So I haven't posted in several days and we've been all over the place. Let me try to reconstruct.

When we left off, we were still in Madrid. The next day, we picked up a rental car in Madrid and drove to Valencia. We were assigned a big Mercedes van that seemed a bit too big to navigate, so we swapped it for a a Mitsubishi SUV which has worked out well. We drove to Valencia and checked in to another Westin hotel. We walked to the downtown area and had a tapas dinner at a restaurant where you basically pick your own tapas from the bar and they charge you by how many toothpicks are on your plate (kinda like dim sum). 

The next day turned out to be a holiday and not much was open. We slept late (surprise) and there were slim pickings for food. We ended up at a nearby Italian restaurant, which wasn't what we would have picked but was yummy. Then we headed to the new modern area of town – the Arts and Sciences area – and went to the aquarium, which was amazing. We didn't have a lot of time but we saw most of it. 

Then we met Amaia, Jaime and Claudia, who drove us (caravaning) to Tia's house (Amaia's aunt's house). It was good to see Tia, although she has deteriorated a lot since we saw her 10 years ago, which was sad to see. We then went to dinner to Amaia, Jaime and Claudia. We learned that Claudia has been obsessed with the girls for years and has even drawn pictures of them! She was very happy to meet her idols.

The next day, we left Valencia and drove to Cullera, where Tia used to live, and had lunch by the beach. Then it was the long drive to Granada. We arrived very late – 11:30 – but the hotel had the casual dining restaurant stay open for us so we could have dinner on the lovely terrace. In the morning, we actually woke up in time for the amazing buffet and then walked around Granada and bought souvenirs. Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with the tour of the Alhambra. It was hot and long but very beautiful and we learned a lot. We had dinner at the hotel and then drove the long ride to Ronda, where we arrived yesterday. 

I am very tired so I am going to stop the post now. Just a few pics to tide over. We're having a good trip and everyone is traveling well and tolerating late meals and long rides!