Murcia

We have family in Murcia who we visited-Sayda, Pedro, Cecelia and Sergio. They are the consummate hosts, taking us through the city and into the mountains for a good look at the Murcia life. We love Murcia-it is a sophisticated, thriving city with efficient public transportation, beautiful architecture, soothing weather, pleasant people, amazing food, and incredibly loving family (Sayda taught us to make paella). This has been our sanctuary where we decompress and laugh like crazy. The girls got their ears pierced, which caused squeals of delight.
We went to a fair, where we took daring rides.
We saw a parade with elephants, camels, Andalucian horses, soldiers from Christian and Moorish times, and a fire-eating man. We saw a beach the length of Manhattan with blue-blue water and soft white sand. We went to Carthage, where Hannibal landed on his way to Rome, where we saw a Roman amphitheater and a church from the first century. Murcia is great!
One of these pictures is of City Hall, with a sign out front saying, "Agua para todos," which means "water for all." Murcia has a shortage of water (even though it is less than one hour from the ocean and is close to mountains), and other cities do not want to share their water with Murcia. The sign is a form of protesting the neighbors' selfishness.
Another one of the pictures is of the girls on the bus, busy with a sticker project. We spend a lot of time on buses and trains, and the girls are good at finding things to do during travel time.