My deepest apologies, if this posts is all chopped up. I  was able to fix it on the draft but when it posts it’s all  hacked up. I can’t find a way to fix it.   SO SORRY!

Jan. 26th, Sat.  This was not our best day.  I think both Bill and I were tired from the big day on The Rock, but didn’t realize it until we both snapped at each other while out walking and discussing which direction to take.  Later,    Bill did say that he was over tired and pushing himself. We would also find out later he was coming down with a cold.  Anyway, there is a “park” just down the street from here that lies on the ocean.  A great place to take your  dogs to run, etc.  A nice view of the harbor as well.  We  found it and checked it out.  While we should have  stopped at that point and gone back to the flat we  continued on to the beach area.  A nice little place with  loads of condos, and a few shops and restaurants.  We  got a little refreshment   and watched people for a while before going back to the flat for a much deserved rest.   We picked up a few groceries and later I made a nice  chicken breast with fresh veggies.  Taste really good.  Felt even better to cook again.  Looking forward to the next  place. We have full kitchen privileges here, but if just feels funny using someone else’s stuff while they are  home.

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Jan. 27th Sunday- Church day in a new destination. There is a “nursing” home about 10 minutes up the street and hill from us that Bill heard had a church service.  We  sought the church out the night before to make sure.   Then walked up today for service.  Needless to say I  think I was the youngest there by at least 20 years!  A lot of mostly men in wheelchairs. I nice service considering all in Spanish.  The stained glass windows were not the  standard large pane but all small individual pieces.  Nice  little place. 

 

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A lunch our host family asked us if we wanted to join them for a trip to the hills to the Castle of the Frontera.   A cool old place on top of the  highest vantage point. I was  unable to find any info in  English to add to the pics.   We had a coffee up there and  you can now actually  stay in  rooms on the top floor. How  about booking a room  in an  old castle?

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 After touring the grounds of the castle Galina wanted to stop off at the market for fresh oranges and avocados.

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There is an area where storks have nets and a breeding  ground along the way. Some trees had three nests in one. 

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Next stop was for ice cream for Marke. Kathy had to have some too, as she hasn’t had any since her birthday. This was down to the beach  where we had walked to yesterday. Getare.  Our host family also has another  property there.  Back to the flat for a little sandwich. 

Jan. 28th Mon. Today we decided to hop a bus and go  about 30 minutes south to the Southern most point in  Europe Tarifa.  Tarifa is an old fishing port and now a  ferry port to Tangiers Morocco.We were hoping to  visit Tangiers, but it isn’t looking too good at this point.  From all accounts we have heard, it the getting there and back.  The Ferry lines are very unreliable, time charts don’t  mean anything, and all of the customs and immigration  is handled on the ships.  Crossings may be canceled at  any  time due to a number of things.  Not really a chance  I think we are willing to take alone. Perhaps another  time from another place.

Anyway, we crossed a little mountain range and saw  dozens of windmills. A lot of cattle ranches. The little  town is very quaint as is most seaports. Several castles,  a marina, beach, church, you get the picture. We walked most of it along the side streets and the marina district.  It was cool to see men at fishing boats doing what fisherman have done for centuries. Mending their lines, etc. It was cool and very windy today otherwise we would have made our way out to the light  house.

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Jan. 29th Tues.- off to the bull ring to see the market. We found a way to take the bus up instead of walking it all. Once a week in the parking lot of the bull ring is a huge  market.  Not unlike all of the other markets we have seen,  just bigger. Same stuff, belts, shoes, socks, olives, etc.  Made for a nice walk. We passed through Christina Park which  we  hadn’t seen yet but had previously been  only a  couple  of  blocks away.  Next time for a coffee con leche  in the  Plaza  Alta. So nice to be able to sit in the sun and watch the people Taking the bus back was nice as after a month of  just  walking it gets kind of daunting.  I suppose  if we  had  been thinking we could have been doing that all along. But  at first walking is the way to see the most. Bill feeling  under  the weather, took rest time while I read. I cooked a chicken breast with veggies again trying to use up what is left in the frig. We went for a nice walk and had our little toddy  afterwards. I think Bill is liking his beer! HA! 

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Jan. 30th. Wed- The rainy mist held off long enough for us to take one last walk down to the beach, Getares.  We  walked a little past the boardwalk this time as Michael  kept talking about the “dunes”.  Well, by golly, there  were some small dunes. It reminded me a lot of Grand Haven. We loaded up our suitcases, and took one last  drink and tapas at our local watering hole.
Mark
had  been waiting two days to play cards, so  tonight  was his lucky night. I mean lucky.  We played Uno and I  couldn’t even beat a seven year old. UGHG! Off to the next stop.

Jan. 31. Thurs.  MOVING DAY 3- Off on the bus for  another adventure.  An hour and a half ride to the town of Jerez.  Pronounced Har Es. This town is not a port city.  Here are the famous Andalusian horses, and the home  to Sherry wine.  From what we have seen so far, a bit  more cosmopolitan than Algeciras which is just fine by me. Also a bit larger at about 200,000 people.

 So, a five minute cab ride from the main station brought us to our residence.  Having no way to get inside main  door Bill texted the owner to see what was up.  He was  unable to meet us as his grandmother is in failing health  and he had to go up north.  Ivan our landlord opened the door via electronic door lock from his phone.  Great.  Now we had to get inside the flat.  We found the lock box  next to the door but couldn’t figure out how to get inside of it.  Ivan kept saying there was no code to punch in, just turn the number tumbler.  Couldn’t figure out how  to get to the tumbler. We tried lifting the lid, etc. to no  avail. Just about when Bill was getting frustrated I slide  the door panel down and bingo!  The tumblers.  Now we  aren’t what I would call stupid people by any means but holy crap.  Sure made us feel stupid. New flat pics below.

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Once inside we RAN to the washing machine!  Threw a  load in, takes only about three pairs of pants for a load by the way, and headed for the grocery store.  When  getting ready to go out the main door I suggested we  try  it first before both of us going out.  You know, just in  case. Well, good thing we did, as we couldn’t figure out  how to get out.  Crazy electronic lock.  Just before Bill  blew his gasket he said, “Ivan sent me  this link in  an  email  and I had no idea what it was for.”   Surprise!  It was a  link for the auto lock.  Well, we didn’t know.   And what if we didn’t have data or a sims card?  You’d  be screwed.  Anyway, we got it all figured out and and all is well with  the  world now.

After returning from the short jaunt to the store I made   spaghetti for dinner.  Then it was time to walk it off.  Just a couple of blocks around the corner is a former  convent now turned into a venue and a church.  The  convent by night was beautiful and peaceful. The church just another stunner in my book. Bill sez the one in  Seville is Bigger?  Can’t wait!

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FEB. 1st Fri. Not a good night for me last night. I think the barista slipped me a mickey. He must have given me caffeinated instead of decaf. The wind and rain was  horrific and I thought the  large canopy was going  to fly  right off the roof!  I sat up  and texted my neighbor back  home. Thank you once  AGAIN Sarah, sat on the web,etc.   I was worried that a  reading lamp would bother Bill so  I  just laid there for hours.  Finally around  4:00  a.m.  getting  a little rest after all, then slept in. 

 First quest of the day would be to find Frank and  Wendy’s place and see how far of a walk it is going to be.  It will be much easier for us to go to them than the other way around at first.  With all of the short cuts, side streets. etc. It can be very confusing without google maps.   Though I found it with a paper map!  Google didn’t have  their street on it. HA! One for me! So, F&W will only be  about  12 minutes walking or so.  Then found the closes  grocery store to them also. There is NO WAY they would have found that!  Stumbled across the local Mercado of  fish, veggies, etc.  I love those places.  Always so much  and something different to see. By now it was 12:40 and  churros and coffee time.  Geez, I wonder how I am going to get those up on the river in April?  Definitely getting to be a BAD habit. HEEHEEHEE.  Below are  pics from this  mornings walk.   Check out the price of the tuna,  and  the poor rabbits  being sold under their cute little  counter friends.

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Lunch time and a nice home made sandwich.  Bill took a little rest. Still has the cold. Four o clock and everything would be open again so time for after noon drinks. $2.70 for a beer and a nice glass of tinto de verano.  We had a late dinner, burgers in, after having a wonderful face time chat with Dani.  She  has  had the whole  week  off with pay due to the weather.   She said  she  wishes she was here. She misses it every day. It was now 7:30 and we didn’t take an evening walk.

Jan. 19, Sat.  An early wake up at 3:15 as Dani had to catch a cab to the airport for a 5:40 flight back through Paris, then Minni, to Grand Rapids.  Getting back to napping after she left.  This morning was cool, cloudy and rainy. The first “bad” weather so far. But it didn’t last long.  We are moving again on Wed. morning so we started to do laundry.  This didn’t go so well.  We have done laundry here before so couldn’t figure out what was going wrong.  After several attempts or trying to run different cycles and having the same thing happen in all of them, Bill got a hold of the landlord for his advice.  Another try with no success.  On to the internet. Gotta love that internet.  Someone else had posted a similar problem and with using their advice, we got the problem solved five hours later. This may not seem like a big deal but there are not dryers here.  You put your clothes on a rack and wait for them to dry.  We had three loads to do and I am glad we didn’t wait until Mon. to start the process. Having not much drying going on overnight, I made a make shift dryer with a small heater and a privacy screen so speed things up a bit.

So, between the washing machine deal and all, we took a nice walk after dinner down to the beach.  It was very quiet down there tonight. Kind of a nice change really.

Jan. 20, Sunday- our “normal routine”, went up to Bendalmedena for an English breakfast and did a little walking around before church. After church we hiked it back  to the flat. About 2 1/2 hrs . You know  the  deal by now, stop and have a drink here  and french fries and a drink there, along the way.  Then it was time to eat  something of  substance,  so we  just happened to be near Posiden again.  LOL Fresh hake  tonight with  no potatoes or peas.  JUST FISH! Holy cow did they  give us a huge slab.

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Back to the flat to turn the laundry.  HAHAHAHA. Still not dry yet. The  super moon was AMAZING rising over the Mediterranian. As bright as it could possibly be. Very cool watching it progress. I am glad we got to see it. 

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Jan. 21. Monday- Sunrise on the pond:

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Today was going to be our last morning walk on this section of the  beach.  Wed. morning we will be moving on down the line.   We stopped in an ole  Irish Pub named All the Blacks for a drink  at noon .Sat a spell in the sun then moved  on to another  Irish joint for a double  patty 1/2 burger to share.  Pretty tasty.

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 Sunday’s sermon was about serving and the opportunities that come  our way to serve. Bill and I had just  had a conversation  about how  we miss  serving others like we did in Panama.  Well, wouldn’t  you know that  not more than 20 minutes later God gave us  a small  opportunity to  serve.  A lady in a wheel chair scooter was waiting  outside a gated villa and was trying to call a taxi, but her cell phone  wasn’t  working  properly.  Bill handed her his phone and we  waited  to make sure she  was able to make her call.  When we left she  tried  to pay us!  We just  said blessings and peace.  After walking a bit up the  hill Bill asked if we shouldn’t have stayed with her until the taxi came.  Guess we should  have.

Jan. 22 Tues- Hearing about a fabulous  street market that occurs on  Sundays and Tues.  SO, hopping the train we went up to Los Boliches to see what was what.  Turns out that we had actually walked past the site a couple of times before but there wasn’t anything going on there on  those days to know . Rows and rows of just about anything you can  think of except tools. Hmmm….wonder why that is?

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Jan 23 Wed.  MOVING DAY THREE- Train to the bus.  First bus trip. Bus was a first  class  touring coach. We made two stops along the way  and the trip took an  hour and a half along the ocean  and  through tunnels of mountains.  How awesome to grab our first glimpse of the “ROCK”. Our new host, Michael, picked us up at the sea port station. A nice two story flat with  the  sleeping  quarters and baths upstairs. After getting settled in we  were  off to check out the neighborhood and grab a few  groceries.  Had a drink and some tapas as well. This stay will be mostly  bus riding to see the sights.  Have to learn the  routes.  Now a word about our host.   Michael is German, his female  partner is Russian, his son born in  England  and they  live  in  Spain. Wow what a mix. 

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Jan. 24th Thurday- Time to see what this city has. Hiking to find the bus station and the post office. No big chore.  Michael gave us great  directions. It took about 25 minutes to find the bus station where we  would be leaving from next week to our next destination. Also,  from  there to go to Gilbraltar. We found the main walking street and  enjoyed a coffee and piece of “apple pie” on a cake crust with pecans on top.  Not bad. Walking some more we stumbled upon a couple of  churches. One was very small, only seating for about 40. But very cool.  If you haven’t been able to tell by now, getting into churches and taking photos is “my thing” while traveling.  I probably take more pics of that than anything else. We took some pics along the harbor then headed  back to the flat for a sandwich and a rest. On our way a man was selling urchins, he let me try one. Not bad for uncooked eggs.   Later we  walked down the street to the marina, then up the hill for a  little vino.  Showers and rest up for Gilbraltar on Fri.

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Jan. 25th- Fri. Off to tackle the Rock.  The Gilbraltar Rock that is.  Having walked 20 minutes to the bus terminal we hopped a nice bus for the half hour ride to La Linea. That is the border town on one side of  the airport. Gilbraltar is on the tother side.  La Linea isn’t anything  special.  No nice restaurants along the water or fancy shops.   That  would be on the “other side”.  To get to Gilbraltar you have to  cross the  airport runway. REALLY!  They put the gates up after the planes go out and  away you go. Bill took a picture of me “straddling” the line. 

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Our land lord had given us  directions for a short cut up the rock so we sought that out.  Heading  in to the town square Casemark. Our  directions from there were to seek out the statue with a rifle in his  hands and turn left and head uphill. A narrow little  stair  case  was  there through a  small opening., so up we headed.  After a few turns  and running into a dead end we asked an old gentleman for directions.  We walked on until we didn’t know which way to turn, and asked for help again.  This is   where we ran into Graham from England.   Former  english navy he had landed there on duty. Was a Gilbratar policeman for years and is  now retired.  We talked and talked. I think he  was  needing  that.   We joked,etc. After 20 minutes he sent us on our way.  It was a long  steep walk for sure.  Part way up there was an open  air museum and some ruins.

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Continuing on up from there we reached a spot where you had to  decide if you were going to pay to go all the way to the top or not.   NOT!!! Especially after the hike we already had to get to where we where. From here we could look over to the Moors Castle.

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At this point we pass the old World War 2 tunnels.  Not a must see for   us, so more walking up hill..  We passed the lime kiln.

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We decided to go just a little bit further to where we could see a look  out.  Good think we did as this is called the Middle Station and this is  where the Monkeys hang out.  While they are free range and are able  to go anywhere  they prefer to hang where the tourists stop for photo     ops. Of course they do!

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At this point all of the tour buses stop so everyone can see the monkeys. This is where we met Richard.  He lives in Gilbraltar and knows the   monkeys my name.  Ruben the big male is 15 years old and the troop  leader.  There are roughly 300 monkeys that live on the rock, and the     legend is Brittan will remain in rule there are long as the monkeys are there.  We had a wonderful time hanging out.  Ruben got a little  amorous and mated with the female. Afterwards Ruben just laid there  while the female picked off fleas. How typical.  Bill had to wrangle  me  to get  me moving down hill.  I could have stayed up  there all day.   Below are pictures from the  highest point that we made it to.  In the  distance we were able to see   Africa!

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Graham and told us about the place he thought had the best fish  and chips and that is where we went.  Roys English fish and chips.  Oh My Goodness!  So yummy and fresh.  We definitely would recommend it. We even got to met Roy himself!

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Now to walk our lunch off.  Yes, this is the  only way we aren’t getting  fat down here.  Walk, walk, walk. We found  a couple of churchs to  peek inside of.   

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IN the main square there was a glass blowing place with amazing items for sale. We also saw a huge casino ship. Man was that sucker huge! After a nice walk about we were ready to head back across the border  and towards the bus station.  We would still have a 25 minute walk  back to the flat from the bus station on our end.  We had  a wonderful  day  and have crossed another item off the bucket list.

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Jan. 12, 2019 Sat- Today our daughter Dani arrived. She graduated from her second stint of collage with her master's degree and this trip was her graduation present. She will be spending a week with us. While sitting outside of the airport waiting for her flight  to arrive I noticed a band   with their instruments hanging around.  They were from Sweden but I didn't  have the nerve to ask them who they were. I wish I had now. Blah!  There was also a squirmish. A man with a luggage cart came next to our bench and asked the lady next to us if he could have the bottle sitting next to her. She said yes. I thought he was going to put it in the trash or recycle for her. He meandered over to the cafe with his cart and then proceeded to attack a man with the bottle. I was shocked. Security was called and in the time we sat there watching the man assailant would two more times try to get on the victim all while the security was there. Very strange.

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The pickup completed, we hopped the train back to grab a bite to eat anddrop luggage.  A nice stroll down to the beach and some Sangria was in order for Dani. There is a nice place with “beds” in the sun with  roofs that was perfect for Dani to “catch her breath” and take it all in.  Little did we know we would end up walking the long stretch all the  way up to Benalmedena. Several hours later we were all getting  hungry and stopped for a bite. We ordered paella, squid and fresh fish.  All were  yummy. The waiter even brought out three shot glasses with a wonderful apple drink in it at the end of our meal . We insisted that he join us of course. Dani tired from  her trip we  headed back  up  to  the train and  for “home”.

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Jan, 13. Sunday- A little sleep in for Dani and she was exhausted after all of the walking, and flight on Sat.  We trained it up to Benalmedena for a nice full breakfast and 1:30 church.  From there we trained it up to  the end of the line to Fuengirola. We walked around had lunch and  walked around some more. We each got something different for lunch and shared. We had shrimp frittes, marinated fish, and red snapper.   YUMMY, tho I wouldn’t get the frittes again. They were ok. just not  worth it really. Got a little dessert to take back home.We  got back  to the flat and worked on planning the rest of Dani’s stay.  Bill and I watched the movie Troy.

 

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Jan. 14, Mon.- What a fun day we had.  Taking the train to the end of the line to Malaga Cento it was fun to share the excitement for someone seeing the city for the first time.  We too saw some things and places that  we hadn’t been last week.  That’s part of the allure of Malaga.  Many  different districts to explore.  We more or less hung around the old  town so Dani could get her bearings as she would be spending Tues and Wed. with a friend of hers flying in for five days around down there. 

First stop was a wonderful breakfast from a place Dani had looked  up online. She is quite the foodie and did a lot of research as to what to eat and where.  A good pic.  This tiny little place only had seating for 20  and 12 of that was outside where there was a nice heater and super soft, warm,blankets.   The place called Byoko  is English,  and offered  their meals on a long  skinny bread.   We ordered one  with avocado,  egg of course salmon,  and dill.  The other had egg, bacon,  and goat  cheese.  The cheese was  superb!

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Time to get off the meat and on the feet.  Needed to walk breakfast off. So on to the central market where we nibbled on the best almonds you will ever have.  The almonds are different than what we get in the U.S.  they are larger, different shape, have just a pinch of salt on them, and some olive oil.  Oh my goodness!  Lots of olives, ham, fish, beef, etc.  Fresh fruit and veggies. Flowers so far don’t seem to abound.

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Breakfast walked off time for a little nibble of something sweet.  Dani had place looked up for churros but it was after 1:00 and they were closed until 5:00  blah! But right across the “street” was a nice little place that had some good looking cake in it.  So, we popped a squat in there for a few minutes. Turned out that this place was also on Dani’s list.

 

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We headed for the Roman Theater and it was here that Dani had  something go wrong with the instep of her right foot.  Perhaps all of  the walking the day before in new shoes did it?  I went to the farmacia and got some anti inflammatory pills to talk the edge off and we  elevated  it.  The pills helped but not a solution by a long shot.

Next stop a stroll through the Malaga Park on our way down to the  water front.  Dani just checking out visually for her next two days  down there. Her foot needs resting every so often so it was drinks on  the water. She is taking a daily pic of her and Bill with their drinks.   Cute.

Now it is starting to get towards dinner time and we were quite some  distance from the train so we headed in that direction and wondered  til we found a nice place with tapas.  What a find. The outside was  filling up and I was chilly so we went indoors.  Here we had four tapas, one was a potato salad with chicken, a potato “quiche”,chicken wings,  and a very tasty seviche. Our dinner plate had two kinds of chicken,  pork, beef, and a chorizo sausage over french fries.  The churro and  chocolate for dessert.  Good thing we were walking a ways after.

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Walking on the other side of the canal from what we walked this  morning we peeked in a little hole in the wall kind of place that seemed to have a lot of people in it.  Bill said lets go in and see what was going on.  It happened to be a wine tasting house.  You can also buy  bottles as well drawn right out of the kegs.  We tried three different types of wine.  I found the muscatel the best.  Our “bartender” has a hoot. He  has worked there for 35 years. Some of the wines have been in the casks for months other for years. The flights were different according to the wine but not more than $1.50 each.  The wine seemed to help Dani’s  ankle. All in all a good time had by all!

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Jan. 15th Tues.  Today Dani had a friend fly in to visit for a few days.   Before we had to run to the airport we went to Torremolinos for breakfast and a walk about. We just ordered a bunch of things off the menu  and waited to see what would come.  We had three sandwiches, and a plate of eggs and ham.  The coffee was excellent and Dani and I opted  for two cups.  This I would pay for when trying to go to sleep.  That is  the second time in less than two weeks.  You would think I would have  remembered that from the last time.  DUH.

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 Torre is very much laid out like Malaga only on a smaller scale. All of  the shops and eateries, etc. I love the walking streets..We found a nice  church and popped our heads in….there was a living wall. Very neat.  One of the shops was a pot store from Amsterdam. We had a really nice conversation with the guys that work there. Both are Italians. The youngest even was wearing blue and gold and said he love U of M.  Small world.

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Time to head to the airport and pick up A.J.   We grabbed his bags and  Dani and him headed to Malaga for the day.  I worried about her foot  several times. They didn’t return until after 11:30.  Bill and I did our  walk down to the super market and then strolled the beach side on the way back and had our after noon toddy.  Dani had ordered something  yesterday that I like so I ordered one up.  A tinto de verano.  A red wine with like 7_UP in it, tho mine came in a bottle.  I enjoyed it very much.

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Once again Bill decided we should try to Vietnamese joint down stairs. So now knowing the have weird hours after looking it up we waited  until 7:00 to go down.  The lights were on but nobody home. Mama Mia. was also closed, so we took a couple of “take outs” from the little  restaurant downstairs.  The food turned out to be a yummy cold potato salad with tuna and beef stew. Filled up right up. $2.00 each. So a good  day was had by all.

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Jan. 16 Wed.-While the kids were going to head off and do their own thing Bill and I were off to find a couple of sights.  One nearby one not so.  The first was only about a 25 minute walk down hill. Turns out that if we had looked up a certain street and back a couple of blocks from the Malacon we  had been “walking right past it” for two weeks. Having been built in  1926 as a summer home it is now a museum. I was most impressed by the lovely inlaid furniture. My pictures don’t do the place justice!

La Casa de Los Navajas

A mansion in the middle of Bajondillo In the 1920s and 1930s, along with the first hotels such as Parador de Montemar and Castillo del Inglés (Santa Clara hotel), a number of wealthy families chose Torremolinos for their second homes. As a result, houses and buildings were constructed, some of which are of particular architectural interest, for example, the residence of the Navajas family, next to Bajondillo, or the Huerta del Rincón in Carihuela, which is private property. Casa de los Navajas is very close of Bajondillo beach and can be reached via calle de los Navajas or calle las Mercedes. It is open every day and entry is free.

It was built in 1925 and belonged to the Luque-Navajas family, which had ties to the sugar cane business, at that time flourishing in the estuary of the Guadalhorce river. The industry was facilitated by the irrigation systems involved in the transportation of water to Malaga – the greatest achievement of the engineer who diverted the liquid that powered the mills of Torremolinos in order to take it to the provincial capital, thereby contributing to its modernisation.

Weddings and other ceremonies are held in the mansion, which is of Neo-Mudejar style with Mozarabic touches. It also hosts various exhibitions, concerts and theatre performances, and consequently has become a must-see historic building in Torremolinos.

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So, with that under our belts it was on to conquer the next one.  Passingby our favorite pastry shop, had to have one. A long walk ahead and all.

I had wanted to back up the hill and take the train to the next stop as I knew roughly how far it was to the “castle”. Bill wanted to walk.  I  asked him if he was sure that it was quite a ways.  He assured me it was ok.  SO, to make a very long story shorter, we never made it to the  castle. Four hours of walking that ended back at the train station that would have dropped us off 30 minutes hike from there, we were  exhausted and neither one of us was up the the next hike up a step  incline. I am all for taking the train and trying again. Bill last night, not so much. We shall see if he changes his mind. If not, I have no problem doing it myself.

The good news that came out of it tho was we finally found The Crispies, a traditional English fish joint.  Once again we had “walked  right past it” only two blocks up from the beach.  Wow what a find.  We were the only two in there as they had just opened at 1:00.  Fresh cod  and hand cut fries, smashed peas of course. Bottle of beer, glass of wine, $8.00

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Jan. 17th Thursday- With fresh feet and legs and ready to tackle the trek to Christopher Columbus Monument  up the hill we went.  Little did  we know that it was a 15-20% grade and  not just half an hours  walk.   It took up over an hour and fifteen minutes! It felt like it all straight  up hill.  Needless to say we didn’t see any other walkers on our way.    We were unsure at one point if we were going to make it by 1:30 when  they close for siesta.  The monument was built and designed by  Estaban Martin M.D. from 1987 to 1994 with the help of two workers. It unifies all architectonic styles : Bizantine, Romanesque, Arabic, and  Gothic. In brief a history book carved in stone about the 15th century Spanish culture, art and unity.  It was much smaller thank it looked in the brochures and i wouldn’t recommend walking up to see it.  A car  would have been soooo much easier.

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By the time we got back to the flat both Bill and I were ready for a little nap.  Then it was off to afternoon drinks which was at a lovely little  Italian restaurant that had a nice appetizer.  Then we found a great  joint around the corner from the flat with super cheap churros!  The  largest I’ve seen yet.   All made for yet another interesting day. Dinner was a nice chicken dish from down stairs that was something like the  beef stew we had yesterday.  Really good.

 

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Jan. 18th Fri. We said good bye to A.J. as he was renting a car for two days and heading west up the coast. He is hoping to see Gaibralter, etc. Dani, Bill and I headed into Malaga as Dani had not yet visited the Cathedral and only one of the huge monuments in town. First stop, curros and coffee! Definitely the BEST and lightest churros so far. super light and near hollow inside. We will be coming back here again.

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On our way around town we saw that St John the Baptist church was open and popped inside. OMG!!! What a sight. It was close to closing for the afternoon and we got booted but I will return to see the rest in March. Totally amazing.

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Up the hill to the Castillo de Gibralfaro. And I thought the trip up to the Christopher Columbus monument was a work out.  

This Castle, built in the 14th. Century to house troops and protect the Alcazaba, is today one of the most visited monuments in Málaga. From its walls, visitors get spectacular views of the city and you can visit the Interpretation Centre to discover the site’s history.
 
It was named after a lighthouse at its peak (Jabal-Faruk, the light mountain). Although it was used by the Phoenicians and Romans, in 1340 the Nasrid King Yusuf I made the place into a fortress.
 
During the reconquest (i.e. the Reconquista) it was besieged by the Catholic Monarchs in the summer of 1487 and Ferdinand the Catholic made it his temporary residence after the victory. In addition, he designated the castle as a symbol on the coat of arms of the city.
 
It was considered the most impregnable fortress on the Iberian peninsula for a time. It has two lines of walls and eight towers. The outer wall meets the coracha, zigzagging walls arranged to link to the Alcazaba Castle. Inside you can walk around the whole perimeter of the fortress.
 
The Castle is divided into two parts. The upper part is called the main courtyard and houses the Interpretation Centre where you can discover the history of the castle through the lives of its inhabitants. You will find the Main Tower (Torre Mayor), 17 metres high, the Phoenician well and the baths in this section. The Airón well was dug in solid rock to a depth of 40 meters.
 
The lower part, or courtyard, held the troop barracks and stables. The watchtower or White Tower (Torre Blanca), facing the North East, is one of the most visible  ones and inside you will find a water tank, auxiliary buildings and storerooms.
 

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Getting on towards dinner time and Dani had done some research  about places the locals eat.  Jackpot! Dinner spot was her choice as a Farewell dinner. Las  Merchanas is a  diamond in the  rough.   Holy cow  is all I can say.  Home made food, best Tinto de Verano, and dishes to  die for.  We definitely will be bringing Eric and Lori here.

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Wondering the streets you never know what you are going to see or  find.  It is impossible to see around the corner or up ahead. Tonight we stumbled upon the Church of the sacred Heart and the Hammam Arab baths. Something else to do in March.

 

 

Jan. 6th  Sunday- Saturday night we heard a crackling sound coming from one of the elec. outlets. We got a hold of the landlord and he said he would be up at 10:00 sun morning. It made me nervous as you could see it ark in the dark. Sure enough he was right on time and changed out the outlet. Said it was an issue a month ago and had totally forgot about it. Church was at 1:30 back in Benalmedena.  We hopped the train and went a little early to have churros and chocolate first.  This was the English service.  The priest right from Ireland.  A nice short service with a great message. After returning back  to the flat we went for a walk to try to find Aldi’s. Our landlord said it was just down the street a ways. We headed out and sure enough we found it after a 15 minute walk. But guess what? It was Sunday and they were closed. Blah. Forgot about that. We got a nice walk out of it and got to see some of the other neighborhoods. All good.

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 Jan. 7th Monday- Today we took the train to the end of the line to what used to be a small fishing village but now is a great tourist town. The closest to the ocean, only two or three blocks from City center.  We found where the fishing trowlers unload their catch but not a place to buy fresh fish off the boat. Hmmmm.  A nice walk around the marina and town. Stopped off for a little refreshments seaside of course.  We were seated next to a table of 12 Britts.  Their accents are truly hysterical to listen to. After a full glass of Sangria on an empty stomach, Kathy a little tipsy, needed a little bit to eat.  We strolled along and stopped at what we would find out to be a Swedish place.  Probably one of the best club sandwiches I have ever eaten.  A nice thin chicken breast instead of shaved turkey on it.  Now it was after three and we headed back thru town to the train.  Time for a nice siesta. 

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Jan. 8th. Tues. On the train we have passed a beautiful park and thought we would hop the train to MONTEMAR to find it.  The space is wonderfully manicured. Tree plaques describing where the trees came from, fountains, playground for the children, boats for the adults, all lit for night time use. I imagine on week-ends it is quite busy.

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A nice walk downhill through some nicer neighborhoods led us to the ocean.  After a short walk past shops I spied a pearl store. I had the intention of bringing some black Majorican pearls back but found a pair of cute little earrings.

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What so you do after jewelry shopping you ask? Well get a piece of dessert of course! A lovely little raspberry tart. The crust was made of a light cake and the filling was yummy.

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Continuing on down the boardwalk it was beer thirty. And per Frank’s request Bill has been trying all of the local beers one at a time…LOL We popped a squat at the Banana Beach Club and had a plate of fries and watched the people walk by.

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More sand castles along the walk way.  These guys really put a lot of effort into their projects.  Nice viewing along the boardwalk.

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Jan. 9th-Wed.-Our adventures took us three bus stops down today to El Pinillo. Another quaint village about the same as the rest. Quite a walk downhill to the ocean.  About 12:30 saw a sign for coffee and bailey’s $2.00. How can you beat that? So i had one…no wait two! There was a couple there we  got chatting with, Norma and Ron.  She (82)from So. Whales, he (85) from Ireland.  They bought an apt. here  16 years ago. What a chatty couple., very nice. Bill found out from Ron that he had been a fighter pilot in the Korean war!  I bet he has more  stories than we had time for.

Walking along one street over from the ocean I found a shop that sells the lovely had painted tiles I love.  I will be stopping by there in March to pick some up.  I fell in love with them in Panama but was never able to find them there.

 

3:00 found us close to Posiden restaurant so guess what?  Fish and chips again, yea. Only instead of peas we got a small salad, wonder if that was because we are Americans?  We haven’t run into or heard any speaking since we got here.  The lady at the store where I bought my earrings said Americans used to come here a lot before 9/11. May have to ask around some more to confirm her suspicions. 

Jan.10 Thurs- We have two more sections of the boardwalk that we haven’t walked yet. So we decided to pick them off and finish them this week.  The first section is really the first section closest to the airport.  Plaza Mayor.  Here there is  huge outdoor mall with high end stores from France, Italy, etc. Even the grocery store was a little more expensive than the rest. How odd to be standing in the middle of an open air mall and have a jet fly overhead. I popped into a nail salon to see how much a fill would be, because they are nice and close, and the gal said $35.00! Now that IS high end. I can get a full set for $25.00 at home. I think i will go down the beach a little farther where the rates aren’t so steep.

Jan. 11 Fri.  WE DID IT! we now have completed all the boardwalk from one end of the train line to the other.  Over 20 miles. We approached this leg from Torremuelle. And actually this had breaks in the boardwalk where there wasn’t any.  So, some of the walking was on the beach itself and some 50-100 feet above the ocean on the side walk. Nice rocking shore line there with the sound of the crashing waves.  Actually the first waves we have seen.  There were even a few surfers out there. We stopped about 1:30 for lunch which was actually an English breakfast.  Two eggs, two sausages, Canadian bacon, hash brown patty, two roma tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, and toast. $5.50! We also did a load of laundry in the morning as it sits out on a rack to dry. Tidied up the apt. as Dani will be coming on Sat. Can’t wait for that!

 

 

 

 

 

Dec.30-31st- Wow, what a couple of long days of sitting. The flights themselves weren’t all too bad, read a little, watch a couple of movies, etc. Its the lay overs of five hours that are the killers.

Madrid airport is super modern. Beautiful ceiling, nice and clean. However their seating, which there is no lack of, is all hard plastic or metal. Not real comfy to say the least. We were able to get a SIMS card there for a special rate. Three months with 10 gigs a month for $50.00 euros. More than what we should need. Good for Google maps for getting around.

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We took a nice walk after getting settled in to see what was in the near vicinity. Found a beautiful huge park just a few blocks downhill towards the ocean. There were chickens running loose everywhere and we even spied a couple of rabbits in the bushes. Took a turn towards what we thought to be Bechnal Beach, only to find it was the name of big “resort” and no way to get to the ocean. Nice view though. We will know which way to go tomorrow.

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Dinner time most things were closed up so we went for the Chicken guy on the corner. Great roasted 1/2 chicken and chilled potatoes and a coke, $8.00. Not bad. Bill “passed out” before 8:00 totally exhausted. I made it til 11:00.

New Year’s eve was less than expected and very un-eventful. Per a website a brought my “glasses” and mask, and headband. LOL. I was the only one walking around in them after dark. Watch next year it will be all the rage. I did get a nice comment from a gentleman. So the big thing was on one of the side pedestrian streets was a mob party. People jam packed in with a d.j. and huge speakers, and way too much alcohol. Saw a man peeing against a building. Not the norm I’m sure. After ten it got real quiet, and then a few bang bangs at mid night and that was it. We understand this evening is for family and house parties. We saw a lot of people dressed and walking some where. Little girls in dresses, heels, men in suits.

The Christmas lights are all lit and looks very festive. Our hotel is on a pedestrian street and we have lights all up and down. A great sight off of the balcony.

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Jan. 1, 2019 Tues. After what ended up being a 36 hr day for me turned into a late sleep in. It took me a while to get up and get with it. A very nice cup of good coffee took care of the trick about 10:00! We started out walking down hill to the ocean. Passed thru a very nice, large park. The park was full of chickens and roosters, and rabbits sneaking around.

We weren’t on the beach very long before we somehow started chatting with a woman from Switzerland. Did you know they speak four different languages there? I didn’t. She prattled on and on for a while. Filling us in on all kinds of things. She has friends here and has been coming for quite some time. Very nice, very friendly.

There are dogs here, EVERYWHERE!!! Literally. Some people have two and three. We talked with a woman that has three, two being a hunting greyhound breed. She chatted for quite a while also.

The Malacon ( boardwalk) goes for Miles! Today we walked about 7.5 miles of it. Shops, stores, beer, ice cream,restaurants, etc. I can only imagine how crazy it must be here in the summer as about 25-30 % of the places are closed for the winter.

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We walked ourselves into a needing lunch break, and it was New Year’s Day after all so……a little bubbly was in order. We also had an order of fresh sardines, and calamari.

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Marina District

After an hour and some it was time to keep moving along the Malacon. We found the Marina. Voted one of the best in the World. Beautiful setting to say the least. Once again all kinds of shopping, etc.

 

some shots along the way back to our place.

 

On the way back to the room we cut through the big park again and found more things there. A playground for the children, farm animals, sculptures, cactus garden, and the darn rabbit again. Can you run faster than a white rabbit?

 

Jan. 2, 2019 Wed- Birthday Day! yea. I had brought cards from home with me so I had something to open. Facebook had many wonderful wishes from you all. Thank you so very much. So nice to be thought of by you.

Just up the street near the train station. (two blocks) is a church and Cultural Arts center. We popped inside both to see. The church is small and beautiful. The art center had a huge nativity set up. With running water and all. Must have taken a long time to set up.

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Bill and I finally had some rest and we were good to go again today. We decided to take the train in to our next “flop” to see how far away it was, etc. We found it, eventually, and found a couple of ladies in the lobby looking to help two confused strangers. The one lady has been coming down for 9 years the other for 20. NICE BRITTS. Sure seems to be a huge amount of them here. The area is VERY different than in Benalmadena. Not sure I like the area, but it will be nice to finally have a kitchen, etc. And, it will be much larger. The building is an old hotel that sold off suites to Condos. Can’t wait to get inside.

So, after that we headed down to the beach and Malacon again. After walking a ways we stopped off for some lunch. I had decided I wanted fish and chips for my birthday. We had a wonderful fillet. We happened to sit next to a pair of chaps that were travel savvy and have been all over the world. SO, make a long story shorter, they yapped and yapped. Ben was from Austraila and Martin from the U.K. They had lots of neat stories from some of the places they have been. Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Peru, etc. Time went way too fast. We needed to start for the trek back, as were too sure how much further we had gone by train to walk back. Turned out it was over 11 miles and took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the room. Needless to say we were both bushed. We stopped after about an hour for some birthday ice cream and landed in front of a man playing guitar and singing. Nice sea side touch. The ice cream was the creamiest I have ever experienced.

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Jan. 3rd Thurs,- Moving day. on to our next flop. Before hauling our luggage, we decided to get a full breakfast. Best darn breakfast wennies I have ever had. Also spied some nice valencia orange trees that were loaded. I was quite proud of myself for purchasing the correct train ticket all in Spanish. We moved four train stops closer to Malaga near the village of Torremolinos. Here we have a flat on the six floor with nice view of the mts. and ocean Still about the same distance from the water. About a 15 mins walk down hill. Our land lord is very nice and young. This building used to be a hotel and sold out flats (condos) in the 80’s just before the collapse of the real estate market. Richard bought here a few years ago and has been with Air B&B for five years. This is a totally different feel of neighborhood as it is more residential than touristy. It is about twice the size of the last place and has a mini kitchen and washer. It should be just fine for the next three weeks before we move on down the coast.

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We found the local grocery store and opted to hike down the hill to the bigger store. That too is about 15 mins. Less than 20 mins. up hill with bags. Below are pics of this flat.

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Bill fiddled with the remote for the t.v. long enough to figure out how to change the language on the audio. He has had a little experience with this before and knew where to start looking. So after 35 mins. of frustration he was able to get 10 channels in English. Plenty for me. I made spaghetti for dinner and it was yummy!

Jan. 4th, 2019 Fri.- We threw a load of laundry in and got it laid out on the drying rack ( no dryers as elec. is so expensive) and took off for Torremolinos by train to get the lay over there. Just one stop away. All the shopping anyone could ever ask for and then some. If you can’t find it there, they don’t make it! Period. Stopped at a nut store and had some fabulous almonds. Unlike any we get in the U.S. The seafood counter at the grocery store is crazy. We went into San Miguel church. Very modern inside. Puttered around and ended up walking down to the beach and strolling our way towards our area. We popped into the Posiden where we had met Martin and Ben two days ago only to run into a lady we had met in the lobby of our flat two days ago also. She remembered us and we yapped. She had her in-laws with her. Interesting couple. They are Brits of course, and have had this flat for 35 years. Malcom is the president of the New Orleans jazz society. Crazy. You never know who you will meet while traveling. That’s one of the best parts.

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Jan. 5th Saturday- Our adventures took us into Malaga. A beautiful sea port city. First stop off the train was to find our way to the bus depot, as that is how we will be getting to our next destination. We walked thru a modern mall to get to the depot. Pulling luggage should be no problem.

After finding the “stations” we wound around the streets only to find ourselves inside a fresh market. Fruit, fish, meat, veggies, bakery, etc. As today was is the Feast of the Three Kings I had to get a slice of King cake. A wonderful sweet bread confection filled with whipped cream Yum Yum.

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Everything here is soooo clean. Not a cigarette butt, no paper wrappers, etc. The sidewalks, the trains, streets, buses, all. Nice to see in comparison to Panama.

Winding around the back streets we saw what looked like a pretty posh joint. We stepped inside only to find it was one of the local beer breweries. Deck out very nicely. Grand Rapids has nothing like this one guys! I thought it odd that the brewing operation itself wasn’t behind glass.

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Next stop was the Cathedral number One. Building began in 1530 worked ended in the 17th century but is still unfinished. Became a Cathedral when the Spanish conquered the Moors. The organ has 4,000 pipes. 276 feet high. The wood carvings are amazing, as is everything about the church. The paintings, sculptures, adornments, all a marvel.

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Leaving the church we stumbled upon another church. Church of the Nazarene. Very small yet beautiful.

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From there is was on the the Roman Theater. It appears much as it was back in the day. This is the oldest monument in Magala. Built in the 1st century under Emperor Augustus. It was buried for centuries and re-discovered in 1951. Sitting in the gallery it is easy to see the characters and actors come alive. This is all lit at night and I’m sure is a very beautiful sight. Above you can see Alcazaba Moorish Fortress. We are saving that for March.

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Being the Three Kings Feast, the floats were lined up along the parade route. Hundreds of pounds of sweets are thrown out to the crowd. we wouldn’t be staying til dark to see it however. Five hours off walking again today has slowed us down some. The floats are lit, and quite a sight I’m sure.

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The last stop for the day would be the port. Not as busy as I had thought. A nice U shaped port with stores and eating places all along. The big ship is the Mediterranian car ferry that goes to Moracco.

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Well guys, that’s it for the first week. If you are thinking man you should be tired, we are!!! Dani will be coming on the 11th and I am having her bring her fitbit. Anxious to see just how far we walk in a day. So far we are loving it here. The people couldn’t be nicer. The weather is great, and the food is very pleasing also. Hoping to shed a few pounds while we are here.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton