Marbella, Spain

For the first half of my Spring Break here, I decided to venture to Spain with Sally. I've traveled around Spain a fair amount from when I studied in Salamanca and then also in college visiting Barcelona and San Sebastian. I've always wanted to get to the south of Spain and this time provided the perfect opportunity. Once we arrived, after a quick 2 hour flight from Milan to Malaga, we took a taxi to our hotel right on the beach in Marbella, along a promenade that continued for about 10km along the beach. It was a perfect setting and the weather was much better than we had expected. We spent the next three days relaxing on the beach, enjoying Sangria and great Spanish wine! At night, we went into the Old Town of Marbella, literally across the street from our hotel and then one night we went to Puerto Banus. We had read a lot about both areas and I had done a lot of research to find good restaurants. The toughest part was having spent most of the last two months around italian and learning italian. Usually I feel pretty confident around Spanish speakers and can communicate enough, but this time was brain was in automatic italian mode. Everytime I went to try to say something in Spanish I could only think of Italian words...frustrating. I guess I just need to study both more! Gracias and Grazie are just too similar!
The first night we happened to find an adorable wine bar (Taberna de Casa Curro) where we met our friend Jose. We'll probably regret not taking him up on the flamenco dancing invitation, but after a very long dinner at Zozoi and a lot of traveling that started early Saturday morning, we just didn't think we could make it. Our second day included more relaxing in the sun, but we had by then realized it was a good idea to wear sunblock. Being used to the sunshine, I had forgotten where I had been living and that I was much whiter than I've ever been. The sunburn is still showing its color.
Sunday we lounged while people watching. Near our beach chairs two darling twins about 2 years old were building sand castles, which I loved. I just don't feel like I've had my baby dose over here. The resort was filled with Brits, mostly whiter than we were and not exactly bathing suit ready. We also found it very funny that so many families found it appropriate to always have their kids running around naked...and we're not talking about babies. The Italians also like to change often. I mean sweaters at the pool! It looked like they brought their entire suticases poolside. On the beach, we had some other exciting, or actually alarming encounters...including a very hairy situation with an old man in a speedo and two women that did not have every body area covered appropriately. YUCK! One day for lunch we headed down the promenade to a cute spot we had noticed. During our meal one of the scariest looking ladies appeared and began Flamingo dancing or what she thought was Flamingo dancing. She had the most hideous red dress on and her dancing days were over long ago. As she danced she said, "hey, hey, hey" in this scratchy old voice. One night when we were sleeping we even heard her down on the street.
Sunday night we took a taxi to the Marbella Club, a leading hotel of the world, but decided to forgo getting a drink there because it looked rather boring and "old." The resort was beautiful though. It reminded me a lot of La Quinta in Palm Desert. From the hotel, we walked to Puerto Banus and found an appealing restaurant (Azul Mirano) right on the main drag. The street wrapped along the water front full of fancy yachts. This is the area where you find all the designer stores. It actually reminded me a lot of Monaco. We became very accustomed to the comfortable Spanish way of life. After soaking up the sun for most of the day and ended up having late relaxing dinners we were ready to crawl into bed content after our beach days.
Monday, we spent another day getting sun and then went back to Old Town Marbella to see our friend Jose. He recommended a place for paella that we went to called Mena, but didn't end up ordering paella and wished we had kept looking for a better place. Sally did enjoy the free shot they gave us. She always surprises me when she throws them back! After dinner we did end up spliting this never ending churro for dessert in the Plaza. Monday night we went to bed early to prepare for a big trip to Africa...well Morocco. That trip needed an entire entry itself... ;)