December 26, 2007. Marbella town was just as cute as we remembered it, with narrow streets, a castle (what town doesn’t have one), the Plaza de los Naranjos, etc… It was a bit too cold and windy for the boys to hang on the beach so we went back to the hotel and let them watch a video (sometimes we just take the path of least resistance) and then down to the “quiet” pool which was occupied by some loud French people with their kids so we were among the better behaved. They got some water time in at the heated pool, did some laps, and got some energy spent.
December 27, 2007. Off to Jerez we went to see the Andalucian school of Equestrian Art. Here’s the review I posted on trip advisor:
We visited today and were sorely disappointed. First, even with tickets purchased on the Internet, expect to stand in an unruly line for up to an hour (50 minutes for us). Second, the show itself, while the horses display some very thorough training, is schmaltzy at best and cruel at worst. At one point, to applause of the audience, the horses are whipped so that they stand on the hind legs and rear up. My thinking is that if you whip them hard enough, you can probably get them to do a flip — they are real athletic.
DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!
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What I didn’t say was that the announced at the beginning that no cameras were allowed. Most people were either so disgusted with the whole deal (me) or just didn’t listen or care, that they just ignored the warning. One woman next to me actually had a video camera going. A woman kept walking down the isle and telling people not to film. I walked out I hated the torture so much.
December 28, 2007. This morning we decided to stay another day in Marbella, given the weather forecast for clear skies and warm weather, and the daunting drive in front of us, no reason to jump into the car. The hotel agreed and extended our stay another day (at the same discounted travel agent rate).
We walked to Puerto Banus, which I’d already run to twice, injuring my left ankle in the process. In any case, we walked there which took a while since first, we forgot the camera and second, David and Joshua stopped every 200 feet to play in the sand, and third, the dog was trying to go every which way. Anywho, we made it after an hour plus, found water, bathrooms, and lunch and took a look at some of the boats, including one with a helicopter on top. Joshua said he thinks we should buy a house boat.
Joshua, David and I took a cab back to the hotel and Annette and Anne and Rocket walked back. I hung out on the beach with David and Joshua, and they finally got their beach time, and then when the girls and Rocket got back, we all went to the pool and ended dinner at the same place we’ve eaten now for three nights in a row (large no-smoking area, nice service and good food).
December 29, 2007. We drove this morning, after a great breakfast at the Don Pepe (“Boys – eat everything you can, you won’t eat again for a long time. You’re full, you’re not full until you can’t stuff anything more in.”) back to the Montbolli, which is about half way back to Barcelona. Once we got here after about six hours and a nice picnic lunch, and realized how nice it is (it is), we decided to stay an additional day. That’s an additional day we stayed in Marbella and an additional day we’re staying here. Nothing requires that we get back to Barcelona in any rush, so… The boys especially enjoyed the Knights.
This evening, after eating in the room, we walked down to the beach, then across a rock in the dark (I had a flash light) to another beach. Lots of fun and nice.
December 30, 2007. It’s the penultimate day of the year, and a wonderful one at that. The weather was beautiful, we went first on a hike in the mountains and met a guy who parked on a trail near the beach and had birds that he had in raised cages. He was just sitting there, watching the birds, to see which ones would sing best. Very nice guy; he told us that when inside they really get going.
Then to the beach. This was interesting since we didn’t know it, but the beach we likes was “naturalista.” This is a way to say clothing optional, but is code to say gay beach. I didn’t want to watch one of the two nude guys parade around so I went to do a weight work-out. On the way back to meet Anne and the kids, he had left and the other guy, who brought a woman along (as cover?), marched nude into the rocks to meet another guy who was hiking his way. At that point, it was time for Marlin Perkins to say, “The male then does his mating dance so that the female (scratch that – male) can react. In any case, it was a nice episode of Wild Kingdom, watching two nude guys crawl around on rocks to better see one another. We were at a good, safe distance which required telephone lenses, but didn’t take photos – it wasn’t anything we wanted to remember in that much detail.
December 31, 2007. New Year’s Eve. Time to get wild. After driving from the Hotel Montiboli to Barcelona, which took us about five hours, we unloaded a bunch of stuff from our small car. Today we pushed it so hard, it needed a quart of oil. I think total mileage is close to about 2,000 or so, most at 130 or so kilometers per hour — about 80 miles an hour. In a car that would be small by US standards with four (then five when my sister joined us in Marbella) and a dog. The car’s mileage was lousy, unfortunately, meaning probably around 27 miles per gallon. Glad to be back.
January 1, 2008. A quiet day, finally. Annette and Anne went around looking at buildings that are of the modernista school. I stayed around and caught up on data entry.
January 2, 2008. We drove this morning to Figueres, the town where Dali was born and built his museum. The museum is like a large house with a lot of his work and the house itself is a work of art — really crazy stuff. He was a mad-man, man. It was a 2 hour drive there, then we toured around the crowded space, then back. People tried to crowd the line and Anne told them off. Turned the car in to Hertz, beaten to death and driven like mad.