Apes, Double Deckers and a whole lot of Bull in Andelusia

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Matt came with me to Spain for the first week of my 3 weeks here. It was great to be able to show him where mum lives and also explore a little of Andelusia with him. It was really pretty hot but we still managed to do some exploring in the old town of Marbella and then Gibralter and Rhonda. We spent an afternoon in Gibralter which was such a funny experience. we only decided to go late in the day and while mum spent a very happy few hours in Morrisons (A British supermarket filled with lots of exciting stuff that you can´t get in Marbella...like Bacon...and beans...and yummy bread), we decided to see as much of the peninsula as possible. we stopped a guy in the street to ask what should you do if you only had 2 hours in Gibralter. He turned out to be from Dublin so of course recommended that we not bother trying to do too much in the heat and head straight to the port for drinks. We were determined to get to the top of "The Rock" though and although we couldn´t figure out how to catch one of the several red double decker buses we saw, we managed to find a cable car which would bring us right the way up. the first thing we saw when we stepped off was a great big Ape. I knew they would be up there but kind of figured we´d see them from a distance in the trees. But no, they practically walk through your legs and kind of just check you out with curiosity. it´s very cool at the top - Africa is only 15 Kms across the water and we wondered really should we come back this way and get a ferry across for the next leg of our trip. So, after lots of pics (sorry I will sort these out soon!!) we headed back towards the port and met mum for some food and drinks. Our Irish friend was right - it was very nice indeed! And as we sat sipping our drinks in the Mexican restaurant (which was owned by and Irish Canadian ...and all the prices were in British pounds....but the other staff were speaking Spanish ....all very confusing), Mum caught the eye of a lovely British Romeo who offered to come back next week and whisk her off to sea....oh la la!

THe following day, Matt and I hopped on a bus and took ourselves up to Ronda which is a beautiful old walled town about an hour north of the coast. Spain´s oldest bullring is there and the biggest aquaducts I´ve ever seen - just spectacular. Again we didn´t really have much time there - our bus was delayed and we had to get back for the 4.30 return journey but we spent a lovely afternoon eating tapas and wandering through the small cobbled streets admiring the geranium filled windows and little old churches hidden around every corner. Julie - I can see why you want to get married here :O)

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Photos

looking out to Africa
only 15K from where we stood