Sunshine and siestas!

After posting last night we went for an exploratory stroll around town and found ourselves on the top of the highest hill where the remnants of an old castle are located. You can see this ‘fortress’ from everywhere in town and it’s funny that we went there because I don’t think we were consciously intending on it – we were enchanted by the little streets and interesting buildings then went off-roading through some prickly bushes and voila! The view was amazing and perfectly Mediterranean.
We went for an ‘early’ dinner (8 o’clock, which meant we were the first customers in the restaurant!) because we were all starving and tired and couldn’t wait any longer. It was a beautiful little restaurant with a very interesting menu. I wanted to try the ‘grilled watermelon, avocado and mozzarella salad’ which sounded so weird that it had to be good. It was sooo good! The watermelon was actually warm and sort of crispy and went together so perfectly with the other ingredients which were tied together with a warm balsamic glaze. Mmmm. After leaving the restaurant we headed back through the town square only to find out that it was line-dancing party central! There were probably 40 people all doing a very impressive line dance that I’ve never seen before (which says a lot coming from Calgary). It was very festive and everyone was having a Sunday night fiesta! We would’ve stayed and enjoyed the party but we were all very tired so we went home to bed instead. (Party poopers or realists?)
Today has been a very lovely, lazy day. The kids wanted to stay home all day in our backyard pool and it didn’t take much to get Jeff and I to comply. We had bought a deli pizza and a melon from the grocery store yesterday so that was our lunch, and today felt like a true vacation. We even had a siesta this afternoon! I have recently become aware of the difference between a trip and a vacation. A trip is full of interest and exploration and in general takes a fair amount of work (either physically, mentally, or both). A vacation, on the other hand, is just full-on relaxation. Of course you can take ‘day trips’ within your vacation (like going ziplining for a day during an all-inclusive Mexican getaway) or you can take ‘day vacations’ within your trip – like we did today. I think to be able to manage a long trip (especially with kids!) you need to take the time to occasionally do nothing – which is actually doing something very important.

So now I find myself at the same little internet cafe/bar as last night because the kids really loved the croquetas de pollo... deep fried chicken goop that is admittedly very delicious. We still have over an hour to kill before it's acceptable to head to a restaurant so we're eating some snacks to ward off the hunger before we go for our evening restaurant stroll. The weather is absolutely perfect - not hot, not cold, no breeze, some dappled sunlight.... I'm staring at an orange tree and my calm kids (despite the iced tea and schweppes limon) are sitting so contently. If there wasn't a baby screaming behind me I'd say this was perfection!

I'm off... we have stared at computer screens long enough in this environment! I hope everyone is doing well, we send kisses from Spain! (Oops, I mean besos!)