So, yesterday we loaded ourselves on the bus and headed for Ronda. I noticed along the way that the soil looked more fertile and there were a lot of cacti. It reminded my of some parts of Arizona and California that I rode through. The sun shone brightly but it was chilly as we started climbing into the mountains.
Ronda is a beautiful town on a gorge subsisted totally from tourism now. There were some truly spectacular views. It’s just impossible to take a picture of ever beautiful thing, because the next minute you find something even more beautiful.
What was most interesting for me here was the bullfighting ring. The most interesting thing about it was the training area for the horses. It had never occurred to me before that dressage that you see on the olympics developed for a reason and eventually became a sport. They had to train the horses so well to avoid being gored by the bulls. And the Lippizaner horses in Vienna which perform those spectacular shows were all originally from Spain.
Headed back to the bus, I stopped at a little restaurant where the Part of the group was sitting outside. I ordered the squid and loved it. Slices of slightly rubbery squid on slices of potatoes fried in olive oil and covered with paprika. It was delicious. Then we headed for the bus and started off for Marbella.
Ok, guys.im running out of adjectives to describe the area. We started climbing higher into the mountains and driving around some hairpin curves, and as we started our descent, it was so clear that we could see Gibraltar. We stopped at an overlook, and I immediately took a picture for my friend Gail, who has been there. We were so fortunate that the day wasn’t hazy. We could see all the way to Morocco.
Coming into Marbella, the first thing the guide pointed out was the Ferrara dealership. Marbella is truly the playground of the rich. Tourists make special trips to the yacht harbor just to see the ostentatious boats anchored there. I know lots of Germans vacation here and, low and behold, there is a local newspaper in Russian. This indicates to me that the moneyed class in Russia has discover the town also. It’s everything you would want a resort to be. Palm trees, sun and the Mediterranean.
Sonia couldn’t walk to the old down with me because she was waiting for her passport to be delivered from the last hotel we stayed at. She had forgotten to pick I up from the reception. And my friends from Paraguay weren’t ready to go yet, so I headed down to the promenade and walked into town. It’s everything you would expect a resort to be, just add lots of dollar signs. And, of course, I had to put my feet in the water . It was Stony Brook cold, and upstate New Yorkers will know what I mean. It would have been fine for a swim.
I found the old town and looked around for awhile when I heard someone calling my name. I looked around and saw the Australian couples from our group. I had planned on talking a bus back to the hotel, but they suggested I walk back with them. I’m certainly glad I did. We stopped for a cup of coffee and hen walked back along the promenade as the sun was setting. Gorgeous!
It turns out that Liz is getting into cycling. So we discussed different tours and commiserated about the young male 20-something’s who work in bike shops and look down their noses at women riders and think they don’t know jack. We both agreed: screw them!
A shower before dinner was great for getting the sand out from between my toes. Dinner buffet started at 8 and I sat down with the Australians again. We talked till about 10:30 and then called it quits. Somehow we got on the subject of Dame Edna, the great Australian comedy character played by
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