Hasta luego Madrid. Hola Barcelona!

The packing was done.  The car was loaded.  The kids were in.

We were off!

The drive itself was fine.  Driving in Madrid was not nearly as tumultuous as I had feared and we were able to navigate swiftly out of the city.

Within minutes, Sammy and Joey announced they were "starving."  It seems being in a car is the best appetite stimulant ever.  We should have given them breakfast in there while we were packing.  Fortunately we've unlocked the secret to sated their insatiable car driven hunger:  honey pops!

As they enjoyed fistfuls of this delectable breakfast cereal, we made our way to Barcelona.

Once outside Madrid, the arid desert embraced us.

It was a beautiful scene as we went up into some of the hills with the off white limestone, light greens, and that ruddy iron soil everywhere.

The scene was very reminiscent of Canyonlands in Utah and was a beautiful drive.

We sped past Ariza, looking at an ancient red tower rising out of the desert like a rusty nail glinting in the sunlight.  We saw Santa Maria de Las Huertas nestled in a valley looking like a scattered doll house left in the sand.

After the vibrant Madrid scene, it was easy to forget how much of Spain is actually dry and rugged.

We made our way to Zaragoza for a mid-trip break.  The honey pops had done the job and the kids were doing pretty well.

The main reason to swing by Zaragoza was to see the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar.  It's an impressive building.  More on its history can be found over here:
http://www.thousandwonders.net/Basilica+of+Our+Lady+of+the+Pillar

It was a hot day and we enjoyed the stroll by the river, taking some pictures and stretching our legs.  The boys found a great playground and enjoyed that more than the cathedral.

We walked further along to the bridge, looking across the Ebro River at the beautiful vista.

The boys posed for a quick photo before spying a snake slithering by, which quickly eclipsed any interest in anything else.

After a brief jaunt on the bridge, we got back in the car and made our way to Barcelona.

We met with our new host of the apartment we had found via AirBnB.  Everything seemed fine in the cozy apartment with one important exception...

TO BE CONTINUED!