Category: Travelling Tales

Hey peeps,

Hope everyone is well. I have a half marathon tomorrow and am not quite feeling prepared! I did manage  8 miles on Tuesday evening, so at least that is over half way, but my 12 mile run seems a while ago now (I think it’s a month ago). Partly because of this holiday! Which was awesome.

We booked flights to Florida from Madrid (because the passenger duty is much cheaper from European cities- no way we would have managed in the school holidays otherwise), so on Friday evening as soon as I got home we had to head to the train station, go to Gatwick and then fly to Madrid.

Friday evening flight

I bought a lovely salad from Pret to enjoy on the plane, along with a spiced orange hot chocolate- starting the holiday off in style! After a short stay in the airport hotel, we were back in the airport bright and early on Saturday morning ready to fly to Miami.

Flew over the Bahamas

After picking up the car we had about an hours drive to our hotel, and had a walk in the evening to get some dinner before trying to stay away beyond 8pm!

Usually I would wake up early, but I was shattered from a week of work so slept for 12 hours-crazy!

We then drove into the Everglades National Park. By the way, the American National Parks are the biggest bargain in the entire world. For I think $80, you can get a ticket, for a year, for a car load of people, Valid for any park, and unlimited entries. Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, plus loads of other amazing places.

We drove into the Everglades, visited the Visitors Centre, and then headed out on a few walks around the water.

We saw these huge grasshoppers.

An alligator (we saw a couple, but they were so hard to photograph as were so well camouflaged)

And a turtle!

We did a few walks in different parts of the park, and then headed to our next hotel, closer to a beach.

After checking in, we had a wander around the town (which was very empty) and the headed to the beach (along with everyone else). We sat outside at a bar, had some dinner while live music was being played at the place next door.

This was the view at dinner. Perfect.

Then we walked along the beach a bit, and sat for a while watching the pelicans diving.

Just after seeing this, we saw a manatee in the water! I was so excited by this, as I have only seen them in rescue centres before. But it went underwater before we could take a photo.

The next morning we were off to Kennedy Space Centre. We had been there years ago (possibly 12 years ago?) so a lot had changed.

As soon a we arrived we got on the bus tour which takes you around the various launch sites and buildings.

That is what a launch does to metal!

It is hard to imagine the scale of the rockets.

I even got to touch a piece of moon rock! How exciting!

We saw some more rockets, and then went inside another building for an IMax film about the space shuttles, which was brilliant. The most amazing part was going into the room afterwards and seeing one of the shuttles.

Very cool.

They had a ride, which Andy did, but I didn’t fancy, so I looked at some of the other exhibits- it’s a bit like the Science Museum space section, with astronaut suits, the car they ride in to the launch and other paraphernalia.

 

It was interesting to hear about the new companies (like Space X) and what they are building. We saw information about inflatable domes to be used potentially on Mars, or as additions to the Space Station.

Even though I would not fancy being an astronaut, I always loved astrophysics and it was inspiring to see all the obstacles the engineers had to overcome. 

 

It was a great place to visit, and I am very glad we made the time to go there this time.

We left mid-afternoon, for the drive to Orlando. During the drive we went across a long causeway (I think) and saw lots of dolphins leaping in the sea- very exciting! Once in Orlando, we stopped at a few shops, and then drove through the gates…

But I will save that for another day.

What did you want to be when you were younger? I was too practical for my own good I think. I considered being a zoo keeper until I realised I would have to clean up the muck, and I didn’t like the idea of breathing through a tube so astronaut was out pretty quickly.

Around where we stayed in Spain there are lots of little white towns. One was signposted nearby, so we drove the very steep and winding road to Comares one day to have a walk around.

The town was so high up so as well as admiring the town, we were treated to magnificent views across the valley.

There was a path with  tile footprints to follow, although we diverted from this towards the end due to the large amount of stray dogs.

Another day we drove to El Torcal, a national park famed for strange rock formations. The limestone has been eroded by wind and water, leaving interesting shapes in the rocks.

It reminded us a bit of when we visited Bryce Canyon in the USA (only smaller, and grey).

At one point we saw a herd of mountain goats- one balanced right on top of a rock with a perfect silhouette, but my phone could not zoom in that far. The agility those creatures have is amazing though.

It was also freezing cold here! When sheltered by the rocks we were OK, but when you got to the edge of the mountain the wind whipping up the sides was chilling (and so strong that it was nearly blowing my phone out of my hands- I couldn’t hold it still enough for a proper photo!).

The clouds were covering the very top of the mountain at some points.

We had packed a picnic, and there were benches outside, but we wimped out and opted for a warmer lunch in the car!

Another day we opted for another beach trip. This time we headed to Nerja, which came recommended as having less concrete monstrosities and a pretty view.

We were very pleased with our choice. It was a really windy day, so the sea had huge swells and lines of waves crashing into the rocks and beach.

It was hard to capture, but the waves that were rolling in were enormous.

I love this photo, the water was almost silvery, and not a weird instagram filter in sight.

We walked down the beach for a bit, then up in the other direction, then back and into the town.

We spotted some beautiful tropical flowers (hibiscus are my favourite).

Then we walked around the town to find this beautiful cove on the other side. Again, it was teeming with people- I was still surprised to find so many people there (and so many shops and restaurants open) but I really shouldn’t be surprised.

For the last couple of days Andy had to work, so we stayed around the apartment. I spent most of the day sitting outside reading and it was bliss.

Or just looking at the birds in the trees.

A lovely end to our winter break.

Hey peeps,

I hope everyone has been enjoying the festive period and relaxing/ doing whatever you enjoy.

After our long journey to and from Granada on Christmas Eve, we decided to stay nearer to the apartment on Christmas day. After a leisurely morning, we packed a lunch and drove off to the coast. We were so lucky.

The weather was just gorgeous.

No coat needed!

We walked up and down the beach, sat in the sun and had our picnic lunch, and then walked some more.

I packed this gingerbread in our suitcase (from the Vienna markets) so we had that to make our picnic festive!

I even made a Christmas tree and snowman (sand-man?).

But the snowman kept being washed away by the tide- should have chosen a more sensible place on the beach perhaps!

I expected it to be fairly quiet, but it was really busy with people walking along, eating or drinking in the bars by the beach, and a few brave (stupid?) sunbathers. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised as the climate was good, but I think as where we are staying is so isolated, it feels like there isn’t anyone else in the country. I can’t imagine coming here in the summer though- not being a beach-to-bar person anyway it would not be my kind of thing, but also it would be so hot. And as you can see, the sand isn’t exactly perfect for making castles. But for winter sun this has been perfect.

Good news on the cough front- it seems to be nearly gone, apart from a few coughing fits when I first wake up. But all the shortness of breath that I was experiencing has gone, and I feel like I have my normal amount of energy, no headaches, my rubs and back don’t ache any more, and my cold is pretty much gone too, so I am certainly passed the worst, and am hoping for a New Years Day parkrun to kick off Jantastic 2015 in style- hooray!

Has anyone picked up anything good in the sales? We have wi-fi here, so I have browsed a few shops and ordered myself a pair of very warm and cosy looking slippers, and (how exciting) a new washing basket. Yep, I know how to live!

Hey peeps, I hope you have all been enjoying the last few days.

The two of us have been relaxing in our little Spanish apartment. The road up to this is a very steep track, and the roads beyond are thin and twisty mountain roads, so I don’t think I would have been brave enough to go running here anyway. But we have been doing a lot of walking.

On Christmas Eve we drove to Grenada to see the Alhambra. We had booked tickets in advance, but then had a bit of a mix up with our times (my Garmin thing is still on UK time as I am not sure how to change it) so initially we thought we had loads of time, but in fact we were nearly an hour late. Whoops. Luckily we were still allowed in.

The weather was fantastic, although pretty cold ( it is right up near the mountains).

I didn’t know what to expect- I had seen photos but it was just spectacular. These intricate carvings were everywhere, plus beautiful coloured tiles.

We must have walked around for at least 3 hours.

There were some lovely gardens too- we could smell the oranges as we walked towards the trees (like being on Disney’s Soarin’, except it was real and not fake orange scent….).

It was well worth a visit, and we were pretty shattered when we got back later in the evening (it was nearly a two hour drive each way). We took a lot of DVD’s with us, so watched The Snowman (my favourite Christmas Eve film) and then It’s a Wonderful Life, although I fell asleep during part of it!

The other day we found some oven bake churros, so the night before we heated some up and had them with nutella- when in Rome right? They were enjoyed in front of Home Alone- another Christmas classic right there.

Hey peeps, long time no blogging here. Pretty much I have still been coughing all over the place, and then last week got a cold on top of the cough, so I have been in a bit of a grump over that still (still no running either).

Sadly last Friday we had to go to my Nan’s funeral, as she passed away last month. But we had already booked a night in Bath (for the Christmas markets etc) so decided to till go there after, for something to look forward to.

We didn’t head into Bath until nearly lunch time, and had a quick look around the shops. The weather was beautiful (so clear and bright) so we bought sandwiches and hot drinks and sat outside with this view.

We walked down to the river too.

Such a lovely place to visit.

It was the final weekend of the Christmas markets and it was heaving, so after a bit more of a walk around we went to the spa. We had only been there once before (after the Bath half in March) and although that was amazing, being able to walk properly was even better!

This time we hired robes too- last time we only hired a towel and because you wrap the towel around you when walking around, it was very wet by the time I actually needed to try. The robe was the way to go. We didn’t go in the rooftop pool, but we went in a few steam rooms which helped my chest and cold no end- I could actually breathe!

We went in at about 2, and you have a 2 hour time slot plus time for changing and hair drying, and by the time we left it was dark (the reindeer was in the window- so pretty) and it was queued out of the door. I think we went at the right time.

We were both pretty thirsty, so headed to a cafe for tea and cake (mine was an orange polenta cake- delicious), before doing some shopping. Then we had dinner (lovely Bill’s, oh how I love Bill’s) and then finally time for the markets- they are way too busy in the day, and open until 9pm so it is much better to go back when it is a bit quieter.

Yup, not sure how to turn the flash off!

I had a proper hot chocolate, and we bought ourselves some tree decorations, before driving back home.

We saw strings of these dried oranges and cinnamon sticks in Vienna, but we weren’t sure how easy they would be to get back on the plane. They make our whole living room smell like Christmas.

I think that this is our third year in a row of visiting the Bath Christmas markets, and I think we have perfected our weekend now- we will be back!