An Easter with Family

We were delighted to have bro, BOK, Sally and the boys Reece and Aidan visit us across Easter. They have visited us in Antequera before, for a weekend, coming down from Madrid.

It was school holidays so they came down the weekend before Easter, stayed the night, and left behind their Aussie lorikeet to look after while they traveled around southern and western Andalucía.


Their bird, Fernando - (named after El Niño, Fernando Torres, but make no mistake BOK is an Arsenal fan but Fernando played for his favourite, and local, Spanish Team, Atletico Madrid before transferring to Liverpool) - kept us on the hop. He is quite a character.




Anyway the la familia returned to Antequera by the Thursday before Easter. We took in some of the Semana Santa processions, as much as the kids could bear, together.

We walked around our usual haunts. The boys love our back garden. But they were particularly pleased when I showed them a way we could climb behind a wire fence, and then up onto the castle/alcazar wall. After walking along we could look down into our back garden and call and wave to their mum, Sal, and Deb.







Antequera Golf Hotel runs a bus to the Torcal - a limestone formation national park atop Sierra Chiminea where we all did a walk. A nice day.























One day Deb rode in their car with them and I climbed onto my mountain bike and we visited the three dolmens of Antequera: Menza, Viera and Romeral. These are sites of cave-like rock slab chambers, once burial grounds and storerooms for the riches of tribal leaders dated circa 2,500-2,000 BC.


















On Easter Sunday, I again led them out on my mountain bike onto a farm track, across a ricketty bridge, parked the car and locked the bike, crossed a rail line, climbed over a fence and then proceeded to climb to the top of La Pena. "We've done lots of things we shouldn't do today, haven't we dad?" remarks six year old Aidan, "I never dreamt my holiday would turn out like this!" But it was a fantastic outing, great views towards Antequera, across the surrounding plains, and back to the Sierras.










These guys were always on the other side of the world for us. We had visited them in England several times. But now that we are also on the 'other side of the world' it's great having some family almost close - in the same country even!



















Family, schmamily. They're great.

Mad
aka Max