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Published: January 18th 2008
Boats
Some people know how to travel in style...Again, perk of being a 'teacher' ... Christmas vacation. And oh man did I ever need it! I stayed in Europe and spent my first week of vacation with my cousin Georgina, her boyfriend Santiago, and my good friend Dan in Malaga/Benalmadena on the Mediterranean Coast ... nothing at all wrong with that.
I managed to miss my initial flight and proceeded to spend 3 very lonnnnnng hours in Terminal 4 of the Madrid Barajas airport ... good thing they've made it big enough to house many many many clothing stores, but needless to say, time ticked by very slowly.
I arrived in Malaga and was swiftly picked up by my cousin and we caught up quickly and called it a night as it was late and they had work the next day. I managed to make it back to the airport the next day to pick up Dan and we hit the ground running. We were a bit unlucky with the weather the first few days we were there and it rained, drizzled, slopped for four days straight. We did not, however, let that keep us from exploring.
We went into Malaga one day (a thirty minute
Would you ...
like to step aboard my yacht? ..... whaaa train ride from a near by station), and with umbrella in hand, we proceeded to cover a lot of ground. We visited the cathedral which was large and impressive as many cathedrals are. We scooted a few blocks over and spent a really long time in the Picasso musuem enjoying his works from all eras of his life. It was really interesting and an enjoyable place to spend a rainy afternoon. We grabbed some yummy paella afterwards and wandered. We managed to wander up the 'hill' of Malaga and although it was cloudy and drizzly we got some really nice viewage. Once at the top we came back down the other side and made the walk back to the train station.
We cooked a lot at my cousins and ate plenty of delicious home cooked meals. It was really comforting. The next day they took us to Puerto Banus to get a glimpse of the posh coastal lifestyle some people are lucky to live. Lots of designer stores and fancy boats and yachts. We also took a quick stroll around Marbella, but the rain was making us soggy, so we passed through the old town quickly, saw Dali's statues
Dali
one of many Dali sculptures in Marbella and made our way back. That night, Santiago took Dan & I to watch Real Madrid play Barcelona ... huge game, very intense, but unfortunately Barcelona did not make a single goal ... so our side was rather down.
Christmas Eve found us up top in Mijas, which is a mountain town with white buildings and fantastic views of the coast. We strolled around up there for a bit but the looming clouds and slight trickles from above cut our visit short and we made our way back down. Dan and I headed down to the beaches close by later on to hang out and saw the sun peak through the clouds on its way down.
We later went to the store to get last minute items for our meal that evening. We had a feast for Christmas Eve, as is custom in Spain. I made my favorite mushroom empanadas, Georgina made a tastey seafood salad, and then Dan & I prepared some chicken fajita/burritos. We ate a lot and waited for midnight to celebrate Christmas and share our gifts. I received a lot of Swiss chocolate from Dan (all of my dreams came true) and a Vanilla
Elephant
Dali's take on it ..... scented foot care set from my cousin & Santiago. We all went to bed content and hoping for a sunny Christmas.
Santa was listening in and gave us a gorgeous day. We put on our suits and went straight to the beach. It was quite pleasant in the sun and because it was directly in front of us, Dan convinced me we should take a dip in the Mediterranean ... so dip we did. I could remember how cold it was in JULY from 2 years ago ... December was no different, maybe just a sting colder ... according to my cousin and local tales, I am immune to disease for this year though for plunging in during winter, FANTASTIC. We went back for lunch, showered off the salt, and Dan & I took a stroll and advantage of the sun left in the day. We went to Mass that night in a town near by and came back for dinner.
The next day graced us with some more sun and Dan & I set off on foot towards Torre Bermeja. We walked out along the breakers and saw more fancy boats ... some people really know how
Marbella
Georgina & her soon to be son, Phillipe, Dan, & Myself with the Mediterranean behind us to travel by water. We tried finding specific souvenirs to no avail, but found some interesting items along the way. We had large lunch and both had swordfish and a fabulous chocolate cake ice cream dessert. That night Santiago grilled some delicious steaks for us and we filled ourselves up on meat and wine our last night there.
Dan & I headed back to Madrid for a few days before setting off on our France leg of vacation. I showed him around what I call home and actually discovered a lot of things I hadn't known before. We entered a lot of churches and free exhibits around town. We had a typical spanish night out until late in the morning and grabbed some chocolate and churros to end the night on. He spent a day museuming and I joined him at the end to check out the Reina Sofia which I hadn't fully visited yet. It's really neat, full of contemporary and modern art ... it's also HUGE. Then before we knew it we were preparing for France.
We took a rather slow train north towards San Sebastian which lies next to the French border in the north
Mijas
View from mountain city of Mijas corner of Spain. We crossed over and hopped on a French train which was faster and more comfortable. In no time we were in Biarritz, our first destination and New Year's city of choice. It's a very popular surfing town and so distinctly French. I loved it. It would be amazing to visit in the summer, but we made the most of it for the days we were there. I lovingly dub it 'Tiny Town' France because we managed to walk around most of it within 3/4 of a day, but every corner had its own little surprise or large mansion pop out of no where.
We visited and shopped at the local market, where we acquired lunch and snacks for the next few days. Walked to the light house, entered one of the fanciest hotels I've ever set foot in, watch crazy people surf and swim, visited some churches, at delicious pastries, window shopped, wandered about a lot, found a great park. Dan turned crazy one day and went swimming one day ... it looked a LOT colder than the Mediterranean. Everyone in this town was extremely friendly and cheerful, so getting around and asking for things usually
Taxiiiiii!
Local taxis in Mijas went smoothly. We celebrated New Year's at the restaurant we'd be to the night before (because it was DELICIOUS) and shared two pizzas which were delicious and wine. We crossed the street and celebrated midnight in a pub with a lot of French and British people. It was an enjoyable evening and a great way to start the year.
We caught another train from Biarritz to Bordeaux for the second half of our week. Our first adventure was trying to figure out how to get from the train station to our hotel because we'd been given bad bus information (16 usually has a 1 at the beginning ...). Once we'd figured that out we got there smoothly.
Bordeaux is really really really really really old. I don't know if that' even emphasis enough. So old in fact, we went to their 'historical' museum where they had building pieces dating back to the 2nd century. REALLY OLD. Although it's significantly larger than Biarritz, we managed to cover a lot of ground here too. They have a great tourist office where we got a map with different walking tour suggestions you can do on your own. Itinerary for our stay
FAVORITE
Made my mother proud, cooked my favorite all time snack was set. We again saw a lot of neat things, churches, musuems, art exihibits, monuments, bridges .. you name it. We climbed a tower, took the tram, drank a fair amount of good wine, had some crepes, did more window shopping.
We did a chateaux tour on our last day that took us to two chateauxs/wineries and we learned about the wine making business. It was very informative and interesting, it reminded me a lot of Chile, minus the rain and lack of grapes. I felt more educated after spending our afternoon doing that. We had pretty crappy weather while we were there but we made the most of it and walked everywhere, finding cafes and take out places we'd mark for return visits. It was an enjoyable four days.
My trip back on Sunday was long and uncomfortable as I managed to get sick the morning of, but 12 hours after leaving Bordeaux I made it home and had one more day of vacation before heading back to work. That day is lovingly called Rebajas ... aka SALES. Of course I went shopping ... and they go on for about 2 months, so more shopping will ensue.
Happy
Georgina really really liked them :) School is back in full swing and I had a difficult time adjusting to the schedule again this week. The kids were still buzzing from Christmas and the goodies they were brought so my hope of having them in a calmer state sort of went out of the window. We'll see how the rest of this month goes.
I hope you all had great holidays and are having a good start to 2008! I miss you all very much and think of you every day!!! Keep in touch and take care! Besitos!
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Big Sis
non-member comment
You go girl!
So proud of you for documenting your exciting adventures. Thanks for letting a little part of me live through you. Can't wait to see you soon! It will be here before you know it. I also can not believe that you made the mushroom empanadas! I thought you had to go to med school to know how to make those heavenly things! So proud of you and happy to know that you know how to make them....now don't forget! Later tater, MM