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Published: June 22nd 2011
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COSTA DEL SOL
MELIA DEL SOL Thursday
It’s our last full day in Spain and today it’s all about beach and pool time and cocktails by the water and dinner on the beach. Marylou and I had a lovely breakfast and then sat by (and in) the pool for a couple of hours. We showered and walked the beach looking for shells but only found stones, but very pretty stones they were; marble and quartz and others that looked like polished limestone or sandstone.
Above the hotels along the beach is the town of Torremollinos. To get there one can climb the steps or take the lift. Guess which one we opted for. Unfortunately it was about 2:45 and the lift was closed for siesta so we opted to people watch and sip mojitos. La Cabana won the “best mojitos of the trip” award hands down.
When the lift opened we took a brief look at the town. We crossed a huge square and explored some of the alleys that radiate from it. We window-shopped but didn’t buy a thing. Actually found a couple of handbags I liked and while the label was made in Spain, the bag was made in …… China.
Now it was time
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FUN ON THE BEACH for our siesta followed by dinner. It was another clear cool evening and walked along the beach checking out the menus of various restaurants. Since it was early, most were empty. We ended up at La Cabana where we enjoyed delicious vegetable paella. We lingered over dinner at were surprised to find it was after ten when we paid our check.
Friday
We are now winging our way across the Atlantic. Awoke around 7:30, breakfasted, packed, arrived at the airport to a delayed flight, ran through the Madrid airport and just made our flight to JFK.
Random thoughts about Spain
The weather has been glorious, warm in sunny with refreshing breezes and cool evenings. All of our hotels were very good. May favorite was the Hotel Carmen in Granada. It had a great location, was very clean, the breakfast was varied and included bagels, liver pate, and great anisette flavored pastries. But it was the rooftop terrace with its pool, tapa bar and incredible view of the mountains and the Alhambra that I’ll remember.
The Spanish are beautifully dressed and the vast majority are in great shape. I could count on one hand the vastly overweight Spaniards I saw. They
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HE IS PROUD OF HIS FISH are handsome and somewhat reserved people but when they smile it reaches their eyes.
I much prefer grazing to a large dinner so tapa bars are perfect for me. We would order one tapa then a different one until we were full.
The Moorish influence in Flamenco and in the architecture makes the music and building interesting and varied. It is such a shame that the today’s world can’t get along the way Spain’s people did under the early Moors. The peace and tolerance of that age brought about great strides in science, poetry, architecture, and gardening and on and on.
For some very strange reason, paper products are in short supply in Spain. Paper towels are unavailable in toilets and many times the hand dryers don’t work. Drinks are served without coasters or napkins. There are no tissues in the hotel rooms. We all came to a great appreciation of paper.
My cousins Ken and Laura are like energizer bunnies. They are up at around seven, breakfast and explore until dinner, then off to explore again until around ten. I can’t wait to see Laura’s pictures. On the other hand, MaryLou and I took time to relax in between
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LIFE IS A BEACH tours, enjoying the pools and people watching. The great thing about this trip was that we all could do as we wished.
There is so much more in Spain that I would like to explore, Madrid with the Prado museum, Valencia and it’s modern City of Arts and Science, Toledo and more. I would return to Valencia and Barcelona and Granada in a New York minute. But for now I’m happy to be on my way home.
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