Welcome 2012!

So, we started the new year with my parents and brother here in Malaga! Nick and I stepped off the plane coming home from Paris Wednesday night and were picking up my parents the very next afternoon!

It was a great 2 weeks with my family visiting here in Spain; a welcome little taste of home. 

While they were here we took in most of the Malaga sites, churches, streets, lights, beaches, street fairs, the food and a few day trips (venturing out every other day so that we didn't wear ourselves out!)

We went to Ronda, which is one of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages), and to Gibralter to connect with our Sephardic Jewish heritage, and we went to beautiful historic Cordoba - which before modern day Spain was the capital of the Moorish state in the Middle Ages.

My parents hotel was located right in the heart of the city center! They had amazing views of the city from their room with a panoramic window directly looking at the Catedral and the Gibralfaro and Alacazaba, there was a rooftop restaurant and bar that overlooked the port and beach and they were a stones throw away from the main street Larios.

My brother Mark and their view from the 13th floor

The view from their room of the Gibralfaro

My brother, my mom and I admiring the gorgeous view from the rootop bar where we had our morning cafe con leche

We perused the Christmas market

 

We took a walk to the Malagueta (that's little tiny Mark, pops and ma in front of the sign!)

We hiked up to the Gibralfaro (taking plenty of breaks up the mountain!)

We enjoyed the spectacular views of the city from the top of the mountain

Then Friday, we took a trip to Benalmadena to the weekly street market and my mother got robbed by a gypsy in the two minutes that I let her out of my sight!

Those little con artists ambushed her with flowers and telling her how beautiful she is and when my mom took out her change purse to give them a few centi one woman thought she was slick and tried to swipe a 50€ bill from my mom's change purse.

But oh no, not my mother!  The hustler that she is, my mom saw the theif try to G her and exclaimed, "Oh no no no no no!" And she grabbed the womans hands (the woman was holding a bunch of flowers) and snatched the money outta her hands and put it back into her purse!

Then in an offended huff, the gypsy grabbed back her flower and stormed off.

GO MAMMA!

(I then proceeded to warn my family about the many different ways gypsies try to rob you blind)

Then on La Nochevieja (New Years Eve) we headed out to ring in the New Year, Spain style.

My parents, brother, Nick and I getting ready to go out and celebrate La Nochevieja

My grapes

Here in Spain it is typical for people to welcome the new year with their families, and at the sound of the clock chiming 12 at midnight you are supposed to eat 12 grapes (one for each chime) which is traditionally supposed to bring you luck for the upcoming year!

Mamma and her grapes

Trying to keep with and eat all 12 grapes!

We began the New Year by immersing ourselves in the Spanish culture. 

We indulged ourselves with some yummy paella

Before and After

Some delicious tapas

Yummy flan

An assortment of meats

 

I snapped a pic before it was too late
of some croquetas and patatas bravas!

 

We went sightseeing around Andalucia.

We checked out Ronda one of the White Villages, where it is believed that Bullfighting originated

Picturesque landscaping of all white houses

Typical street of Ronda

The city was built right into the mountain

We went to the UK territory of Gibraltar where we took a Taxi Tour - which was so totally worth it!
We got to go to the very top of the rock, see the monkeys, go through the caves, and look around the nature preserve, and saw Jew's Gate (the Pillars of Hercules) and had our very own personal guide tell us all about the history of Gibraltar and the in's and out's of the place.

The Rock of Gibraltar

Going through the caves

At the tippy top of the rock

The monkeys on our heads! And a sneak attack on Nick!

We also went to the ancient city of Cordoba where the famous Mezquita is.

Originally the building was built as a Visigoth church in 600AD; in 785 it was converted into a Mosque. Over the next 200 years the building was expanded and enlarged. In 1236 the Mosque was reconverted back into a Christian church after Cordoba was recaptured.  It was during this time that a cathedral was added into the center of the building.

It's really a beautiful piece of archetecture and a wonder to behold!

The outside wall of the Mesquita

The famous red and yellow tile arches of the Mesquita

The Cathedral that was build in the middle of the Mosque

A street in the historic Juderia (Jewish town)

I thought Cordoba was absolutely stunning (and if I didn't already bombard this post with pictures I would add tons more!) It is definitely a city worth spending time in. And historically it's impressive because it has been the capital of a Roman province (Hispania Ulterior), the capital of an Arab State (Al-Andalus) and a Caliphate.

And in the blink of an eye it was all over and it was time to say goodbye to my family again.

Seeing them off in the airport Nick noted how weird it was to be waving goodbye at them while they go through security, fighting back tears, when only 4 months ago our roles were reversed in New York.

Boy how time flies!

But it was a great winter vacation and time spent with the family, and I cherish the experiences we had bringing in the New Year.

I can already tell 2012 is gonna be a good year.