The Start of Summer 2016

We began our summer (21st of June) with Morgan's graduation from 6th Grade.   Morgan's teacher has been quite impressed with Morgan's Spanish and character, he even mentioned him in his speech.   

The last day of school, all but Kaiya had their big class field trip. Kaiya only went to collect her books. Morgan and Mason both went to a multi-adventure park.  Kamree chose to forego her field trip to a farm to go to Faunia, an urban zoo, with me.   

Kamree and I rode the subway, which we nearly had to ourselves.  

 

Faunia is an interactive zoo and botanical garden organized into areas representing different ecosystems like the jungle, the Poles, African forests etc. 

Many of the exhibits could be entered to experience a more natural setting.

Some animals were able to be fed, and most were small.

They did boast of a large animal that is not often found in zoos. The Manatee on the right is the newborn.  

They had several interesting birds wandering the grounds along with us.  

Fortunately for Kamree and the birds she nearly had the place to herself.  

Cartegena and La Manga Spain

We decided to fit one last quick trip in before returning to the US.  (Flowers filled the center of the roadway for several kilometers)



We chose the Southeast corner of Spain since it was the only corner left untouched by us.  This picture is of the Mar Menor which is a sea that connects at the end of this several kilometer long peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea.  We could see the Mediterranean on the right and this sea on our left from our balcony.

In the background is our hotel with the beach just outside.  It may look empty but it wasn't for long.  

This is what it looked like most of the day.  

The water was great because it was shallow quite far out compared to most beaches and the temperature was perfect, not too warm and not too cold.  Kamree and Mason normally spend most of their time playing in the sand, but this time they joined us out in the waves.  

The first evening we watched fireworks from our balcony and the next morning an airshow from the beach.




And when the kids had had enough sand this is where they would go.

Cartagena

The first afternoon we drove from our hotel in La Manga to Cartagena for our last chance at seeing some good ole Spanish history.

Cartagena has been inhabited for more than 2000 years being re-founded around 227 BC by the Carthaginians from Carthage.  I'm not sure if the jet was meant to appear to be aimed directly at that ancient wall running along the hilltop. 

The city was well known during the Roman Empire when it was known as Carthago Nova meaning the new Carthage. Pictured are the remains of Roman baths, banquet rooms etc. 

Cartagena had long been a coveted defensive port, being one of the most important in the western Mediterranean, but it's biggest claim to fame is the connection with Hannibal who left from here with his 40 elephants to cross the Alps in a strategic move to surprise the Romans in Rome.  



After parking in the center of Cartagena we rode up this elevator past an old bull stadium to a castle to get some views of the city.  

The castle was not photo worthy, but this beauty was.

This is the 2nd largest Roman theatre (the one on the right) found in Spain. Thanks to the strategic position this port has on the Mediterranean coast, it has been inhabited by several cultures including the Phoenicians, the Byzantines, the Romans, the Carthaginians the Visigoths, the Muslims, Gypsies, and the current Spaniards.   

It amazes me how many ruins are buried under modern and other historic buildings in these historic towns. 

Like most kids, our kids love to climb trees, branches to clarify, but in this case the roots were just as fun.  This tree, near our car, was in the minds of our kids as we wondered through Cartegena, We made them wait until we were on our way back to the car.    

Near our hotel was this ginormous ceramic shop that had a plethora of ceramics. I was standing in the middle of the store taking this picture there was room after room in each direction. It seemed endless. 

We had planned to visit one last Spanish castle on our way home and chose the Belmonte castle constructed in 1456. 

We got to experience our last drive up an old narrow winding, cobble stone road to the top of the hill where the castle sits.

This 15th century castle is situated in the midst of "Quijote's Road". In the distance on the other hilltops you can see a couple of the many windmills surrounding the castle.  


A close-up.

Once paying the fee to enter, we were giving access to nearly every corner of the castle which is not generally the case.  The red brick walls are 19th century additions.

We climbed to the highest tower and descended to the dungeons in the deep. This castle is one of the best preserved castles in Spain and has seen historical battles, was a royal lodge to the catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, and has been the setting for several movies including "El Cid" with Charlton Heston and Sofia Loren

From the ceilings to the flooring it was extravagant from room to room,

...with the exception of this room.

Morgan's way of saying goodbye.

Goodbye to likely our last European castle ever!

Well it is Spain so we can never be sure until we are physically out of Spain!  This was about 1/2 hour farther along our drive home and we would have driven up to it had our car's turbo not been going out.