travelogue: girona, spain

a rare moment of having the pool all to ourselves (no kiddos!)

after holland, we flew to girona, spain, to hang out at melanie's home.  with the food coming from the kitchen, that pool, and the kiddos mostly squealing with laughter there was no reason to ever leave.   kai certainly never wanted to leave, he fell in love.  the pool was the perfect hang out spot.  some took naps.  craig, melanie and stefan cooked up delicious simple meals with lots of fresh veggies.  playing badminton in the yard.  having friends over.  reading books. enjoying the chaos that family can sometimes be.  the latter is what i miss the most (i often crave it) yet i am perfectly happy when my family is just the three of us, at home or away.

kai and maya look the most alike, they could easily be twins, and i wouldn't mind claiming her as my own

of course, we did venture out a few times (usually without kai, he refused to leave the "awesome" house :)).  

one morning, with my in-laws, stefan and i visited besalu, a medieval village dating from the 11th century.  it has charm and history.  you feel like you've stepped into a time machine.  the bridge into the town is spectacular, very picturesque.  the town is small and we easily meandered the entire village, up and down the small cobblestone roads and maze-like passageways.  the locals are so friendly.  even here, stefan was able to find us the coffee shop, he says they sure know how to make a good cappuccino.

entering besalu

my in-laws and the bridge behind them

we ate the juiciest nectarines here.

we also wandered around girona's old town, about 10 minutes from melanie's home.  we walked along the medieval roman wall (passeig arqueologic) which offers views of girona below.  we ate tapas, of course.  melanie and craig reminisced about their ten years living in girona.  i visited them a couple of times during kai's first year, see a glimpse here.

                                                            the gothic cathedral towers over a flight of 86 steps.

gustav eiffel designed this bridge to resemble the eiffel tower

thanks for the pic maya :)

photo credit: misha, the friend 

melaine and craig first lived in this quaint area

on our last evening we went to the beach and swam in the mediterranean.

ps. if you are thinking of visiting girona (and you should!) then i suggest you consider staying at melanie's home, she rents it out year round.  if you care to take a peek just go to the link here or here.  

travelogue: the south of france coming up next