Adventures in Paris and on to Spain

We have embarked on another adventure, off to Spain for 4 weeks on a packaged long-stay vacation. Long flight, left Edmonton at 6:10 PM Sept. 29, arrived Amsterdam the next morning. Short layover then off to Paris where we had a 7 hour wait until the last flight. I had done some research beforehand so we bought a day pass on the train & headed into Paris where we visited the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral - both very impressive in their own way.

Our last flight took us to Malaga, Spain on the Costa del Sol where we were pleasantly surprised to see that our luggage had survived 3 different airlines & arrived with us. We were met by our local representative who ushered us into our waiting transfer - a lovely Mercedes - the driver standing there holding a sign with our name, just like in the movies! We arrived in Torremolinos, a seaside city on the Mediterranean & checked in to our room at midnight. Great sea & mountain views, right on the walkway along the beach, buffet meals breakfast & dinner (included in our package) - hope our clothes fit on our way home!

We are spending our free days wandering along the beach, picking up sea glass, fancy stones & shells, stopping for beer or wine at the many restaurants & pubs and window shopping in the many shops. We have several excursions booked, some included, some extra, our first was to the city of Nerja, perched on a cliff above the sea. We visited the caves (Cueves de Nerja) which is a series of vast caverns filled with stalagmites & stalagmites, the tallest measuring 32 metres in length. We also stopped in Frigiliana, one of the typical white villages perched on the side of a mountain - very picturesque. Lunch was a huge seafood paella & pitchers of sangria that just kept coming! There is a group of about 16 here at our hotel that are on the same package, along with others at different hotels or apartments - we travel together & have met a bunch of great folks.

The city of Ronda was our next day trip - it sits on a massive rocky outcrop, straddling a very deep limestone gorge (330 ft deep & 200 ft. wide) and it has been there since well before the 1400's. The "new" bridge was finished in 1793 & joined the 2 sides of the city. Ronda has one of the oldest & the most important bullring in Spain, inaugurated in 1785. We also stopped to visit a Catholic Church built over the remains of a Moorish mosque from the 13th century, very ornate! The streets of many of these "white towns" are very narrow, evidenced by the many scratched & dented fenders on the cars. We made a short stop in the coastal city of Marbella, the seaside home of many rich & famous - yachts, expensive shopping & luxury cars - saw our first Mazerati.

Next stop jolly old England, or the city of Gibraltar, 30,000 British subjects living next to The Rock (of Gibraltar) on a small peninsula of land on the coast of Spain. It has been a British territory since 1713 & an important military post. There are 50 km of tunnels inside the rock, used for housing troops, hospitals, ammunition during the war. We were given a tour of a short section of tunnel, where we were told that Canadian troops were invaluable in constructing the tunnels. Gibraltar is home to 200 Barbary macaques, a somewhat friendly ape, but don't get too close!

The city has a few oddities - you have to drive across the airport runway to get into town and every house has sea water piped in for use in the toilets. We, of course, had to eat fish & chips with mushy peas for lunch, along with a good British ale. We caught a glimpse of North Africa across the Stait of Gibraltar, we head there later this week.