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Spain 2009
Spain was wonderful. We went to the Costa del Sol region in southern Spain with Myra and Dan. The temp was around 90 every day and we didn't have air conditioning in our room. We rented a car and Jason drove the whole time. He did a great job. He had a little problem w/ the reverse being on the left. At the stops to the freeway, he'd think it was in first, gun it and we'd fly backwards. It was pretty funny. We saw a ton of stuff, laughed a lot (mostly at Dan's expense) and took a lot of showers. We missed the girls so much. We talked about them all the time. Day 1: Arrived in Malaga around 10am. We were in the last row of the plane ... no windows and next to both toilets. As we're all sitting there drained and sweaty waiting for our luggage, Dan pulls out a nice cold bottle of water from his bag and starts drinking it in front of us. Dan sat first class (he works for the airlines) and didn't do us any favors (last seats on the plane and I had to ask for wine 4 times!). So the running joke all week was that Dan was dead to us ... it was pretty funny. We got our awesome rental car (really, it was pretty good) and we went to the "resort". Open the door to find that we had no air conditioning. It was terribly hot and humid that day too. After really cold showers (which didn't make much of a difference), we went to explore Marbella. We explored the Old Town and ate a late lunch. Sally had her first anchovie ... said it tasted like tuna, but everyone else raved about them. We also had probably the best fried calamari ever. Back to the room for another shower. Day 2: Got a late start, which made Sally mad, and drove to Granada. We hit the Alhambra Palace and the Generalife Gardens. They were both beautiful. We spent about 4 hours walking through the gardens and the palace. We also hit up the Granada Cathedral. It's probably one of the most beautiful cathedral's we have each seen. It was HUGE! We then hit a few spots for tapas, sangria and Alhambra beer. Day 3: Went to the small town of Ronda via a mountain road. It sits on a gorge and has some very old and very beautiful bridges. It was a cute little town. We loved it. They were having a fair, so it was very festive. Ronda has a bullring, but we didn't go inside. Then that night we ate Indian (because who doesn't want Indian food when it's hot and humid outside). Myra learned a lesson that evening ... don't let Dan order anything "hot" for her. Her food was so damn hot/spicy, you could barely eat it (although Dan barely noticed the heat). Day 4: Got up at the crack of dawn for our tour of Tangier, Morocco. It started with a 2 hour bus ride. We picked up others along the way. It was HORRIBLE! The bus was hot and bouncy. Probably one of the worst bus rides ever. Finally got to the ferry for the 45 minute right to Tanger. The tour was not what we expected. We don't feel like we really got to see what Tanger was all about. The tour took us to the "bazaar", but we expected an open air market, but no, it was maze of alley's. There were beggers/people there trying to sell us crap the entire time. They followed us and cornered us ... it was terrible. Saw a carpet demo and a spice demo. The food at the restaurant was bad. Just an overall waste of time and money. Day 5: Went to Marbella and the Puerto Banus (where the big boats are docked). Jason swam in the Mediterranean and lost 4 Euros (which is like 6 US dollars!). We found our favorite tapas bar. Spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. That evening we saw flamenco dancers at the hotel. They were fantastic. They danced and danced and stomped and stomped (it was very loud). Lulu would have LOVED it. Dan and Myra had their best tasting paella of the trip. Jason made sangria. Jason had Sherry at dinner (southern Spain is the Sherry region) and he didn't like and promptly spilled it on me. Day 6: Day spent in Seville. Got up early for the 2 1/2 hour drive. First we hit the Cathedral. A very beautiful and big cathedral. We walked the 34 levels up to the top of the tower called the Giralda (it was a ramp, not stairs). It had a courtyard of orange trees ... very pretty. Saw Christoper Columbus' tomb. Then it was off to the Barrio de Santa Cruz area for some food. Then we hit up the Royal Alcazar Palace. Very pretty. Nice gardens. Then off to the Seville Bull Ring. It was so damn hot there (no air anywhere!). I would have asked 50 more questions of the tour guide, but thought I was going to die from heat stroke. Tried to go to the shopping area, but Dan couldn't remember where he saw it in the guide book, so we sat sweating in the swealtering heat while he tried to find it. He didn't, so we left. Drive back through all the olive groves was nice. Day 7: Day started out in Malaga for a trip to the Picasso Museum (he was born in Malaga). None of us are Picasso fans, but it was nice to see the work. Then we took a very winding mountain road to Mijas. Then drove through the town, then back down the mountain (the back down part was a total accident, but it was all one-way, so we were screwed). Then we drove back up and parked before the one-way started. Very cute town, but very touristy. Day 8: Flight back home ... again, not in first class. But Dan did redeem himself somewhat by getting us on the earlier flight from JFK to MSP. |
