September 4 Sevilla Spain

First stop was the Maria Luisa Gardens where 1929 World Fair was held. Many pavilions still exit and are now used as offices or even their own countries embassies.

Next to Plaza de Espana built again for the 1929 Worlds Fair. Amazing building with special tiles and space for each province in Spain. This was the Spain pavilion. It is in a huge semi circle with a fountain in the middle. There are several bridges over a moat.

Then a short walk through the Jewish section and into the Palace (Alcazar) The tile work in the palaces really something. The place is huge, the basement alone is 400 m by 200 m and we are not yet allowed to enter.
Short lunch at a Mexican restaurant and we headed to the Cathedral, 9 euro to go is a bit steep but we were able to climb to the top of the tower for some great views of the city. We could see the river and fighting arena.

Then took a short walk to the bull fighting arena. Here we took a tour of the arena. It is very interesting to hear about the matadors, bulls and the ceremony around bull fight Next to the river for a 1 hour cruise. Very relaxing on the boat. Seville has the largest inland port in Europe at about 100 km inland. They do have a large container port.

Then off to wander back to the hotel through the shopping area. These are regular stores and not a lot of tourist stuff. We did pass by Metro Parasol. A large structure , honeycomb like over a square.
We found a small craft beer place near the hotel and had a very good meal. The waiter did not have much English and with my very limited Spanish we worked it out. We never did figure out what the craft beer was good!

Back to the hotel at 9.30 pm 12 hours traveling around, long day but it went by really fast.


September 3 Sevilla Spain

A very early start.... 8 am. On the bus for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Gibraltar.

The tour bus is not going into Gibraltar so we get dropped off, walk ugh customs and immigration, although they did not look very closely at any of the passport. On to small vans for the tour. To leave the airport we got caught at a red light. This red light was stopping us from crossing the airport runway! As we were sitting there a jet landed , and then taxied back. Once the plane was at the terminal we were able to cross the runway.

The van took us around the rock to the other side. Here was a light house. It is at this point that the Med meets the Atlantic. Very nice. You can see many container boats on the water and mountains across in Morocco.
Then up part way on the rock on some very windy roads! Amazing how they drive on these streets, narrow and windy! And our driver is talking all the time and pointing out the window !

We arrived at the Michaels caves. This is where are. Never did work out if monkeys or baboons. They are everywhere. No sooner had the van stopped and they were on the roof! There are several very young ones that seem like they are just learning to walk as they are falling off branches or rolling down a bit on the steep bank !
The cave is huge an lit up with different coloured lights.
Dinner at hotel tonight.


September 2 Malaga Spain

A very early start.... 8 am. On the bus for the short drive to La Alhambra. A old Arab city that was started in the 800 as Muslim and then taken over by the Christians in 1492. An amazing place in great condition with a lot of areas that are original and not reconstructed. This palace was also a place started but never finished. The towers, building and especially the gardens were really something There fountains everywhere and apparently run by gravity fed water systems.

We drove along coast miles with miles of olive trees.
lunch along the beach at Torremolinas, which is part of the city of Malaga. But according to the waitress separate. It is a very nice area but it is fairly busy.
Then off to the hotel. Very nice. Room has a balcony that overlooks the Med! It is great. It is very windy but we still went down to the beach and went swimming. The water felt great even with all the waves. The beach itself is fairly rocky. Smaller pebbles onshore but bigger rocks in the water.

Then up to the pool which felt very warm. Still windy there as well. Swam around a bit then and up to lounge chairs for a coffee and dry off. Just about dry and then the entertainment couple came along and convinced 4 of us to do the aqua exercise. They were young and wild but it was fun. We were going to use the hot tub but you had to pay for that and the indoor pool was just not warm enough.

Quick shower and then happy hour. Very nice to sit on they and talk and have a drink. Quite relaxing. We then went to the restaurant that was across the boardwalk for a fish dinner. The swordfish was huge and very good.