Spain Cont. days 3 through 8
day 3 we went to the beach in marbella. the water was surprisingly cold. not as cold as new england but not as warm as the last time i vacationed on the med. (france). ely loves the sand and water. he played in the sand for awhile. we determined that a pacifier keeps him from eating sand. after a few hours on the beach we stopped at a cafe for churros and chocolate. ummm.....i love fried dough. marbella was only a 15 min. drive from our condo so we went back to the city for dinner. we had a great dinner of tapas at a very nice restaurant. the weather was so fantastic that we ate every meal outside. there are amazingly no bugs. we even left our patio door and windows open all the time.
day 4 we went to Mijas. it is a "white town" because all the buildings are white washed. it's in the mountains about 12 miles inland. it was a great little place. we ate the best meal of the entire week there. it was on the veranda over looking the town and it started out with fried camembert with red currant jam. oh so tasty. ely was an amazing baby at all of our meals. he was so well behaved. we bought some pottery here as well. we collect hand made pottery and got ourselves a decorative plate. (in the past we have gotten bowls from a potter in france, plates from a potter in the west inides, bowls and a mug from a potter in san francisco)
burro taxis in Mijas, very narrow streets don't support auto taxis well.
the med. is way in the backgound.
day 5 we hit the beach again. this time in torremolinos. the travel guide said the beach in marbella was nicer but i disagree. this beach was larger...as in more sand. and a whole lot less crowded. plus it had patches of golf course like grass with palm trees scattered along it and they made a great place to put your blanket if you have a baby who rolls in the sand then climbs on your blanket...and the trees make a great shade cover. i love palm trees. we sat at a beach side cafe and ate some tapas as an afternoon snack...since dinner wasn't until 8pm. for dinner this night we opted to stay in and i went down the street to the indian restaurant and ordered take out. it was quite good. turns out ely likes tikki masala.
the grassy beach...jes exiting the water.
building sand castles
day 6 we went to the country of gibraltar. it's the only city that is also a country and it has it's own airport. we of course took the cable car to the top of the rock after we dined on fish and chips. it is after all a british country. i put ely in the ergo on my back while we rode the cable car to the top of the rock. when we got off at the look out center/cafe at the top i was accosted by a monkey. the rock has it's own colony of tailless monkeys and they are always after food. but they aren't terribly scared of humans and if you are carrying a bag they will try to take it from you. for whatever reason the monkey decided the folded up stroller was a bag and grabbed it from me. i wouldn't let go and yanked the stroller out of his grasp. he was a large monkey too...bigger than ely i bet. that incident freightened jes enough to decide to sit inside the cafe with ely while i walked around and took photos. need-less-to-say i was on constant look out for more monkeys. i was terrified one would jump off the building on to my head. i saw one go inside a guys camera bag...ballsy little buggars.
for dinner we decided to stop off at this restaurant that got great reviews in our guide book which was in a town on the way back to callahonda (the town we were staying in). like so many other restaurants it was no where to be found. restaurants must go out of business a lot. anyway, we went back to the condo and decided to down the hill in callahonda to one of the restaurants and opted for a swiss place and had tasty fondu.
this is the monkey that accosted me. he then sat blocking the entrance to the cafe. bad monkey!
over looking the strait of gibraltar and morocco.
"the Rock"
day 7 was a beach day. we went back to the beach in torremolinos. we opted for a different part of the beach which was surrounded by many restaurants and shops on a boardwalk. again we had a lovely time in the sun and surf and sand. i realized why people have children...so they can build sand castles and won't look like a weirdo sitting in the sand doing it. if a child is near by you have an excuse. ely was more into crawling on my castles than helping build them. for dinner we ate tapas again. we were going to have an early dinner (5:30ish) because we had to get up earlier than usual to catch our flight. finding some place that serves food before 8pm is tough. after strolling up and down the concrete board walk we found a nice place that served a good selection of tapas. again a good choice.
oh there was sand everywhere
my favorite beach that we visited in the costa del sol area
day 8 we flew home via paris. it was a long flight because it was during the day and ely was more interested in all the people moving around that he was in napping. but we survived. there was the dirty diaper incident though.
day 4 we went to Mijas. it is a "white town" because all the buildings are white washed. it's in the mountains about 12 miles inland. it was a great little place. we ate the best meal of the entire week there. it was on the veranda over looking the town and it started out with fried camembert with red currant jam. oh so tasty. ely was an amazing baby at all of our meals. he was so well behaved. we bought some pottery here as well. we collect hand made pottery and got ourselves a decorative plate. (in the past we have gotten bowls from a potter in france, plates from a potter in the west inides, bowls and a mug from a potter in san francisco)
burro taxis in Mijas, very narrow streets don't support auto taxis well.
the med. is way in the backgound.
day 5 we hit the beach again. this time in torremolinos. the travel guide said the beach in marbella was nicer but i disagree. this beach was larger...as in more sand. and a whole lot less crowded. plus it had patches of golf course like grass with palm trees scattered along it and they made a great place to put your blanket if you have a baby who rolls in the sand then climbs on your blanket...and the trees make a great shade cover. i love palm trees. we sat at a beach side cafe and ate some tapas as an afternoon snack...since dinner wasn't until 8pm. for dinner this night we opted to stay in and i went down the street to the indian restaurant and ordered take out. it was quite good. turns out ely likes tikki masala.
the grassy beach...jes exiting the water.
building sand castles
day 6 we went to the country of gibraltar. it's the only city that is also a country and it has it's own airport. we of course took the cable car to the top of the rock after we dined on fish and chips. it is after all a british country. i put ely in the ergo on my back while we rode the cable car to the top of the rock. when we got off at the look out center/cafe at the top i was accosted by a monkey. the rock has it's own colony of tailless monkeys and they are always after food. but they aren't terribly scared of humans and if you are carrying a bag they will try to take it from you. for whatever reason the monkey decided the folded up stroller was a bag and grabbed it from me. i wouldn't let go and yanked the stroller out of his grasp. he was a large monkey too...bigger than ely i bet. that incident freightened jes enough to decide to sit inside the cafe with ely while i walked around and took photos. need-less-to-say i was on constant look out for more monkeys. i was terrified one would jump off the building on to my head. i saw one go inside a guys camera bag...ballsy little buggars.
for dinner we decided to stop off at this restaurant that got great reviews in our guide book which was in a town on the way back to callahonda (the town we were staying in). like so many other restaurants it was no where to be found. restaurants must go out of business a lot. anyway, we went back to the condo and decided to down the hill in callahonda to one of the restaurants and opted for a swiss place and had tasty fondu.
this is the monkey that accosted me. he then sat blocking the entrance to the cafe. bad monkey!
over looking the strait of gibraltar and morocco.
"the Rock"
day 7 was a beach day. we went back to the beach in torremolinos. we opted for a different part of the beach which was surrounded by many restaurants and shops on a boardwalk. again we had a lovely time in the sun and surf and sand. i realized why people have children...so they can build sand castles and won't look like a weirdo sitting in the sand doing it. if a child is near by you have an excuse. ely was more into crawling on my castles than helping build them. for dinner we ate tapas again. we were going to have an early dinner (5:30ish) because we had to get up earlier than usual to catch our flight. finding some place that serves food before 8pm is tough. after strolling up and down the concrete board walk we found a nice place that served a good selection of tapas. again a good choice.
oh there was sand everywhere
my favorite beach that we visited in the costa del sol area
day 8 we flew home via paris. it was a long flight because it was during the day and ely was more interested in all the people moving around that he was in napping. but we survived. there was the dirty diaper incident though.