Sunday, August 9 - Doyle family visit day #9 - Ronda and Zahara

Happy birthday Chloe and Suzannah!

Grandparents Rosenberg:  Here's a picture of your daughters and our families.  We're amazed we got all 9 of us in the photo.  Give us another 5-10 years and then you'll get a posed picture with everyone looking at the camera at the same time and smiling. 

Breakfast was cereal for most, and eggs for Suzi and I (thanks Suz for making them!).

Rosa, Anya, and Jessie hung out in Rosa's room as Rosa packed up.

Some views of the outside of the house.

The grill.

The pool.

The gorgeous art work in Rosa's room.

And then both families headed out for a drive to the white town of Zahara.

A view of the old castle on top of the hill.

Looking down from the town to the lake.

Some of the white-washed buildings and the lake and the mountains.

Town map

Walking down into town from the parking lot.  

We ate outdoors.  The food came quickly and tasted good, but the service was not so good.  In fact, both Suzi and I ordered salmorejo, a cold soup, and we asked 2 different waiters for spoons, and never got them.  Eventually I went inside and found the silverware container to help myself to spoons.  At least it was great people watching and company and food.

After lunch we walked around.  Here's one of the churches in town.

Another view from the town.

Along a little walk.

Rosa holding hands with Jessie and Anya.

Jessie playing with the flower on Rosa's shirt.

Rosa's picture of the gang.  Nice job Rosa!

The Doyle gang said their goodbyes and headed off to the little beach at the lake and then to Grazalema.

And Team Lawrence headed off on a hike up to the castle.

View of the castle from the parking lot.  Or so we thought.  We hiked up to it, and found out that this was just a lower portion.  There was more uphill hiking past this viewpoint.

This is the other side of the first castle.

Here's the entrance to the real castle.  Not another person in sight.

Views from on top of the castle.

We were up high.  It was hot, most of the hike was in the sun, but these views and the amazing castle made the journey worth it!  This a view from outside the front door.

Inside a doorway was a dark stairway.  Scott used his flash to determine what it looked like.  It looked safe enough, so we ventured upwards.  

The kids and I in a windowsill.  A rare snuggle with Rosa.  Apparently hand holding and snuggling is embarrassing now that she's 7 1/2.

We climbed all the way to the top and were treated by some more amazing views.

Views from the outside.

We were the only ones in the castle / tower / fortress.  It was such a neat experience!

Torre del Homenaje

And then it was time to drive back to Sevilla so that Scott could go to work the next day.  Love these caution signs.

Back at the apartment, Cody was busy putting together his gift from the Doyle's.

And Rosa was busy doing her usual, playing with legos.

Aerial view.

Clearly Rosa didn't want her picture taken.

We've been in the process of finishing all of the food we have in the house and cleaning the house.  And Sunday night dinner was more or eating remaining food.

We were thankful to be back in air conditioning.