Trading Turkey for Tapas

Thanksgivings have always been a special time for us to travel. Some of our most memorable involve meeting our dear friends, Cara and Willie, somewhere. We all met in Sicily when Cara taught across the hall from me, and she was my teacher sponsor. Even though years pass between our visits, it's always like we were together yesterday.

Malaga, Spain, was our destination for Thanksgiving, 2011.
November was the perfect time as very few tourists filled the great number of available apartments.

Roman ruins

 Our choice for Thanksgiving dinner...El Pimpi

Flint and Willie get really serious about two things...food and music.

Our taste buds were NOT disappointed!

 

Pointing to one of the many Monk Parakeets that fly and squawk in the area. Birds of Europe  lists them in the section 'Introduced breeding species and species recorded only as escapes.'

Will there be a statue some day? (See Picasso below. A similar statue of
Hans Christian Anderson, who frequently visited Malaga, sits in another park.
A little ugly duckling looks out of his satchel.)

 And, what did the Hop On-Hop Off bus tour bring out in our crew???

The Bull Ring and interesting exhibits

View from Cara and Willie's room
from Hotel Igh Eliseos
Nice hotel, excellent location, friendly staff

Park near the hotel

Cathedral interior...One of many lovely churches in Malaga

Birthplace of Picasso

We visited Museo Carmen Thyssen Malaga. One of those museums that is the perfect size...
not so much to overwhelm so there is time to look at it and appreciate what is there..

Floral Nativity

They turned on the Christmas lights for us!

How many smiles has this lady brought to children over the years?

Our final evening included Richard, Dana and children who now live in Spain.

When Cara moved

out of her classroom across the hall, Dana moved in.

Once again, it was if we had just been

together yesterday. 

Hailey was one of the youngest babies I have ever held,

and she's always

been Flint's 'Little Comet'.

We ran down to the hospital as soon as school dismissed that day. 

What a fun family!

Such a special Thanksgiving, and we must say that we are very grateful

for our friends wherever in the

world they may be.