Heading Back North

Alas, I'm (finally) here to recap the end of our time with Cam and Jamie. You may remember that I left off on our last day in Nerja.  Our first item on the agenda that day was a trip to Nerja's caves.  The Cuevas de Nerja are a series of caves that stretch for almost 5 kilometers, and date back to prehistoric times.  The caves were actually inhabited for 4,000 years beginning at around 25,000 BC.  They were rediscovered in 1959 and subsequently opened to the public.  Tourists can only see a portion of the caves.  And unfortunately, the cave paintings from before the Bronze Age are not included in the open portions.

These caves were amazing. Photography underground in a cave wasn't ideal, so the photos are a little hard to interpret, but here's a few:

The caves boast the world's largest stalagmite (the kind that are formed from the ground up), which is 32 meters tall.  It was crazy to imagine how those prehistoric people had lived in these massive caves.  I imagine it was pretty dark and could be a tad scary at bedtime.

We emerged from the caves to discover it was another beach-tastic day, so we headed back and threw our suits onto our slightly burned bodies and hit the sand.  A quick pit stop on the way back was at an aqueduct that spanned a valley.

Our beach for the day was a bit smaller than the first day, offering less wind.

After beaching it for awhile, we walked back into town to grab lunch.

Pit stop for shopping, the boys stayed outside.

We ended our time in Nerja up by the pool before heading out to Malaga.  We stayed the night in Malaga because we had a super early flight to catch out of that airport in the morning. I hadn't heard the greatest reviews of Malaga, but after the boys returned our rental car (you can ask them about that frustrating experience some time), we did some exploring and grabbed dinner. And I actually loved it there!  We didn't get down to the water, but the city center was nice, clean, and quite beautiful.

Last dinner in Spain.

Roman Theater.

Malaga Cathedral.

It ended up being a really nice ending to our time in Spain.  Ahhh, Espana, you were amazing!

The next morning, we awoke bright and early to catch a 7am flight back to Eindhoven.  We took the day back in Eindhoven nice and easy, with a trip to La Trappe and then grilling out at home.

Shopping for dinner. Big man, little cart.

Our second to last day was a wet one spent in Delft.  Todd had to work that day so Cam, Jamie, and I hopped on a train to get there.  This was my second time in Delft, and the weather has never been nice while I'm there.  Ah, well, we did have a nice lunch and walk around the city, despite the rain.

And then, just like that, we were already to their last day.  This one we spent purely in Eindhoven, since we really hadn't had any time downtown at all.  At night, the rain finally decided to let up, so we biked into town for a last meal at one of our favorite restaurants.

Happy hour before dinner.

Drinks afterwards.

And a slightly wet bike ride home.

A huge thank you to Cam and Jamie for making the trip across the pond to see us.  I hope the trip for you was as great as it was for us!

And now I couldn't end this post without a quick shout-out to the best dog in the world.  It's Jackaroo's 5th birthday! When did my little girl get so grown-up?  Yesterday was a beautiful day in Eindhoven, so we went to the park and she rolled around in the grass. Today, it's a downpour and cold again, so I think I'll just tell Jack that yesterday was her birthday. Do you think she'll notice?

Happy Birthday big girl!