Ole

Full on couple of days here in Spain. We arrived somewhat shattered - that 330 start was pretty full on. Once again my compatriots managed the art of catching a few zzzzz's where they could! (good on them ;-))
We decided to take it easy once we had access to our room. The day involved a mini train tour of the very intense Belamedina ( just think the gold coast on steroids x 100) it is full on tourist Mecca with shopping entertainment tourist (English speaking and everywhere)
We joined the ranks of the relaxing with a few hours by the pool. Think pool boys, topless brown brown ladies ( of all shapes and sizes), sun lounges and cute little umbrella thingies. Once again the girls caught a few zzzzz's. Annie was brave and took the plunge literally into the refreshing water. Pauline and I followed. It was really nice!
After the rehuman-ising experience of the pool we rallied to hit the marina for dinner and drinks- tapas and sangria. All good!
The next day we left our lovely space by the pool to catch our tour to the magnificent spot of Ronda. Talk about change of vibe. Ronda is a historic town in the mountains. A hair ( and bile) raising bus ride for 2 hours and we were there. Our tour guide Pedro ( I kid you not) took us on a face paced walking tour - in his words - you want to see Ronda - you walk! And walk we did. It was sometimes hard but so worth the effort. It was a bit scary to get a text from Paulini saying she couldn't see us anymore! ( thankfully a lovely member of the tour Ventured back for her - Pedro wasn't that interested--- we had just got to the winery!!!!) We walked over a gorge - the new bridge ( built in the 18 century) to this cobbled stoned city - we happened to be so lucky as they were having a festival which meant that there were people dressed in their flamenco dresses - music playing in the square and spontaneous dancing- it was almost too quaint! We sat in the square and ate paella and eating best olives ever - while drinking more sangria. we finished the day with a stroll from the bus - past the shops Once back at the room we all had a mini repack - before we knew it it was time for more food and drinks!
It must be a sign of Spain the heat and our relaxed feelings but we aren't even thinking about dinner until 8/9 pm- we all must be partially spanish!
It has really been great here - couple more days - we are thinking about testing ourselves and hiring a car and trying to get to Granada - not sure. But until more adios!