Medina Azahara Califa I Ii Torremolinos

We woke with hangovers again and decided to go to the smugglers bar for a full english fry up. We have not ate bacon for the whole time that we have been away and I have been dreaming about bacon buttys lol. It was a really nice breakfast and just the thing for a hang over. We then went for a walk down the famous strip of the Costa Del Sol. Its ok and really pretty the beach is lovely and there are lots of bars and even spanish ...

... only problem is that the room really smells of smoke its making me feel sick. We dumped our stuff Ian had a quick shower and off we went to look for something to do. Straight into an english bar Browns had a glass of wine and a beer for 4 euros ha ha then went on to another place. Where we are staying is a large area full of english bars and irish bars and we ended up in the smugglers irish bar taking shots of ...

... promenade in benalmadena which is the name of the town we are staying in. there are actually 3 cities in a row that start 'la costa del sol' they are torremolinos, benalmadena and fuengirola. the promenade begins/ends? in benalmadena and goes through torremolinos. All along the promenade are restaurants, pubs, shops selling souvenirs and of course the beach; the beaches are topless if you so desire. benalmadena is mostly made up of british expats and tourists who pop ...

Today we had an excursion to the Caves of Nerja about an hour away on the bus. The little town on the water was cute and reminded me so much of Dubrovnik. We have free time to visit the little church and have an ice cream. Then we were off to the nearby caves which were fascinating but didn't learn much because the guide was doing double time with the tour speaking both French and English and he spoke mostly French even when he was speaking English it seemed.

... the Moroccan midget down to a quarter of his asking price. We probably still got ripped off, but hey, we got to bargain with an actual Moroccan. After a couple more stops in the twisting streets of the Medina, and trying to avoid the gaze of guys selling everything from cheap bracelets to cheap drums to cheap wodden camels, it was back on the bus to see the real thing. We were told we would get a chance to ride the camels, but because of the rain we had to look at them from afar ...

Sylvie repart pour la suisse... heureusement, je ne suis pas seule à l'auberge et passe une bonne soirée avec d'autres voyageurs!! On boit un peu, beaucoup, trop de sangria... et je décide à 6h du matin de repousser mon départ de Malage au lundi... j'ai trouvé un prof d'espagnol que je prendrais bien avec moi pour un petit bout de chemin ,-)<br>

Syvlette débarque à 8h30, je ne suis pas très fraîche après ma nuit dans l'aéroport, mais elle s'est levée à 4h du mat pour prendre l'avion alors on est un peu dans le même état!!! C'est un beau moment de retrouvailles, c'est bon qu'elle soit là, elle me fait du bien!! Nous rattrapons le temps perdu de ces 5 dernières semaines et on profite de tout se raconter en live!! Chouette ...

... for lunch is an area called Chininitos where there are lots of chairs and tables set outside for a great seafood. <br>Teatro Romano is another nice place to visit, heading up to the Mount Gilfrano from there allows to see the whole city underneath. Amazing view of the Torre where the bullfighting occurs. <br>Once seeing the precaussions was over at night, we head out to Cordoba for our last day of visit in the Southern Spain.

Torremolinos is a tourist town further down the coast. It is filled with English, Irish, German and Scandinavian visitors taking in a bit of sun and still eating their native food of beans on toast, etc. Joe and I took a short train ride to the town and got off the train with no idea of where we were going to stay. We dragged our bags to a nice small Irish bar and asked the owner (a woman from Dublin who had lived there 20+ years) where we should book into. She recommended a little hostal ...

... on the hilltop where the Sultan and his Sultanas kept residence, along with a few. The gardens are magnificent. Keeping in Moorish tradition, the outside looks quite bland and dull but once you step inside - your jaw drops at the intricacy of even the most minor details. It was easy to see why it has been short listed on the top 21 "New Seven Wonders of the World" (along with the Sydney Opera House ??? Odd, as I never looked ...