Spain

We visited Barcelona, Spain! 

Our first part of the trip was flying from our village to Kampala. We flew over our village and could spot the Christian school next our house, our church, and the trading center. However, we planted too many trees and could not spot our house. 

Barcelona Cathedral

There were lots of scootesers/mopeds in Barcelona. Emalai and Makai liked to find there favorite one out of the long line of them parked on each street. 

Side streets 

Makai loved feeding the thousands of pigeons that were in Barcelona.

Waiting for pigeons to land on our hands.

I loved going to all the bakeries and coffee shops. 

We visited La Sagrada Familia. This cathedral has been in construction for 150 years! It was simply massive, yet, once you turned onto another street, La Sagrada Familia would disappear. 

Starbucks and sight-seeing in Spain - life is not so bad as a missionary :)

The beautiful design and intricate details on one side of La Sagrada Familia

This was my favorite side of La Sagrada Familia. On the top (behind all the white pillars) was a nativity scene. Below were the events of the crucifiction and resurrection. 

Jesus carrying the cross.

Jesus on the cross at Golgatha (notice the skull at the foot of the cross).

I encourage you to look up the other scenes on La Sagrada Familia as I was not able to capture all of them (or you could just travel to Spain and see it in person :)

La Sagrada Familia from a distance. Notice the way it towers over all the surrounding buidlings. 

Makai posing for a picture. 

Our second week in Spain was along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. As is the history of Shaarda beach vacations, we stared our week off with clouds and rain. The rain did not stick around too long though and we enjoyed some sunny days as well. 

The flowers at our house on the beach were so, so beautiful. 

All ready for the beach!

Sunday we went to the weekly market.

The water was too cold for my liking so I spent most of my beach time walking by the water or reading my book. 

We took a day trip to Tossa de Mar. It was a warm day so we enjoyed very melty popcycles. 

The cute streets of Tossa de Mar were especially nice because there were no cars.

We visited a castle.

View of the town from the castle.

We had a little photo shoot inside the castle.

The castle was built on a hill and the view from the top was beautiful! 

(I'm not sure whose idea it was to put this thing at the top of the hill as any direction you looked in was blue) 

Tossa de Mar was definetly my favorite place!

My favorite night in Spain was going for a walk with my parents after supper. It was fun shopping with them! 

Beautiful coast line

So...we decided to walk a trail along the coast. However, the trail soon ended and we walked up 355 stairs to a dead end and then walked all the way back down the 355 stairs. Let's just say we kids were less than pleased. 

These flowers, called paper flowers, are native to Brazil, Peru, and Argentina. They are very common in Uganda and are one of my favorite flowers. In Spain, buildings like this old church were covered in the flower vines. 

The color of the water was so beautiful!

This little guy continues to amaze us with how observant he is. He went over to this painting and just walked back and forth studying it. Finally, while pointing to a guy on the painting, Makai said "that guy has an octopus!"

Spain was truly beautiful. I believe God displayed His love for colors in the many flowers, His wonder through the mountainous landscape, and His power in the mighty waves of the Mediterranean Sea.