I got an early birthday present this week:

My mom and stepdad came to visit me in Granada! We spent the week running around Granada, both touristy attractions and more typical parts of the city. We got to walk through the Albaicin, toured the Alhambra, had tapas with my Spanish host parents, and took a day trip to a wonderful bed & breakfast in a tiny pueblo in the Alpujarras (Alps).

Jean Claude, the cook/owner of L’atilier (our B&B), made us some amazing vegetarian food – our dinner was the best meal I’ve eaten in many years, possibly ever. Our friends Beth, Lee, Dave and Cory had highly recommended L’atilier to us and practically insisted that we go – and for very good reasons. Thanks, guys, for making sure we got to experience such wonderful cuisine and hospitality!

Having my folks out for the week was so much fun… It was great being able to show them my new stomping grounds and share the city with them. They’re spending the next few days in Amsterdam before returning home. (My Amsterdam trip will be in early May.)

I got a lot of great pictures during their visit, I will post them after the “read more…” link since there are so many (Facebook and RSS readers, this means you’ll have to follow the link to the original post to see all the pictures.)

My Folks Visit Andalucía

Granada Cathedral

Granada Cathedral

 

Niño de las Pinturas - “Tired of not finding an answer, I decided to change my questions”

Niño de las Pinturas

Niño de las Pinturas

Carmen and Katya - Madre española y actual

Me, bongo, Fernando, Carmen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Generalife

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers in Las Alpujarras

Las Alpujarras

 

This fountain had fizzy water...

 

An old threshing floor along the path... Some friends of ours have done t'ai chi here, as did my mom.

Nasty prickly thingers

 

 

bongo capturing the great view

 

Cool fencing made from found branches

 

 

 

 

 

Abandoned farmhouse across the gulch

bongo y yo

We stayed in a 500-year old Moroccan house

Our bedroom window

Our Bed & Breakfast - L'atelier

Funny ad at a piano bar storefront

Funny ad at a piano bar storefront

 

...Sorry for the less-than-flattering pose, some models are just impossible to work with

Little lamb, aww....

 

“Taha Funk Klan”

Funny, I didn't know that Rivendell was in La Alpujarra...