Spain Road Trip: Days 12-13 (Moraira, cont. . . .)

     On Wednesday we decided to go for a hike.  We found an obscure reference to a trail that was supposed to lead to a secluded beach cove.  Then we drove off to find the trail.  It was very hard to find, which is a good sign when you're trying to avoid English people in Spain.  But we finally found it!  It turned out to be more of a boulder-lined dry creek bed than a trail, but it was a lot of fun to walk on.  And, as an added bonus, we saw only 7 people on the whole trail and they were all Spanish!  

     But as we approached the ocean, we came to a series of three sheer rock faces that you had to use an attached rope to climb down.  Ivy had to stay behind with El Generalisimo.  The three remaining humans made it down the first rock face, but decided to pass on the second two rock faces, as we observed an adult in front of us experiencing significant difficulty on the descent.  Still, we had a lot of fun and saw some great scenery.  Here are some photos:

     Ooops!  We forgot to bring the camera on the hike. . . . 

     Thursday was our last full day in the Moraira "villa." In the morning we took a walk on the beach and Ford caught a snake in a little stream:

     By afternoon, we'd decided we'd had enough fun.  It was time for some cultural enrichment.   So we headed off to the historical seaside town of Benidorm.  Anthropologists have discovered settlements in Benidorm that date from 3000 B.C.  But it was not until the arrival of the Moors that the population began to grow.  In 1325, Admiral Bernatt de Seria of Polop took steps to remove the Moors and allow Christians to inhabit the area.  As a monument to his achievements, the town's fishermen established "MundoMar" -- now a UNESCO world heritage site.  Here is a photo of the entrance to the MundoMar site, followed by some video clips of the things we saw there:

Parrots:

Sea Lions:

Dolphins:

     Wow!

     That evening, we decided to take the children to see traditional flamenco dancing.  Sure, we knew it would be a little stogy and dull . . . but we thought the kids should see how the Spanish have been dancing since the flamenco was first invented in Andalucia almost 300 years ago:

All right, to be fair, the performers did do a version of the Flamenco.  They also did tightrope walking and acrobatics.

     Today is Friday.  After our culturally enriching and highly educational day yesterday, we are ready for some fun!  We are driving south to Granada this afternoon to see something called the Alhambra.  Have you heard of it?  We read about it in a guide book.  It's supposed to be some sort of cool water park!  We can't wait!