My scepticism remained when we struck out on day two - we had no plans and no real must see sites on our list (very very poor planning), so we wandered the markets.  The knick knacks were all too familiar, coasters, mugs, t-shirts, artwork, but the more we wandered, the more I found that the people were different. Yes, of course there were the usual aggressive sellers, but L also attracted lots of friendly locals giving smiles and giggles - I was warming ever so slightly.

Besides the beautiful backdrop, the tour gave us a better idea of the history of the rice production and it's importance in Bali. Each paddy is operated by a family and provides rice for their consumption throughout the year (according to the guide, no rice is exported from Bali). There are four different cycles in the rice production, but they don't follow a specific time throughout the year, so you may see some fields flooded in early stages of growth, right next to others with rice stalks peeping out. I was amazed to see the fresh rice grains and how different they look fresh from the dried grains we are used to getting from the store. As you watch families toiling out on their plots, it's crazy to think of how much time and work goes into that £0.99 bag of rice you get from the store.





The next day we enjoyed some time poolside in the morning and decided to break for some culture  in the afternoon. After an hour walk to the far side of town, past the Monkey Forest (one of the top attractions which we avoided due to the extra aggressive monkeys who reside there), we ventured into the Agung Rai Museum featuring Balinese art. There were some fantastic paintings, but I especially loved the Batuan style paintings. Often black and white, they were so intricate and left you discovering something new every time you looked at them.



We had hired a driver for the day - after days of being hustled by taxi drivers in the city, we finally had a reason to need one! We negotiated with a couple before finding one that had a reasonable fare (negotiation was key as well, although we had already talked with our hotel about what to expect as a fare).  Our first stop was Mount Batur for the natural hot springs. There are two main locations for the springs right next to each other; we visited Batur Hot Springs as it's where our driver suggested, although looking next door at Toya Devasya, they had a better view of the mount and seems as if perhaps the facilities were a bit better - both are the same price though and the springs are the same.


We floated around, slowly introducing L to the water as she seems to have developed an aversion somewhere around the age of 9 months. The afternoon was spent between checking out the sprays and then venturing back to the views of the mount (which is actually an active volcano whose most recent eruption was in 2000!). Our time was short though as we were off to check out some of the more cultural sites on our way back to Ubud.



The first stop was Tirta Empul, a temple known for the holy water on site.  As you walk in (making sure you wear a sarong and waist wrap), the first entrance are the pools. Dragon heads line the long side, allowing the holy water to enter the pools. Many visitors, both locals and tourists, dip in the water and do a self-cleansing, just make sure you check-out the rules laid out.


We simply watched, then wandered the rest of the complex that was open to the public.  L's favourite part was the giant koi pond where she excitedly watched fish pop up to the surface to snatch whatever food was being tossed their way. The pool was scenic, set against a wall of the temple and a perfect family photo opp as we had been a bit lax in our family photos so far on the trip. Something for us to work on!


Our last stop of the day was at Gunung Kawi - not much is known for certain about the temple, although there are lots of legends and speculations. As best as I got, each of the 10 carvings was dedicated to a Balinese ruler from the time it was carved (around the 11th century). When I walked in, I was struck by the resemblance to the Lycian tombs in Turkey. Not so much as the carvings themselves look alike, but because of the incredible will power behind the act of carving something like this out of stone.



The grounds were beautiful, surrounded by rice paddies and flowing water (carrying the same water that flows to the Tirta Empul temple). The river made everything lush and overgrown.  A week or so after we left was Bali's biggest religious holiday of the year - meaning there were lots of preparations going on, and it was interesting to hear about the rituals that would happen over a few days of the festive season.  The offerings were already piling up, and although the flies were not so appealing around some of the food offerings, it was incredible to see the amount and variety, each with a different purpose.


We'd been warned of the many steps of this temple, which hadn't seemed so bad as we entered.  As we left, I realised it had seemed as breeze as everything was downhill. But on the way out, hot and tired from a long day, the 270 steps seemed more like 500. I was my usual stubborn self and refused assistance in baby wearing, but felt oh so accomplished as we made it to the top; followed by a quick demand of water and air conditioning at full blast!

During my maternity leave, I was missing travel. It had been almost 6 months since my last real trip and the itch was setting in.  Some deals came through on BA, and we poured over the destinations before finally settling on Seville. At the time we were feeling like the confident parents of a child who was sleeping 6 hour stretches.  Come the time of our trip, we were excited to get 4 hours at a time. But nonetheless, we were determined and with one small suitcase for us and one giant suitcase for L, we arrived at the airport (after a small mix-up on which airport we were out of).

As soon as we arrived, I knew it would be wonderful. We were staying in the popular Santa Cruz barrio, filled with narrow and winding cobbled streets. The taxi dropped all our gear off as close as they could and we walked the streets just beginning at 9pm to fill with everyone on their way to dinner. When we finally arrived at the hotel and checked in, they told us about a free walking tour the next day, so we decided it was the perfect way to orient ourselves in Seville, figure out what sites were worth seeing before going back to explore.  We dragged ourselves out of bed at 9am ready to hit the ground walking.


Three hours later, and countless smiles for the baby from wandering locals and tourists, we had seen almost all of the city's top sights. We learned an important lesson in preparation as it started to rain on us and we fastened an umbrella (purchased at the 'it just started raining price' from a corner store) over L's stroller to keep her dry.


As we finished at Plaza Espana, we decided to continue the walk and meandered through the gardens and streets.  I was taken in by the vibrant tiles found everywhere from buildings and walls to park benches. If there was one memory I took away from Spain though, it was the oranges - every park was laden with orange trees and the time of year must have been right as you could smell their aroma as you walked through and stepped over all the ripened oranges that had found their home on the ground. All of it together with the sun seemed a bit like paradise to a woman who'd been landlocked for such a long time!


That evening we had arranged to visit a flamenco show. We were a bit worried about both the noise and the later hour for the littlest Tart, but she was fascinated with it. It was an intimate venue with one guitar player, singer and dancer - the setting meant you heard every pluck of string and stomp of the heel, and see the expressions on their faces showing the pain and joy of the music. The excitment must have been too much as L fell asleep in my arms; we had a few moments of smug thoughts as we decided to put her in the stroller and grab dinner while she slept. We wandered til we found a restaurant near the hotel with the famed Iberica ham hanging from the window, ordered our meals and wine, only for her to wake up as soon as our entrees had arrived! Karma.




After getting whatever sleep we could get that night, the next day was time to get more into the details of the sites, as so far all we had done was leisurely strolling,  taking lots of breaks for croquettes and sangria.  We first visited the Alcazar of Seville - a tour probably would have been a good idea as there wasn't a lot of direction on where to go or what to see, so without much decision making on our part, we first wandered through the buildings.




You can see the Moorish inspiration in so many places in all the little details of the tiles, ceilings, walls, floors - many of which I shared as my favourites in my last blog post), and the distinctly Arabic carvings - these were beautiful, detailed and sprawled across the facade of the building, around the courtyard, but also found their way into the details of the rooms with arches across doorways and windows.



The building brought us to the "backyard" of the Alcazar or as Game of Throne enthusiastics would know it as Dorn. It wouldn't be Sevilla without orange trees, flanked by stone pathways that always seemed to intersect with a fountain in the middle.



When the wind picked up, we decided to duck inside the nearby Catedral de Sevilla to escape.  The highlight of the visit is the Giralda bell tower. Our tour guide had stumped us with a question on how many steps the tower had - it was a trick question since the tower is actually filled with ramps! Originally the minaret of the mosque, before converted to a church, the ramps allowed a horse to ride up for the 5x a day call to prayers.  From the top, the views are beautiful and worth the walk up (even with a baby in tow!)