Castles and Courses

Oh, my aching head... hee hee!! Yesterday, after taking a walk down the beach and visiting El Castillo de Fuengirola, we stopped over at The Oak Leaf for some eats and drinks. Problem is, we got there at about 1:30pm and did not leave until 9:30pm... Wow, the hospitality offered up by Jane and her son Richard is amazing! For our late lunch we feasted on roast beef and roast lamb, and we drank beer, wine and rum... By early evening we were ready for a few orders of chicken wings, topped off with more beer and rum... and then on the way home, we stopped in at a little ice cream shop for dessert. Holy moly.

El Castillo de Fuengirola

The cannon deck.

A view fit for a king!

 

Some seriously old stones!

Nobody on the beach... Fuengirola in wintertime. 

El castillo de playa!

Needless to say, I wasn't moving too quick this morning. Oy! However, the day was another sunny one, so we took advantage of it by spending it outside - at the Mijas Golf Club.

This golf course was slightly less of a grind than the previous one, but it was equally as beautiful. Set lower down in the valley, Mijas GC stretches out between gorgeous villas and is quite sheltered. A theme I've noticed so far, is that there seems to be a love of sand traps by the Spaniards... every single hole has multiple, massive bunkers... and of course, I hit pretty much every one of them! Ha ha! Oh well. I'm such a sucker that as long as the weather is decent, I'll probably try golfing again tomorrow!

By the end of the week, we are hoping to head back to Gibraltar and on to Tangier. It has been a challenge to find any good, trustworthy info here about visiting Morocco... so we may just have to wing it. Fun fun fun!

Dos amigos - enjoying the Costa del Sol / Golf!

Cheers!

To the Atlantic!

Yesterday, we golfed at a radical little course near Mijas called Calanova. If you've ever golfed with me, you know that I'm all about walking and carrying my clubs... However, at most courses around here, playing 'sin buggy' is not an option... and once we got going, I was actually quite happy to have some wheels! Calanova is set in and along the sides of a gigantic ravine. The total course distance is almost 6000 metres, and I'm betting the elevation gain/loss over the 18 funky holes is somewhere in the neighborhood of one of Alan Kane's easy Rockies scrambles! Seriously! But it was a great day, in spite of my shooting almost double par and losing several sleeves of balls...

Still smiling - even though I suck at golf!!

Today we drove southwest, in anticipation of stopping and checking out Gibraltar. And we did indeed stop... due to line-up after line-up after line-up to get into Great Britain's teeny chunk of Spain (it is Saturday - shoulda thought that one through a little better!!). After getting lectured by the Spanish border patrol (ask me about it sometime!), we were finally in... only to find that the gondola to the top of the Rock is closed for maintenance! Oy!

The Rock

So after a GPS-induced accidental tour of the town, we continued on to Tarifa, which just may be the windiest place I've ever been. My kitesurfing friends really need to put that location on their hit list! After an amazing lunch of fresh seafood and veggies in a family-run restaurante near the puerto, we zipped back to Fuengirola on the autopista (toll highway). Love the toll highways! There is very little traffic and virtually no stopping, for hundreds of kilometres at a stretch. Awesome!

Miles of open sand along the gnarly Atlantic at Tarifa.

Kitesurfing

I never get tired of castles!!

Windpower!

Tomorrow will probably be a chill day. We found the neatest little pub down near the beach, and they serve yummy beer and wine and THE BEST chicken wings on the planet, I swear! On Sundays, they make roast beef, roast lamb and roast chicken, with all of the traditional English fixins - so that's where supper will be for sure. Mmmmm mmm!

Hope all is well for everyone back home!

Cheers!

Costa del Sol....

.... but definitely NOT costa de caliente!! Brrrrr! We arrived in Fuengirola on Tuesday, and while there certainly is an abundance of sunshine, there is a slight shortage of warmth! Wow! I thought I could lose the winter clothing, but apparently there is a some cold snap happening across Southern Europe right now - oy!! Oh well, not much I can do about it!! What's the saying? A bad day on vacation is still better than a good day at work!! Heh heh!!

Villa Blanca

Golf course at Alhaurin

The landscape around this country is seriously beautiful! From Alarcon pretty much all the way to the coast, there are olive groves and vineyards, as far as you can see. Once you reach the Mediterranean however, it is quite a contrast - there are buildings, as far as you can see! Over the past few days, we've driven from Fuengirola to Malaga, up to Antequera, and down to Marbella. Today we went to a super-cool park called El Torcal, where we wandered around a unique area of limestone rock formations.

El Torcal

 

 

El Torillo

View from El Torcal

The apres-hike cervesa!

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we may go golfing at one of about a thousand courses in a 50km radius around Fuengirola! The one bonus of being here during off-season is that everything is uber cheap, and there are no crowds. So that kind of makes up for the summer temps I guess?!

Still smilin', in spite of the cold!!

Oh, and I couldn't resist - here are a couple of pics for mi amiga... you know who you are... hee hee....

Zapatos!

Cheers!

Heading south....

Six hours in The Louvre.... and I'm betting we didn't even see a third of the place! Holy moly! The museum is one of the largest in the world and is truly fascinating. Sadly I don't know enough about art history to fully appreciate the bazillions of exhibits... but I still loved every minute of the experience!

The Louvre

 

Inside The Louvre

Painted Ceiling

Sphinx - loved the Egyptian exhibits!

Of course I had to see this one!!

Giant courtyard in the Richelieu wing.

I liked the colors in this one!

Part of the original structure - cool!

I must say, I had the most awesome time in Paris! Wow! And now we are in Spain... We landed in Barcelona late Sunday and began the drive to Fuengirola yesterday. Last night we hung out here:

Parador Alarcon

Yes folks, that's a castle! Built in the 12th century, it's one of the many historic sites which the state has restored and turned into a hotel.

View from the castle.

By mid-afternoon today, we will be in the middle of the sun and fun of the Costa del Sol - I can't wait to ditch the long sleeves and sockies for a t-shirt and sandals! Yeah!

Hope all is well back home!

Cheers!

When in Paris...

Guess what I saw today!!!! Oh yeah!

The Eiffel Tower

Wow, what a day! My friend and I spent the better part of it, checking out a couple of the most famous structures in France, if not all of Europe. First, we took the stairs up the amazing Eiffel Tower (yes, the stairs - now that's a darn good workout! hee hee!), where the views of Paris are neverending...

 

Then we hoofed 'er over the Seine to the Arc de Triomphe....

Arc de Triomphe

Spiral staircase.

Again, we took the stairs... this time to the top of the Arc... which was a slightly dizzying process.... but very cool!

The Eiffel Tower as seen from the Arc.

Avenue near the Arc.

Enjoying the sun!

By the time the sun went down, it chilled off pretty good... Ironically, I think it is colder here than it is back home! But in spite of the unexpected cool temps, we had a fabulous day. And tomorrow will be more of the same, with a trip to The Louvre in our plans. Then we fly to Barcelona and begin the real adventure - driving down the Mediterranean coast! I am looking forward to losing the tooque and gloves....

Cheers!