Roquetas del Mar (Val)

On Thursday, April 12, we sadly said our goodbye to our new friends Stuart and Susie.  Stu is a former soccer player.  He was also a coach and is currently a talent scout for the South Hampton England Football Club and gave me one of the official team warm up jerseys as a parting gift. Very cool!! We were sad to go as we'd so enjoyed our stay but it was time to move on.

We had been in the Malaga area for five days but had not actually visited that city so we aimed for city center for some exploring.  It was a busy weekday, though, and no parking could be found so we got a glimpse of the city from the car and decided to head north along the coast as planned.  The first stop was a bakery for a mid morning snack followed by a stroll along the beach in Nerja.  Nerja is one of many picturesque seaside villages along the coast but there were some really unique geological formations.  They looked like small river rocks had been cast into concrete to form really big boulders but we think they were formed by nature.  They were quite impressive.

Our planned destination for that evening was Almeria where we thought we had booked our lodging but when we arrived there and tried to find our hotel, we soon learned that in Spain it is common for cities and provinces to have the same name and that we had actually booked lodging in Roquetas Del Mar in the Almeria province.  Needless to say, we were a bit confused and were not quite sure where to go as we thought the city was actually the street and kept getting wrong directions from our GPS so we had to resort to the old fashioned method of asking for directions which is not as easy at it might seem when you're in a foreign country where many folks don't speak your language.  Fortunately, I know just a little bit of Spanish and, with only two attempts, we were on our way to our reserved destination about 30 minutes back in the direction we had come from.

When we first arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves at a semi luxury resort since we had only paid $33 for the room which is often just a bunk in a hostal in Europe.  Our room was actually a small apartment w/ kitchen, living room, and separate bed and bath just a few blocks from the beach.  After a long day in the car, I wanted to go for a run along the boardwalk. When I got back I told Brenda that I felt like a minority in the community as it appeared that the minimum age of the population was "great grand parent."  At first she assumed I was exaggerating (who, me?) but soon concurred as we returned from dinner to find our hotel hopping with bingo playing and dancing lessons with music by Dr. Prune and the Geriatrics!  Ha ha.  The funniest part was that it was about 11:30pm and we were exhausted but the "young at heart" seniors were full of vim and vigor and had really just begun their party.  Although we hadn't planned  this stop, we now have made note of a potentially hip and very affordable retirement spot in the South of Spain that we may consider for our retirement but it will probably be at least 30 more years before we become "mature" enough to live there :)

The King's Walk (Val)

A couple of years ago, our friend Ian Usher showed me a youtube video of some crazy people walking the El Caminito del Rey trail.  This trail is basically a crumbling walkway along the steep sidewalls of the El Chorro Gorge in the Andalucia region of Southern Spain, about an hour north of Malaga.  The walkway was built in 1901 as a means for workers to transport materials and maintain the channel for the hydro electric plant that generated power for the Andalucian region (the pathway has also been referred to as "the King's Walk" as King Alfonso XIII of Spain crossed the walkway in 1921 to christen the inauguration of the dam).  The walkway is a very narrow pathway constructed of brick and concrete, supported by steel cantilever supports set into the canyon walls.  Over the years the walkway has crumbled and fallen into serious disrepair.  It is "technically" off limits and not accessible to the public, but there are several recent youtube videos that suggest otherwise so I took on the challenge.

It wasn't really that difficult physically but was definitely not for the faint of heart or for anyone with acrophobia!  On Wednesday April 11, I met up with a local climbing guide and joined a group of five hikers from Sweden to tackle the route. The Swedes had traveled to Spain just to do the hike, a quick trip and then back home.

The six of us and our guide started off by trekking through a long, abandoned tunnel and entered the gorge from the back side to avoid potential conflict with park officials since the path was technically off limits.  The beginning of the path had crumbled away so we had to climb a short distance and rappel down the side of the gorge to gain access to the path.  Within a few meters, we were high above the bottom of the gorge and tied off onto the side of he canyon wall in many places in order to cross areas where the path had entirely collapsed.  In some areas we walked across parts of the pathway that probably will collapse in the near future but held up to our weight on that day.  Oddly enough, one of the guys in our group was afraid of heights.  He moved pretty slowly at first but became more confident as the day wore on.  We went through two canyons and eventually ended our trek with a down climb from the pathway to the railroad grade. We hiked along the railway for about 2-3 miles back to where we parked our cars.

After a celebratory beer with the group, I headed back to the villa. It's satisfying to accomplish something you've dreamed of doing - what a memory!

Four Days of Fun

Originally, we'd planned to stay at Stu and Susie's three days.   When we got there Saturday night Susie was waiting for us with a warm welcome and a cozy fire.  Stu wasn't home, he was at a soccer game in a nearby town, but we met the dogs and all had a nice chat by the fire that first night and then Val and I headed off to bed.  Ollie was given strict orders to stay out of our room because as much as we would have loved the company, there was no guarantee the next guests would have felt the same!

Sunday morning we got up about 8:00 to go for a run. Stu was up and gave us suggestions on what route we might like to take.  We took his suggestion and walked down the road and passed a goat farm which we didn't need to actually see to know it was there, we could have used another of our senses - pee yew! But they were so cute and so curious as to what we were doing.

We had a great run through some olive tree groves and wagon trails up to the road that winds around back to their place.  So beautiful! The surrounding hillsides are like something out of a movie.  Wide and expansive, dotted with villages and farms.  You could look around for miles and not see anything that would have been out of place 50 years ago, except for the odd car that passed us on the road.

After our run and the delicious breakfast that Stu made, they went off the meet some friends for lunch while Val and I grabbed a book, some suntan lotion and a cold one and made ourselves comfortable by the pool.  Aaah.

We didn't linger too long, though, there were sites to be seen.  On our way to do some hiking at El Torcal - a national park not too far away with limestone rock formations similar to the Badlands or Painted Mines east of Colorado Springs - we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the village of Villanueva de la Conception. The restaurant was run by an English woman and the other two parties who were eating outside were English also.  We found out there is a lot of English people who either have holiday homes or live in that area full time.

We were having such a good time and there was so much to do in their area so we asked Susie and Stu if we could extend our stay by one day.  Over the next two days, we explored the area more, both by car and on foot. Quaint villages, rolling hillsides, cathedrals, all so picturesque.  We also drove 45 minutes down to visit Torremolinos Beach, south of Malaga.  There is a long boardwalk that goes for at least six miles and the coastline itself is unbroken for miles and miles. Beautiful area!  I had my best run since I hurt my knee 18 months ago - it felt so great to be able to go that distance.  After our run, we attempted to relax on the sand for awhile, but it was so windy where we were that in a few short minutes we had sand stuck to our bodies everywhere you could see and a few places you couldn't!  We soon got the smart idea to position ourselves behind a windbreak and had a relatively sand-free sun bath.

Susie and Stu invited us to dinner that night so on our way back to their villa, we got some wine, a local kind of cake and everyone's favorite (at least it's my mother's favorite) ice cream for dessert. We had such a great time at dinner and toasted our new friendship with a $6.00 bottle of wine that was much better than you would think!  (We don't necessarily judge the quality of the wine by how much it costs, but we were hesitant to buy the bottle that cost $1.50!  The wine here is so reasonable that our $6.00 bottle was the second most expensive that store had to offer.) After dinner we sat by the fire and talked until even the dogs had given up and fallen asleep on their beds.

These days were some of the best of the trip - we say that a lot, we realize, and it just keeps getting better. Wednesday, Val got to cross off a item on his bucket list, hiking  the El Caminito del Ray.  He's going to tell you all about it in a future post!  We left on Thursday morning with promises to stay in touch and some talk of us house and dog sitting so they could travel back to England for a visit. We know we'll see these wonderful people again - maybe even in Colorado!

Some New Friends

Through airbnb.com, we rented a room in a Spanish villa in the mountains north of Malaga.  The pictures of the place made us look forward to our stay there but we had no idea what was in store for us.  We left Sevilla later than we'd planned so called the host, Susie, to let her know. No problem, she said. She had emailed us great directions which was a good thing because Jill (our GPS) didn't always like those little country lanes and villages.   We arrived about 10:00 pm, tired after a short night the night before, a long day of sightseeing and a two-hour drive along those narrow and winding country roads.  Susie met us at the gate to their long driveway, greeted us warmly and welcomed us into her home.  When she showed us to the room we'd be staying in, Val and I looked at each other and both did a silent fist pump. What luxury!  To fully understand our delight, keep in mind we'd slept on a slim mattress on the floor, in an airport, on bunk beds, in the heat and humidity, in drafty rooms - when you're couchsurfing or trying to keep costs down, you find yourself in interesting places. But here! Ah, here we had a nice double bed with soft white sheets and a cozy comforter.  A private bath all to ourselves! Heaven!

But that wasn't the best part of the stay.  Susie and Stu were so friendly and welcoming that we immediately felt at home.  They're an English couple who'd had a holiday home in the area for seven years and then last year they bought the villa as their permanent home. They've worked these past 11 months to clear the overgrown yard and hillside and update the inside of the house.  One topic we soon found we had in common was the concern for the stray dogs in Spain. But Susie and Stu do more than just say "isn't that a shame," they DO something about it.  They told us about the dog they noticed in a nearby village, skinny and skittish, who they gave food to when they'd see him (Susie carries a bag of dog food in her car).  But over the weeks, they saw the dog grow weaker and weaker. Like he was losing his will to live.  They took him home and put him in the garage, tried to feed him and see if he would respond.  Finally, as a last ditch effort to save him, they took him to the vet.  It turns out the dog wasn't a stray, he had a microchip embedded! So, they were able to contact the owner who couldn't believe the dog they'd lost nine months before, almost two hours away, had been found.  When the owner drove up to the gate, the dog lifted his head.  When the family got out of the car and called his name, the dog who could hardly summon the will to eat, ran down the driveway and into the arms of the family, so grateful to be back together.

But that wasn't the only time Susie and Stu saved lives.  They found Ollie and two of his siblings, in an old feed bag, just abandoned at the dumpster at the end of their lane.  One of puppies had been killed inside the bag, maybe run over, Susie wasn't sure.  She took the other two dogs to the vet for treatment and eventually they were taken to the pound. Susie couldn't bear to leave them there so she and Stu adopted Ollie and one of their friends adopted Ollie's brother. Ollie was still sick and needed more treatment and Susie remembers staying up nights with him when he wasn't feeling good.

Just a few months after Ollie joined their family, Susie found Tillie tied up outside the facility where stray dogs are put to death.   Every so often, workers from the facility - which the locals call the "killing station" - will gather up all the strays they can capture and take them back to thid facility to kill them. Susie found Tillie abandoned there, abused and ill.  Stu and Susie took her to the vet and then home with them. Susie said she spent hours holding Tillie, night and day, encouraging her to keep fighting.

Now, thank God, Ollie is an exuberant six-month old goofy puppy who as likely to lick you as look at you and doesn't seem to remember what he's been through.  But Susie believes Tillie remembers the abuse and what must have been the horror of her first few months.  Both Ollie and Tillie are loved and cared for now, though, along with Woody. Woody is an eight-year old Springer Spaniel who ruled the roost before these younguns came along.  He and Tillie don't interact a whole lot and Ollie wants so badly to be his best friend but Woody just isn't having any part of it.  He growls and fusses until either Ollie goes away or Stu reprimands them.

Our stay with Stu and Susie was so fun, because of their warm and funny personalities, because of their beautiful and comfortable home - and because of Woody, Ollie and sweet Tillie.

Dinner?

From Madrid, we headed south in our rental car. It was fun to see a different part of the city besides just city center and as you might expect, most big cities look very similar. Once we got on the highway, we could have been driving anywhere. We originally contacted our couchsurfing hosts, Carmen and Juanma, to request they host us in Madrid. Carmen responded that they'd be glad to host us, but since the days we requested were in the middle of their Easter holiday, they and some friends would be at Carmen's family's county home just outside of Sevilla. She asked if we wanted to join them there. We said, why not? She gave us great directions - good thing because Jill (our GPS) doesn't always like these Spanish country roads. Carmen, Juanma and their friends, Luis and Esther with their two boys, Pablo and Marco, were so friendly and welcoming. Juanma was the only one of the four who didn't speak much English, but with his few words of English, our fewer words of Spanish and a lot of fun pantomiming, we communicated just fine. The country home has been in Carmen's family for just one generation and it's more of a hacienda. Stables, a guest house and a courtyard with a fountain, which wasn't filled at this chilly time of year. Everything was a bit run down, you could tell it wasn't always inhabited, and there was a chill dampness, but our room was comfortable and came with extra blankets and the sound of chatter and laughter warmed things right up. Carmen's father owns the olive tree grove that surrounds the house and there were acres of olive trees, planted in such straight rows. He bottles and sells the olive oil and we got to try it at dinner that night.

About 8:30 pm, we went to the nearby village to see two centuries-old churches where they were preparing for their Semana Santa (Easter celebration) procession that weekend.

Then we stopped at a bar of an old family friend. After a couple drinks, the owner of the bar who was a painter and sculptor as well, offered to show us his studio. So, off we trekked down the winding village streets of rough cobblestone, to his studio several minutes away. It was cold and Val and I were (again) underdressed for the temperature. Burrrrr! After admiring his work and the obvious passion he has for it - we couldn't understand the words, but we could see the animation on his face as he was describing each piece - we were just about to start back to the bar when we heard the rain start to fall. Oh no! And me without my plastic bag for my shoe. We hightailed it back to the bar, but the damage had been done. Now, cold AND wet, I thought ooh, wouldn't it be great to go somewhere warm for dinner - it was now past 10:00. But, wait, there was one more bar Carmen wanted us to see. It was an old, neighborhood bar with two tables, one taken by some gentlemen who may have been there for a few hours already. One of the gentlemen, it turned out, was a guitar player and singer and treated us to some wonderful old Spanish songs as well as some current commercial jingles and sometimes both during the same song! It was fun to hear his music, but I was getting seriously hungry and still cold and wet.

Carmen, Val, one of the patrons, me, Ester, Luis, and the owner of the bar.

Another goofy hat photo.

It was after midnight, when it was decided that we'd go home and barbeque for dinner. Once we got back to the house, Carmen and Juanma made pretty quick work of the BBQ (Val said it was the BEST BBQ he ever had) and we ate dinner about 1:30. In the morning. That was a first for me - or at least a first since my college days. I finally threw in the towel at 2:00. Val hung in there til about 2:30. The next morning when we got up to go for our run, we looked at each other and said, "fun, but we're getting too old for this!" We were scheduled to leave that day for a four-day stop in the mountains outside of Malaga, but before we left we spent the day with Carmen, Juanma and friends touring Sevilla.

Just one of our several stops for refreshments and beverages. 

Sevilla is a beautiful old city which also boasts a bullfighting ring and a second-level soccer club. Soccer is a big deal here. Each match seems as important as the Superbowl game does in the US. Thankfully, it was a warm, sunny day and I bet we walked at least five miles. We had parked our car in a lot a fair distance away from city center. Cars were parked a bit randomly, but most people were at least aware of giving the cars parked around them enough space to maneuver to get out. When we returned to our cars at the end of the day, we found cars parked in front of us, giving us no way to get out (Ours is the blue car in the photo below). What to do?? Not to worry - the drivers had thoughtfully left the cars in Neutral, so we just pushed them out of the way (in doing so, of course, moved them in front of other cars, but oh well), said good bye to everyone and set out for our next stop - a Spanish villa in the Andalucian countryside.

Travel Tips

Here are a few things we've learned traveling these last few years.  You have other tips learned from your travels as well, we're sure.  Give us the benefit of your experience by posting a comment! 1) Take some plastic bags to put stuff in (tennis shoes, dirty laundry, etc.) 2) Go outside of tourist areas for cheaper, and better, meals 3) Use ATMs, don't bring travelers checks or exchange dollars for currency 4) Notify your credit card company before you leave so transactions aren't declined 5) Make sure your phone settings are changed to avoid receiving texts and emails and voicemails even if you have international roaming, check charges beforehand 6) International SIM cards are cheaper than international roaming plans 7) Take a phone that allows you to interchange SIM cards 8) When you know you're going to be out sightseeing most of the day anyway, save money by accepting a lower quality room than you thought you needed 9) Avoid driving a car in city centers, use other modes of transit 10) Bring a universal power adapter 11) Carry wet wipes, tp and tissues in a day pack 12) You can always count on McDonalds for a clean restroom without a squatter and Starbucks for wifi 13) Learn at least the basics of any language of the countries you're visiting, use what you know and say it with a smile - a smile is a universal language 14) Be adaptable, be forgiving and keep a sense of humor 15) Don't rely on GPS, google addresses to make sure you know where you're going What would you add to this list?

Sight Seeing in City Center, Day Two in Madrid

Val set the alarm for 7:30 on Thursday morning, and while he got up to go for a run to get orientated with the city, I had a better idea and turned over to catch a few more minutes of sleep.  It was chilly and damp, he told me when he got back, but at least it wasn't raining!

He had a great run in a nearby park and got the lay of the land around the square as well.  After a breakfast of cereal and fruit, and armed with our top ten places to see in Madrid map, we set out.  We took the umbrella and I wrapped my foot in a plastic bag before putting my shoe on - brilliant, I thought - so we were prepared for rain! First, Val wanted me to see the park he found on his morning run. It was a beautiful place, called Retiro Park - kind of along the lines of Central Park in NYC, an oasis of green in the midst of the concrete, hustle and bustle of a big city.  Although quiet and peaceful, the park had a lively atmosphere - joggers, bikers, rowers, walkers.  It was the place to be for morning exercise.  We imagined how much more beautiful it will be come springtime with the green grass, sunshine and flowers blooming.  We spent a good hour walking along, enjoying the park and taking pictures.

Our next stop was the famous Prado museum where we stood in line for only about 30 minutes to get in (another benefit of going to a place like that in the off season)  Amazing works of art by many of the artists I studied waaaay back in college in my art history classes.  It was impressive to see the actual paintings and sculptures in real life and not as a picture in a book.  One of Val's favorite artists was the Spanish artist, El Greco. He liked the vibrant colors he painted with.  He was amazed at how old the paintings were - most pieces were from the 15th and 16th centuries.

During our whirlwind sight seeing day, we also stopped for yummy paella for lunch, saw but did not go into the Royal Palace, the largest and most beautiful building in Madrid (The palace seems to be the equivalent of the White House but we were able to walk in the courtyard and look through the gates.  The monarchy must have another residence in the city.  Why else would there be such low level of security?), and toured the famous squares surrounding city center.

This was a really cool mural painted on the side of the building. Not not the graffiti you see at the bottom, but that whole image in the photo is actually a three-dimensional painting on a perfectly flat side of the building. It was so realistic, though, we had to walk closer to see it wasn't what it appeared to be.

About 5:00, it started to cloud up again and as the first sprinkles started to fall, we had the great foresight to pop in an Irish pub and grab a table by the window.  A couple beers later as it really began to rain and people streamed in looking for a dry place to wait it out, we were comfortable at our table for two.

Since we couldn't stay there all evening, we eventually joined the crowd of people outside who were gathering for the annual Easter Semana Santa procession.  There were thousands of people in the city center along the procession route.  The closer it got to the start time, the more people crowded in, hoping to get a glimpse of the procession of religious relics. People were very passionate, in tears at the emotional significance of the event. Passions ran high both ways.  As we turned to try to make our way out - nearly impossible packed in as we were - some people in the crowd began yelling angrily at us.  We don't exactly know why. We can only assume they may have felt we were being disrespectful by disrupting the crowd on our way out of the madhouse.  It was a bit upsetting and we left as quickly as we could.

Two ladies watching the festivities from a safe distance above the crowds. 

Link to youtube video

We ended the evening by stopping at a wonderful tapas bar near our hostel.  "Tapas" means "little dishes" and started as a way for restaurants and bars to get rid of the leftovers from the day before. Buy a beer, get a free tapas (a small serving of whatever was on the menu the day before).  The tapas at this place, though, were artfully arranged little dishes of scrumptiousness. For a few Euros, you could order a small portion of sushi on a piece of bread, a mini-burger topped with a hard-boiled egg and a few French fries, or a small Spanish omelette - to name just a few of the 2-3 dozen offerings.  The great thing about it was that all the food was on display, you chose what you wanted and a few minutes later were digging in.  Fabulous!  (Val just observed that many of our blogs are about food.  I said "And your point is?")

We returned to our hostel to pack up, expecting an early morning on Friday.  We were heading to the airport to pick up a rental car to make our way south to a couchsurfing host near Sevilla.  We didn't know it at the time, but we were in for a real treat!