PAELLA- come to Mama!! & CHURCH in Barcelona

Paella

 

Okay, how awesome is real Paella?   We were in the Canary Islands a few days in March, and Spain only a few other times this summer.  It really wasn’t enough, but I finally took this opportunity to partake of the deliciousness known as paella.  I had seafood and Ivan had Mixed (Seafood/pork and Chicken.)   It is the most delicious yellow rice cooked with peppers and onions.  You gotta have some!!  Obviously, we are now Paella enthusiasts. 

Barcelona-LDS Church

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! 

And it’s right here in Barcelona Spain, and it was just a little Metro ride and walk on over.  We got off the train and followed a man in a suit with his son and a Lighting McQueen lunchbox.  Good thing we found them too because the church was down two streets and through a dog park! 

 

There were so many missionaries in this ward, it was incredible!  Everyone greeted us with “Buenas Dias” and all the women kissed me on the cheek and shook Ivan’s hand.  Like seriously, there were about 6 Elder Companionships, 2 sisters and 4-5 senior missionary couples.  They were so amazing and this ward, was really incredible. Plus, there we stayed longer for free food!!!?! what? those awesome Mormons! 

I love it! -M

Ibiza Island

Here is the picture journey of my morning excursion in Spain.  I pretty much love my job at this point!

 

 So there are thousands of islands in the Med.  The Balearic Islands of Spain include Ibiza (or Eivissa) island.  Ibiza is known for being a “party island” and having the best nightlife of the Mediterranean.  Alex Dunfey is correct, it is pronounced “Ibitha.”  There is great shopping and walking and restaurants and fabulous beaches here! 

On my excursion, we took a bus from the port to the city of Santa Eularia: a smaller, less touristy part of the island .  It was home to a beautiful family beach and it was perfect beach weather.  But instead of going for a swim, our tour was scheduled to visit the Atzaro Resort.    The pictures show how glorious this place was.   When you picture a relaxing vacation, this is pretty much it, (unless you’re into Hawaii, cuz that’s awesome too!) 

Here is “The Catwalk.”  They have fashion shows here EVERY FRIDAY!! 

 

The Buddha Bar/Lounge 

 

“Look, I saw a frog!” – said the kid in me.

 

And of course, we had an amazing meal!!  I wish could tell you how much it all cost, but it was actually free for me-yay work perks!!  Our family style appetizers were olives, pita and hummus and two kinds of fresh baked bread-still warm! 

Our salad

Can you see all the STUFF in this salad?  STUFF that you wouldn’t even think would go together.  I gathered: lima beans, lentils, shrimp, strawberries, mushrooms, radish and lettuce.  Soo yummy.  It would have been big enough for a normal sized lunch, but this is vacation and Spain we’re talking about here, so you have to eat enough to force you into Siesta, right? 

Steak

 

Cooked tomatoes make everything better

Dessert

 

Okay, what the heck is this right?  But let me tell you, it was already two weeks ago and my mouth is watering from craving this dessert again.  Served in a beautiful martini glass, the bottom is full of crushed cookie crumbs and peanuts, topped with a large scoop of lemon sorbet, then topped with an over-generous swirl or marzcipone/riccotta whipped cream with chopped mint.  Like when you tasted the whipped cream a lone it was almost two cheesy and then you got shot with a mouthful of mint aftertaste.  BUT, when you all three layers together, this dessert was out of the park!  

lovin in!-Missy

architecture in Valencia

The new Aquarium and Opera House in Valencia, Spain

Pretty Great City!  Can't wait to Return!

Some pictures from Valencia, Spain

Walking and Shopping and Eating, and more walking

 

Choose your own tapas!  Just grab which ones you want, but save the toothpicks so they can charge you after!  They ranged from 1.60 Euro- 2 Euro

 

It has been a pretty cold spring here in the Mediterranean but the sun finally came out!  I was in a great mood because of the sun!  After 4 days of wet and rainy France, this girl needed some rays J 

  

xoxMElissa 

LATELY in The Canary Islands

We just finished an 18 DAY VOYAGE from Cape Town, South Africa to The Canary Islands!! It had a total of 11 SEA DAYS and boy did we get sorta bored...

Most of the ports we stopped at on the way up were small towns that were dirty, and boring with little to offer.  We spent the last 3 days in the Canary Islands, Spain and are thrilled to begin our European To-Do List.

The Canary Islands are very south of Spain and are much closer to Africa than you’d think.  While many people are multilingual and speak English, the National language is Spanish and currency is the Euro.  From here, we will journey to Spain, and a quick stop in Turkey, Morocco and Israel before spending all spring 2013 in the Mediterranean.  Here are some fun pictures of the 3 Islands we visited. 

Grand Canaria 

Las Palmas

 

My breakfast date with Zuco Narajana and Hot Chocolate (basically pudding and so delicious)

 

We walked on cobblestone through narrow streets..how European..

 

A dinky Used Book store sold only 8 books in ‘Ingles,’ and one of them was The Book of Mormon! It was an old copy with pictures in it and it has 2 Elders phone#s written inside!  The Spanish shopkeeper tried to sell it to us for a couple Euro.  Little did he know that all scriptures are freely given out by Elders of the church.  Good Luck elder Leavitt and Elder Bradshaw!  (Even though you’re probably well off your missions by now!) 

Tennerife

We ported in the city of Santa Cruz.

 

He saw Mt. Teide up close.

and went to Mount Teidi National Park.

 

I went to the city of Puerto de la Cruz.

 

We got beautiful pictures of the landscape.  

Ivan also visited the Opera House. 

 

Arrecife

I stayed onboard with In-Port-Manning duties (In-Port Napping and some duties

And Ivan went on an excursion to the Fire Mountains!!  It was a camel ride tour up to a volcano! 

 

We will visit theses Islands and more next week!  

 Stay tuned for our Moroccan adventures.  Xo-Melissa