Trip to Spain Day 5/6

At the hotel we were staying at this last night, breakfast was not included.  So, being on the budget we were on, back to the grocery store we went.  1 box of Frosted Flakes, 1 Liter or milk, some bananas, bread and ham later and we were all set to go.  I’ll tell you, eating in your hotel  room makes leaving for the day much easier. 

On our last full day in Spain we had 2 cities to visit.  The first was a coastal town called Malaga where an old walled palace-fortress left over from the Moors stands in the middle of town.  The other was the port we would take the ferry from the next morning.  

The walls of Alcazaba

Miniature of Alcazaba

Finding the location of things can be tricky when the only maps you have to go on are on your cell phone.  I had Jake’s Blackberry and was toggling between google maps and the GPS, which only showed us where we were, but without a destination.  It was a little tricky, but luckily for us, once on the right road, Alcazaba is pretty hard to miss.  The place is a massive complex.  The walls are still standing and I think they have been doing some restoration on the buildings inside, because they were in pretty good condition for being 800 years old (or more).  There were beautiful gardens being watered by the same irrigation system that originally watered them.  You can climb on, what I’m sure once was, the watch towers.  There are 3 different sections of the complex with the lower end having many existing structures.  In the middle the wall narrows significantly and there are no buildings.  The wall shapes itself with the contour of the hillside it rests on.  Pretty neat.  At the top are more of the ruins of the place.  We weren’t able to go there because of time, and also because, quite frankly, we didn’t want to hike up a steep hill with the 2 little ones.

The stairs leading to the entrance of Alcazaba

On one of the lookout towers

A second lookout

View from a tower of Malaga

The line running down the sidewalk is an irrigation stream

Entrance to the garden.  Notice the vines creating a ceiling over the walk-way

Looking down a well in the garden

Me, Rachel, and David

The doorways into the buildings inside Alcazaba

A neat door

Before you enter Alcazaba there is a Roman theatre.  I learned a lot about theatres when I was in Israel (of all places), so it was fun for me to be able to say that an American tour guide got it wrong.  When we got there there was a group with a tour guide so we were able to listen in a little.  She wasn’t very good and kind of condescending, but we weren’t paying for her, so se la vi.  Anyway, she called it an amphitheatre, but she is wrong.  Amphitheatres are a full oval and were used for gladiator events and the like.  A theatre is usually a semi-circle.  One of the best ways to tell is that an amphitheatre’s first row of seats is up off the ground by quite a bit.  A theatre has seats all the way to the floor.  This theatre was a half-circle with seats all the way to the floor.  Ha, ha.  I’m right and she’s wrong.  And now you have your little piece of historical knowledge.  The one thing we did learn from her, though, was what was covered by a glass pyramid.  Under the pyramid were Roman ruins where they would ferment all the gross parts of fish along with some wine for 2 weeks and then use it as a delicacy to flavor their dishes.  Why anyone would want to flavor their food with fermented fish guts is beyond me.

Our visit wasn’t long in Malaga because we still had a long drive to the port city of Tarifa.  We had no reservation for a hotel that night because online we couldn’t find anything within our budget.  But having just spent several days in Spain, we realized, at least in the winter, finding a place would probably not be hard.  We drove past Tarifa before we started to look for hotels.  We tried one, but it was closed for the season.  The next one we tried was perfect.  In fact, the evening was story-book perfect, except for dinner.  The hotel had the quaint B&B feel to it.  There was a large “backyard” with a swing set and teeter-totter for the kids to play on as well as A LOT of room for the kids to play tag.  It was a great place for them to burn off all their energy.  

We were not far from the beach, so the owners directed us to a path across the street that would lead us to the beach.  It was a quick 5 minute walk before we hit a beautiful, sandy beach.  As a mother, I sat on the beach watching the boys throw stones into the sea and the girls collect sea shells as the sun set.  I couldn’t believe we were sitting on the beach in Spain, there where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, with Morocco in the distance (yes, we would see it), watching the sun set.  Jake laughed because it was just too perfect.

You can see Morocco in the distance

Sam searching for shells

Rachel

Everyone got in on the action

Me and baby

Out of all the "kids," the one who falls in the water is Dad (notice the jeans)

We headed down town to try to find a place to eat and found a bar open that served Pizza.  This night was Friday night, and Friday’s at our house are pizza night, so the kids wanted pizza.  We ordered our pizzas and I ordered ravioli.  The food was terrible, but it was food.  I wish I had been able to sample real cuisine from the many restaurants there, but 8:30 is just a little too late for me.  Oh well.  Jake was out of Euros, so while he went to find an ATM to pay for dinner there was an alleyway across the street where I took the 5 older kids and we had running races while we waited.  The kids had a good time. 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel where we put the 2 little ones to bed and then went down to the restaurant for dessert.  They had a fire burning and made us dessert sample plates with cheesecake, white chocolate mousse, and flan.  It was delicious.

The next morning we had to be up and ready to go pretty early.  The ferry left at 10 am and we had to be on it.  We got up and quick got dressed and headed down to breakfast.  They knew we would be eating early, so they had everything ready for us.  It was a rather large breakfast with meats, boiled eggs, bread and cheese.  A good way to start the day.  It was then off to the ferry to get back to Morocco.  The winds were very calm, so the ride was much smoother than the ferry to Spain.  I don’t think any of us felt even the slightest hint of seasickness.  

It is funny when you get to Morocco.  We had spent a week with people obeying traffic laws, people crossing in cross walks, and everything being clean and well taken care of.  As soon as you drive out of the port in Tangier everything is suddenly Moroccan again.  People crossing wherever they choose, almost getting run off the road, and nothing seems to make sense.  It is kind of depressing.  But here is home for the next 6 months, so we will enjoy what we can.