Monday morning we headed back to the airport in Palma and flew to Alicante to visit the cities where Cameron spent a good portion of his mission. These days are somewhat of a blur because we had no big plans except to see where he served. We were able to visit the church buildings in each of the cities and also see his apartments.
The pastry shop by the church Cameron remembered from his mission was closed.
One of his apartments
The church in Elche was beautiful. The whole city of Elche is covered in palm trees.
More reminiscing.
Look who we ran into!
Cool streets everywhere!
While walking around and exploring we came across this parade. Very interesting. Because Easter was coming up on Sunday there were a lot of Holy Week celebrations taking place. We got a spot and prepared for a parade. Kids had their candy bags out. Well, it was the slowest moving parade you have ever seen. The men carrying the float marched along an inch at a time.
We found some dinner, started walking around again, and realized the parade still had barely moved! Maybe a quarter mile.
We ate so many kebabs on our trip. So many. They were so good with shaved chicken or beef, lettuce tomato, and a kind of tzatziki sauce. BUT, I'm not going to crave one for awhile. I got my fill. The last time we ate them we were once again all starving and looking for a restaurant. I don't know why we couldn't find one! We probably walked for a couple miles after not eating most the day, and finally found a kebab place. But it was super questionable. We all tried to not think about who prepared our meal and prayed we wouldn't get sick. Luckily we all survived it!
Huge loaf of bread.
While walking around we also found a churro stand. The little white trailer in the background. They were so delicious. I have seriously dreamed about buying a churro stand and starting to make them back home! I don't even like churros in the US, but I loved these.
Churros round 2. The first stand was better, but these were fresh and warm and pretty darn good as well!
More exploring. We walked out onto this rock peninsula at one of the ports.
Running in a canal in Elche.
We were entertained on the run by all the paintings in the canal.
More Elche Palm Trees!
Exploring a castle on the top of the hill in Alicante.
Amazing cities. You can see the bullfighting ring in this pic.
Our cute hotel for the night.
With a gorgeous view.
Cameron washing some clothes!
Another church!
The day before we came home Cameron and I got up early and ran to the dry river in Valencia. Running is a great way to see the city. We got lost for a bit so the run turned into a bit longer than we expected, but we saw some cool buildings along the way.
Gulliver Playground
Hat statue!
Spain Flags
It was so windy on our run. The beach was especially windy. Which made this sand castle even more incredible. The man building it is behind it in the pic.
We got to visit the train station where Cameron came a number of times on his mission to pick up new missionaries. Busy place! Reminds you a bit of Harry Potter.
And another huge market to look at. So many interesting things. Skinned rabbits, spices, meats, fruits, finally got to try a decent paella, empanadas, and more!
Just more cool buildings.
We also went on a tour of the Lladro Factory in Valencia. We couldn't take any pictures during the tour, but were able to see the time and patience that is put into each handmade and handprinted piece. Cameron brought the girl with flowers home from his mission, and we had to add Lolita the Spanish dancer and the ski girl to our collection.
Cameron taking a pic of our hotel up on the cliff.
Beautiful evening walk.
Climbing a tower in Valencia.
More pictures of the market.
What a trip of a lifetime! It was even better than I ever could have imagined it would be.
