also included a tour of the Albayzin. We met a woman who was traveling around Spain by herself for a month, and had already seen really good Flamenco in Sevilla.

Some of the houses in the Albayzin display the pottery that Granada is famous for

The Alahambra is gorgeous at night. This picture doesn't do justice

We ended up going to the same cave that I went to in 2008. However, this time we had to share it with a lot of unfamiliar people. Our tickets came with a "free" beverage of our choice so we both ordered wine.

.... and had some time to wait and take goofy photos together

If you are ever in Spain I highly recommend that you watch a Flamenco show. The Flamenco varies by region and some cities are more famous for the dance than other. On this particular evening many of the dancers were students, so the dancing was not the best.

We really enjoyed the show and our final day in Granada. It was sad to walk out of the cave after the show knowing I had to say goodbye to this city once more. 

The next stage of our journey was about to begin: Malaga

Need to catch up on our June 2011 vacation?

Madrid Day 1

Madrid Day 2

Granada Day 1

Granada Day 2, Part 1

Granada Day 2, Part 2

Granada Day 3, Part 1

Adventures in Granada: Day 1

Tom and I packed our bags for Spain last June. I'm finally getting around to documenting it.
You can catch the first two days of our trip Here and Here

We woke up super early on June 11th to catch the train to Granada. Having arrived at the station early, we decided to grab some orange juice at a cafe. Orange juice is made fresh each day. Most cafes have their own juicer, so it's incredibly hard to pass up such a refreshing drink. 

The ride took four and a half hours and we enjoyed bocadillos (sandwiches) on the train. I absolutely love the warm, toasted bocadillos with jamón serrano and Machengo cheese. MMmmm

Tom was blown away by the number of olive trees during our train ride. These trees dominate the landscape of Spain.

We arrived in Granada and I immediately forgot which direction we needed to head. I didn't have a map, thinking that I knew the city well enough from 2008. We  followed some other travelers from the train and eventually found our way to recognizable streets. 

Two things I noticed immediately.

1.  The city doesn't smell like perfume. As I wrote in my journal: "it smells like home. Or roses. Or the Albaizín. Or té, or spices, or seafood, depending where you are."
2. It was a lot warmer in Granada than Madrid. 

We were sweating by the time we got to our hotel in Plaza Nueva, one of the main plazas of Granada. Our hotel's name? Hotel Plaza Nueva. 

It was so cute inside!! The wood furniture was beautiful and we had an amazing view of the Alhambra and the plaza below us. 

One of the towers of the Alhambra

It's was neat and weird at the same time to see all of the changes that had happened in the three years since I was there. There were more Gelaterias in the city (which I was very OKay with), and an H&M had finally moved in. The street poles that used to be down my street, Jardines, had been removed. Construction that had been going on while I was there was finally finished. And there was no dog poop on the street!

The best way to explore any new city is to run through it. Tom and I dropped our bags and headed toward El Parque de Garcia Lorca. We stopped to play on the in-ground trampolines, do a swing thing, and test out the exercise equipment.  Tom fell in love with the park, which is full of beautiful rose bushes.

After the run we were off for a walking tour of the city, with stops at tapas bars along the way.

Our first stop was so perfect for a welcome-to-Granada meal. For less than 2 Euros you get a small cerveza (beer) or tinto (wine with fanta) AND this plate of delicious seafood paella. There was no complaining here. Just two very happy tummies. I think we ordered one more drink and tapa before starting the walking portion of our tour.

The fun part about tapas is that you never know what you're going to get for food. Each restaurant/bar has it's own lineup of food. At most, each round of drinks comes with a different round of food. At our second stop we were surprised to get squid. I passed on this round.

A lot of people may associate 5 pm with drinks. We associated it with ice cream while we were in Spain. We went to my favorite gelateria for Gelato stop #2. I got the most delicious flavor ever - Rocher (Ferrero Rocher)!

We did a little more site seeing around town, but left out the Albaizin and Alahmbra for the remaining days.

Dinner was a lot of fun. We stopped at a modern gastro pub and joined in on some Spaniards that were watching a fútbol game. Granada was playing and the whole city was watching. 

I wish I could remember the name of the place we went to because the food was great. We ordered three rounds of drinks and tapas and it was at this point that I tried to teach Tom how to say hamburger and the fixings (onion, cheese). He could say it while we were there, but forgot immediately when we left the bar. It took a few months of practice but he finally has them in memory.

On our walk home people were running in and out of the bars to catch the ending to the soccer game. Cheers were heard throughout the streets. If I remember correctly, Granada won. It was a fantastic way to end our first day in Granada.