El Paraiso Estepona

... many of us who finished off our bottles over the course of the night. I ended up staying up pretty late talking to a Kiwi, Craig. <br><br>Other comments I have. The tents are quite nice and they look VERY durable which is particularly important. We divided into cook crews and I somehow ended up on two. Weird, the North American group (me plus my Canadians) put me on theirs and Pete and Craig thought I was going to be with them. I decided to stay with ...

... I saw a bullfight my first week here and it really wasn't my cup of tea, but it was interesting to be where all the action takes place. I then proceeded to go exploring on my own, which I actually do quite frequently. I love people but I find I really enjoy some things better when I make my own experience not surrounded by what everyone else wants to do. I started by going down into the Ronda Gorge, which literally looks like a city built on a cliff. It is just ...

... un joli endroit où écouter de la musique live (un caveau semi-ouvert sur le ciel - on voit les étoiles!!). Trois français (2 guitares, 1 violoncelle) jouent du flamenco, de la musique des balkans et partent en live!! au final, trois de leurs amis les rejoignent et terminent en apothéose!! Je voyage pendant tout le concert, je grave ces musiques dans mon esprit pour qu'elles m'accompagnent dans les montagnes sur mon vélo!<br>

... so that we could look in on direction and see the Mediterranean on the right and the Atlantic on the left. This really impressed on us the narrowness of the Rock of Gibraltar. From our vantage point, we stood on the tip of Europe and saw Africa just eight miles away. From here you can appreciate the significance of this rock at the end of the European Contingent. The Ancient Greeks were here during their time on the stage of mankind. In 711, a Moorish army led by Tariq ibn Zeyad ...

... that there would not be many places open and (as well as wanting to make a little progress from Malaga) we decided to stop as soon as possible. We found a hotel (the 'Paloma Piedra' or Stone Dove) at the side of the A7 in 'Estepona' and stopped. A little old lady was surprised to see us and we booked in, being the only ones in the ...

... was glad we took this tour because I know I couldn't have handled the cable car and I'm not sure I would have handled walking down well given my vertigo. After going under the cable car lines and right by the boarding station for it, we crossed a parking lot. Eventually we made it to the botanical gardens where we toured around trying to stay in the shade and viewing many types of succulents and a few birds and flowers. We decided not to go the animal ...

Great trip - except for getting sea sick when I had to stay down below and do some blind nav from Smir back to Gib... "mind the tanker!" ... It's like Picadilly Circus round there!

... unfortunately we didn't see the runway in action. gibraltar's a scruffy town -as trevor and janet called it. kinda strange, and¨yes scruffy. it's a rock with a tourist drawing gondola riding to the top where they have some poor captive monkeys in a 'reserve'. ït's expensive too. but we were looking forward to stocking up on books and did. we found a good used book shop disguised as a art supplies store. we had fun ...

... Spanish word to unsuspecting waiters before sitting back with immense pride at their petty achievement. Sorry, I digress. But it sickens me deeply. Tomorrow sees the arrival of BMI 'Flight 1031', which should be carefully delivering my oldest chum - young 'Skipper Hodges' - safely to Malaga airport. Four nights and five days. Over two years of catch up. The party's on.. Tapas count:- 35

... day to take a daytrip to Gibraltar, which is something I had wanted to do anyway. We hopped on a bus to La Linea, which is the Spanish town on the other side of the border. From the bus station we walked to the border. Gibraltar is a British colony at this strategic point manning the entrance to the Mediterranean. It is a projecting peninsula made up mostly of a big rock mountain. The small strip of land connecting it to mainland ...