Oops, Day 9-16

Sorry. I fell off the wagon here. No posts for the last week...oh well. Here's a quick recap.
Day 9: we relaxed. Drank tea, played with Gracie, read books, and enjoyed our castle view from our apartment. We also toured through Quinta da Regaleira, a fantastic 'summer home' for the Spanish royals dating back to the 1600's with lavish gardens, sweeping vistas, a beautiful mansion, and neat underground walkways connecting caves, churches, and towers.
Day 10: we rode trains... All day. We took a taxi to e train station in Sintra, arrived in Lisbon (with one transfer), then transferred to another train to Tunes, again to Lagos, and then took a taxi to our resort. sigh. luckily, Gracie's a good traveller and they do make train travel quite simple and comfortable here. The resort is great. Even left us a welcome basket of figs, almonds and oranges, all locally harvested. Gracie said the oranges were the best junk food ever.
Day 11: we had a lovely breakfast on our patio, enjoying our view of the ocean, and yummy pastries and fruit. We packed up and headed into town (Lagos) to check out the marina and get some food. We stopped at a market to pick up some fruit and veggies and a grocery store for the rest and headed back up the hill to our apartment (we climbed this hill about twice a day and it was a bit of a biggie, but we always seemed to have lots of calorie reserves thanks to the availability of treats- we may have evened out). After a quick lunch, we headed back down to Meia Praia, a local beach, for some wave jumping and seashell collecting. Afterward, we walked over to the resort's pool to check it out and played there for an hour or so, too.
Day 12: We spent the morning at the pool. Gracie and Brad played forever in the water and visited the park. I relaxed on a lounger and read :) In the afternoon, we headed out to Praia de Dona Ana, about 45 minutes away, but a fantastic beach with beautiful sandstone rock formations and grainy, seashell sand. It was quite picturesque.
Day 13:  Walked into town only to be greeted by fog, so we couldn't head out on our boat trip. Headed back to the resort to play in the pool, where the sun was shining and the skies were clear. Headed back in for supper at a Portugese restaurant and gelatos to get us back up the hill.
Day 14: We squeezed in our boat trip this morning and I'm so glad we did. We toured the grottoes and cliffs near Point de Piedade (Point of Mercy-because the waters were calmer after this point, not because it was the home of Europe's first slave market). They were fantastic! The coast is so rugged and beautiful here. Gracie and I took a ton of pictures. In the afternoon, we hopped on a bus and headed to Seville, back in Spain.
Day 15: Woke up late and headed out for croissants, tostadas, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and caffe lattes. Yum! We spent the day wandering Seville, window shopping, and admiring the architecture. plaza de Espana was a favourite. Played in a park, picked up treats and had lunch at a street side cafe.
Day 16: We travelled to Granada to visit the Alhambra. It was phenomenal. The pictures will never do it justice. I had to book the tickets a month in advance, and it gives you a 30 minute window that you have to hit or you get turned away. Due to train delays and the vastness of the park  it's located in, we made it in with 8 minutes to spare. Yowza!

How's that for text heavy reading? Hope you're not bored. It's been great so far!