Friday morning we left Bordeaux, France and boarded a vueling flight (low cost Spanish airline) to Barcelona, then on to Almería, which is far southern Spain, right on the Mediterranean.

I had two favorite things about this travel day. First, one of the Starbucks at the Bordeaux airport is outside and surrounded by grape vines. I was so happy to finally see a Starbucks in general, and then specifically, to see Refreshers outside the States that I forgot to snap a pic of the setup, it was so cute.

The other great thing was the Barcelona airport. We had a 4 hour layover, so we picked up some food, ate outside in this great open courtyard, then went shopping. I have spent the better part of 6 months searching for a very specific pair of Miu Miu sunglasses with no luck. I found the very last pair in the airport in the exact color I wanted for 50% off and duty free. I couldn’t contain my excitement!

Anyway, we finally made it to the teeny tiny Almería airport and were greeted by the sweetest couple who drove us to our apartment.

We rented an AirBnB outside the city center on the fringes of Cabo de Gata Natural Park. The park is amazing. The landscape reminds me of California, dry and filled with succulents and giant cacti.

Purple mountains frame the town and go right into those famous Mediterranean rocky beaches. The sea glistens different shades of blue and sparkles in the sun.

The weather was up and down, the morning would be sunny and beautiful, and then it would turn gray and windy. I kept a pretty excellent vigil by the window, ready for the sun to come back out so we can go on walks at the palm tree lined path without getting blown away.

We only had a couple of days there before moving on to our next Spanish town, so we made the most of every minute of sunlight!