TUESDAY
Tuesday night Kevin and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. I had a boring caesar salad and Kev had the Sea Bass. After ordering, the waiter came back and replaced Kevin’s silverware with different silverware especially designed for eating fish. The knife had a point on the end that supposedly helps take the skin off the fish without making a mess. The fork was 3-pronged and smaller than a normal dinner fork. Using the knife and fork together is supposed to ensure the fish remains intact while lifting it to your mouth. It also makes it easier to spread sauce along the fish.
Really? Why have I never heard of this?
WEDNESDAY
When planning for this trip, we decided to try to pack somewhat light so we thought pack for 4 days, wear everything twice and do laundry once a week. Well, it’s been a week, it was a little cloudy out yesterday and nothing planned so we tackled our laundry. My cousin Linda spent 5 weeks last year in Granada Spain (not too far from here) in an AirBNB and she said doing laundry was a hot mess because the washer and dryer are the same machine. Kev and I did come across that once while traveling another time and I can’t remember if we were ever able to figure it out. So I was dreading laundry day.
First, I checked into having the hotel do the laundry, but way too expensive! So I punched in Speed Queen Laundromat and 15 minutes later we arrived at Miss Queen’s Clothing Store LOL!
So I tried again and punched in Lavanderia Autoservicio and 20 minutes later we arrived at a car wash! Double LOL!
Being the navigator, I thought this was hilarious but my driver didn’t think it was so funny. So he made me call the hotel and get directions to a landromat close to the hotel. Kev dropped me and the laundry off and went to look for a parking spot. I know bad idea after the debacle in Lisbon, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time. The laundromat was super nice but very small. 4 washers and 3 dryers. All went well, Kevin was able to park and find me fairly quickly, laundry got done and we were on our way.
Some of the streets here are super narrow and sometimes there can be 6 or 7 streets off a roundabout. Roundabouts are everywhere. It can get very confusing. So in finding our way back to the highway, Kevin made a left turn that apparently he was not supposed to make and drove right past the policia. The blue lights came on along with the siren, we looked up at him and he wagged his finger and shook his head. Crap!
So we held our breath, expecting him to turn around and come after us. Then our gps told us we were going the wrong way and would need to make a U turn and head back which was back towards the police. So we figured he wouldn’t be expecting us to head back his way so we made our U-turn and passed two police cars, neither of them our policeman.
Whew! We escaped! But it was close!
THURSDAY
On Tuesday we were scheduled on a sailboat cruise with dolphin watching but it was windy out and the ocean had big waves. So the trip was cancelled and rescheduled for today. Our captain was Alberto, a pretty cool guy, and the boat was a nice sailboat. We cruised around the Mediterranean Sea looking for dolphins but never did see any. We did however see a Moroccan cruise boat with sails. Not a typical cruise boat. The weather was a nice 70 degrees, Captain Alberto played Brazilian music for us, and the cruise was super relaxing (notice my feet in the bottom left).
All in all, our 3 days in Marbella was like a typical resort vacation. Right up my alley!!
After our cruise we headed north along the eastern coast of Spain towards Barcelona. We drove 6 hours and landed in Alicante for the night. The drive had some dramatic scenery, including houses built into the sides of mountains (couldn’t get that pic).
We stopped for dinner in the small town of Velez-Rubio. I ordered swordfish and guess what? No fancy fork and knife for me 🙁 Did these people at the hotel restaurant make this up?
Velez-Rubio was a maze of super narrow streets. They were so narrow that all the cars parked on it had their mirrors tucked in. It took us 10+ minutes of driving through these narrow streets to get back to the highway.
Some fun facts about Alberto. He used to work for an airline for 10 years but found it stressful so now he does sailing tours on the Mediterranean looking for dolphins. On his days off, he takes a ferry over to Morocco and surfs all day.
Must be nice! Disfruta de la vida, se pasa rapido. That’s what I say!!
Oh my gosh, so glad you didn’t get a ticket! You haven’t had to drive on the left side yet, have you?
Yea I read that if you get a ticket in Europe you have to take care of it immediately. Could ruin some plans 🙂
I LOL while reading about your laundry adventure 😂. I am living this trip vicariously through you two and really enjoying your adventures! I am in awe of anyone that can plan on their own, then travel to a foreign country and navigate without a tour guide. (That would stress out my “travel partner” so much he couldn’t enjoy the journey 😉).
The scenery is beautiful and I love your story telling! I look forward to the next post. 🥰
Thanks Nancy! I really enjoyed planning the trip and everything is turning out well so far. We have stayed at all Marriotts and they have been great! The getting around has been an adventure for sure!
Another excellent day. Love you guys.
Love you Barb!
I assume you guys are going to Rome? If so, try to visit Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral. It was our favorite. It’s the Pope’s fave too, true fact. Also try to visit the Borghese Art Gallery.
Yes we are going to Rome. We will try to hit those spots. Thanks for the pointers.
Man . . . I thought you were going to be on an episode of locked up abroad! As I tell my kids, always a good goal to stay outta jail😉
Thx for sharing your adventures!
LOL! One show I don’t want to be on 🙂
Katie did a summer study abroad program in Alicante. Said dinners were at 9:00 p and partying started after. Hope you got in on some of that 🤣🤣. She said it was a beautiful place.
Yes! They eat late here. It was beautiful, wish we could have stayed longer to see some of the sights. Next time!
Haha your “driver” sounds cranky dude! 😆
Ha! You know how those drivers can get 🙂 Can’t take a joke!
Sounds like Alberto leads a “rough” life. (Not!)
I’m glad you didn’t get stopped by the police. The roads sound very hectic.