Playa Cotobro Almunecar

The train trip from Barcelona to Malaga, Spain took just about 5 hours on one of the super-fast trains in Spain. After having our passports checked and our backpacks x-rayed at the train station of Barcelona, we took the escalator down to the loading area. This was the first (and only) train we have traveled on that felt like an airport security check. Each train car had a host to guide us to our seats after checking our tickets ...

... je dors dans une caravane, dans le jardin, j'ai une casita, c'est chouette!  J'investis très rapidement les lieux... Ca me fait beaucoup de bien de me poser dans un endroit si calme, et rempli d'une belle énergie de vie! La vie simple de la campagne me plaît.. A côté de la caravane, se trouve une douche solaire (yeah!) et des toilettes sèches!! décidément y a tout pour me plaire ;-) J'essaie de parler espagnol, je sens que mon ...

After all the driving yesterday, we decided we didn't want to get in the car and drive anywhere today. So we spent the whole day at the beach. Shae played with several new friends from the uk. She was digging in the sand for about 4 hours. I don't even think she made it to the water. It was a very relaxing day. Later we drove into a nearby ...

We decided to make today another Shae day. We headed to the beach early and rented a couple of chairs with an umbrella. You know how hard this is for mike and i. we are not beach-goers. but Shae was so excited to build sand castles and play in the water. We lasted close to 2 hours. it was nice. Mike got to catch up on his spanish cards and i finally got to start reading a book on my kindle. We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe and met the owner, Michel from ...

... through the windy mountain roads, Mike found an awesome place to run. He drove us back to the house and set out for a 12 mile run through the mountains. he loved it. We headed into Burriana for dinner and planned to eat at Ayo a good paella restaurant recommended by Susan, who helped us with the house. Unfortunately, Ayo was closed for the evening so we walked around looking for another place to eat. We came upon a little cafe that served Thai/Indonesian ...

After getting in late the night before we got a pretty late start the next morning The place where we're staying is a 5 minute walk to Burriana Beach. A very popular beach in this area. The weather has been incredible our entire trip 70s and 80s the whole time. Apparently, this is unusual for this time of year here. It's tends to be a bit cooler. But the beaches are full of sunbathers even in mid-October. We really picked a good time to ...

... the most sculpted curves, bulges and handles any man could hope for….right. We found a spot and chilled – in the mid-day screaming hot sun. I fell asleep but only slightly broiled the back. The Sea was fantastic, chilly the first time, a refreshing walk-in the next two times.

Later on, after a shower, we headed for the Rambla, the place every Spanish town has ...

... in many of the side streets. The town is a bit of a cross between the Moorish villages we had seen and a more modern Spanish town, a not very successful mix. It is here that many of the Serrano Hams are made, hanging up pig legs in the cold dry air for a couple of years until the meat becomes dry and leather-like. It is very tasty, but extremely difficult to chew, especially with teeth like mine! There must be an endless ...

... for the production of high quality jamones, but more on that later. The first difference I noticed between this trip and the one to Cordoba last week is that all of the other people on the trip were friendly and keen to chat in Spanish. It did make things a little tricky and sometimes hard work (esp for a Sunday!), but I think it´s done wonders for my Spanish speaking. We could, of course, if we got stuck, revert to English which was spoken by ...

... Spain would be great to visit. But I guess it wasn´t in the cards for this trip. So it´s been a super slow day. Went out for a walk around 3pm after the rain stopped, and there´s a dinner party at the hostel again tonight. The things they organize here are great. Top marks to the hostel. Off to Cordoba tomorrow basically for a lack of any other ideas. Then Madrid for Thursday for a few nights. We´ll see what happens. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend. Buenos noches!