Today was a day to chill. We woke up and headed straight to the pool. We stayed at the pool from about 10 until 230. Dad and I headed to the gym, and mom and natalie continued to relax. The pool was incredible. There is a lazy river with all sorts of fountains. it was neat to just float down it. There was no way to go upstream. The current was rough! Dad really liked the fountains in the middle of the pool. I personally thought it was too cold. The pools are heated, so although there was some wind outdoors, the water was nice. The getting out, not so nice. The rest of the day was pretty nice though. We all enjoyed a bit of sun and came out of the day a bit more ... read more

The Hays awoke at a stinking 7 am. (yes, that meant I had all of 4 hours of sleep - darn time change). The parentals and I walked down to grab some coffee and see the pools. The MGM has some nice pools. We sat out there for a minute and drank our coffee. It was a bit cool with the wind, but the sun was nice. I enjoyed it for the few minutes. We then decided by 10 am local time it was time to eat, so we took our LONG journey to our room to grab my sis Natalie (no joke, from the main lobby to our room, about 10-15 minutes. You go up a speed elevator to floor 27, then have to walk down a long corridor that reminds you of the shining. ... read more

Aranjuez...the last full day After much debate on what to do we decided on Aranjuez for the last day. It is neat because you just grab a Cercanías train. Before getting into Aranjuez...A light I have discovered: You have the Metro, that takes you within the city. Renfe Cercanías is essentially a glorified metro that takes you to different cities close by (within the hour), and Renfe is the train system that takes you further distances. It is actually pretty neat. That being said, we grabbed a ticked via the Cercanías station. What is great is you can purchase it much the same way you grab a metro ticket. There are little ticket booths. You don´t have to talk to a single person...which has its pros and cons. We hopped on the train and headed south ... read more

Jerez, Cordoba...and one less day?!?! Well, first I am not going to start with pictures because I am on a computer as old as the hills in the hotel we are staying at in Cordoba...it has no USB drive, AND it cost about 1.40 per 20 minutes...crazy. Let me start with some interesting thoughts that Mom and I have discovered while travelling: *Make sure to bring plenty of ziplock bags...they are good for washing clothes, storing dirty clothes, plugging the sink so you can wash clothes...OR having a bag in your purse where you hide all the bread that they give you at a meal and then feed to the birds later. Please do not use the same bag for all four purposes...that would be gross. *It is a good thing to try the city bus. ... read more

The neverending Alcázar Today, we woke up...later than planned. I guess we should just get used to this eh? Our plan for the day was to go to the Alcázar and then walk around the city a bit. The Alcázar is well....bigger than expected. After 4 hours!!! We ended our tour of the Alcázar. Sevilla was like Granada in that it used to be a Moorish city, and the Alcázar was the base of the Muslim rulers...however, Sevilla was conquered about 2-300 years before. I can´t remember how many years exactly. Seville became the location of which the Reyes Catolicos planned and strategized the conquer of Granada. Sort of surreal to have spent 3 weeks in Granada, and now go to the place that planned its conquer. Weird. Well, we spent the 7euro to get into ... read more