28 December ’05, Wednesday.
Every travel book we have read and every person we have been talking to since arriving in Granada have said the same thing…”if you want to visit the Alhambra, and you must, you MUST have an appointment”. Well, I went to the office at the campground and asked if they would call for us. “You want it for today???” Fortunately she made the call for us and we were able to get a time for 3:30 this afternoon. That gave us plenty of time to see some of the other sites we wanted to fit into the morning. From the center of Granada you look to the right, and on top of the hill you find the Alhambra…you look to the left, and you find at the top of hill the Albayzin neighborhood. We will see the Alhambra later, so we took off hiking the narrow streets of the Albayzin neighborhood and to making our goal of the St Nicolas viewpoint. The Albayzin area is the oldest and best Moorish quarter in all of Spain, and we really enjoyed walking through it. We walked past many colorful corners, courtyards, flowery window boxes, shady lanes, and a small plaza market. At the top, we visited a Muslim school and Mosque and then walked across the plaza to the St Nicolas church and viewpoint. The views over the city and across the valley to the Alhambra were wonderful. Fact is, in 1997, President Clinton and his family made this one of their stops as well. Further up the hill is another area we had interest in, but with our time getting short all we could do was just look from a distance. That is the Sacromonte, the area of the Gypsy caves. There are many caves dug into the mountainside that have now been fronted with windows and a doorway. This is their home and in some cases, their businesses. Finding our way back down, we had a quick tapas lunch along side the river and then caught the bus that runs to up to the Alhambra. We were to tour the Alhambra in 4 different parts…Charles V’s Palace, Alcazaba Fort, Palacios Nazaries, and the Generalife (hen-ne-raw-LEEF-ay) gardens. We saw so many things we could write about, but I will just have to give the highlights. First, all of this sits high on a hill overlooking Granada and the valleys below. The snow topped mountains of the Sierra Nevada sit high above the Alhambra, and almost totally surround Granada…a beautiful setting. The Generalife was used as a summer home of the Moorish Kings. The Palacios Nazaries was the Moorish Palace that was built in the 14th century. The rooms that we visited were decorated from top to bottom with carved wood ceilings, stucco “stalactites”, ceramic tiles, molded plaster walls, and filigree windows and passages. Now it wasn’t just in the palace, it was the same throughout every building we saw today. The work that was done by the artists is absolutely unbelievable. All of the designs are taken from the Koran’s symbol of Heaven. In the designs that the Moorish used, there were no images of “man” anywhere. The open air areas always have a water feature, a fountain, elongated and square pools, flowing water troughs along the walkways, and more. The vegetation is always sculptured, and the pathways are inlaid bricks or stone. One of the most photographed parts of the Alhambra is the Court of the Lions which features 12 lions holding a large fountain on their back. Each of the lions used to spout water from its mouth. It was a way for the Moorish King and court to tell time by which lion was spouting the water. 4 hours later, we boarded the same bus that took us to the Alhambra and rode it down the hill and into town. When we got there, we decided to stay put and see just where this bus would go. It ended up taking us back up to the Albayzin area through some of the narrowest streets you could ever imagine. There were places that were so close to each side that the mirror would all most touch on each side at once. Don’t rock the bus !!! Then it was down the hill on the other side… What a wizard… One more bus to catch and we had to get on our way. Tomorrow, check-out and head across country to Benadorm

27 December ’05, Tuesday
This morning we walked across the street and caught a bus into Granada. As always, the first time you step off the bus, train, or metro you stand there for a minute or two just to see if there is anything that might look familiar. Of course it wouldn’t look familiar because we had been there before, it would be because we saw a picture of it in one of our many tour books. Today wasn’t any different, we had no idea of which way to go first, so watching the locals disperse from the bus, we just watched which way most of them were going. It works most of the time, and it worked again today. Within 25 minutes, we were talking to the TI office, have a map in our pocket, and received some of the other important pieces of information….the internet cafes, cathedrals, palaces, etc. The old town and the new town of Granada come together easily. There are good signs to find your way around. The city isn’t too large so you can walk to just about everything that you might want to see in just no time. We did do a lot of hill walking today, but that was interspersed with stops throughout the day. We visited the Cathedral, which is one of two Renaissance churches and the second largest in Spain. They are doing some repairing on the interior, but we still had a good chance to see most of it. The pipe organ is one of the largest we have seen yet. All the trumpets, huge to tiny pipes, and all the gold…wow. The interior columns are gigantic. They look the size of a very old giant red wood tree, and they form their own forest for all there are in the church. Next door is the Royal Chapel. This is the 16th century Gothic chapel with the tombs of Queen Isabel, King Ferdinand, and their heirs to the throne, their daughter Juana “The Mad” and her husband King Philip “The Fair”. Prior to taking this trip, I had a life that I thought had been somewhat trained in the histories of Europe, but now that I’ve been here I can see just how little I did know. Yes, I knew some about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, Christopher Columbus and on and on. Now that we have stood at the foot of the tombs of all three of them, and many more Saints, Popes, Kings, Queens, Pharaohs, and others, it has kindled a need to know more. Fortunately, I have a good teacher in my wife.
Lucky for us, we decided to take the umbrella with us, for like last night, it rained off and on most of the day. We weren’t bothered too much by it because of the time we spent visiting all the sites. One of the churches we did get into today wasn’t even mentioned in the tour books, and I thought it was absolutely beautiful. It was un-like any other we have seen. It was called Nuestra Senora de las Angustias. It would do it an injustice to describe what we saw, so if my pictures turn out, you will have a chance to see what I’m talking about. Now a little about some special people that live here in Granada…the Gypsies or “Gitano”. They have found a special home here in Granada. The people of Granada not only tolerate them, they have made them feel welcome (as long as they stay in the Sacromonte. There are about 50,000 Gitano’s living here and we have come across them with just about every corner we have come to. Some of the ladies are selling sprigs of rosemary and the men are trying to shine your shoes. The downfall from their sales techniques is that while they are doing that, they are also trying to get into your pocket…really, “their” hands into your pockets… We were approached many times, but when I waved the umbrella at them, they got the heck out of the way. On the other hand, it was fun to watch them work on the unaware. We didn’t see them get into any ones pocket or purse, but it wasn’t for not trying. Ok, that’s it for the day, but tomorrow we will be back. We are going to have to finish our site-seeing in Granada soon, as this morning we had some pretty heavy snow fall all around us and the forecast is for a lot more to come this week.

26 December ’05, Monday.
We were leaving Ronda just as the weather was changing. The rain had been with us off and on most of the night, so when it came time to pack, we got a little lucky. The rain let up and didn’t show up again until last night. We had a nice drive to Granada through the mountains and foothills. It is amazing to us the amount of olive trees that they have in Spain. When we were traveling through Turkey, we thought they had a bunch, but now that we’ve had a pretty thorough look in Spain, we know what we had heard was true. Most of the time we were on the road yesterday, all we could see from the top of one mountain to the valley of the next and then on up to the top were olive trees. We were surprised at the amount of them that hadn’t been picked yet. The olives are black on the tree, but we have learned that these are most likely going to be used for olive oil, as the older the fruit, the more oil available. That was new to us, because when we visited the olive pressing plant just outside of Sparta, Greece, they were pressing green olives for the oil…OK, who’s telling us the truth ??? As we pulled on to the last portion of the highway coming into Granada, we could only tell by the signs telling us we were close. Trying to see the “City” of Granada from the major highways is either tough to distinguish or you just can’t see it. So, we just followed the signs far enough to find our campground. We are camped in a suburb of Granada called La Zubia. We had a wonderful dinner at the campground restaurant last night. We were there last night because we didn’t get to a grocery store prior to setting up. I think I will blame that one on Louise…naughty, naughty. Tomorrow…Granada

24/25 December ’05, Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday morning (well after 10 when we finally rolled out of bed) we put our walking boots on and headed into town. This time is was just to be a part of the Christmas shopping crowd most of all. With nothing in mind to spend our money on, we just went from shoe store to shoe store (Louise’s idea…). Naa, it wasn’t exactly like that, we did go into a couple of clothing stores as well. Fact is, I was the first one to buy anything. I thought I needed a pair of pants for our Christmas “Lunch”, so finding a pair of cords I felt that I was ready. This was the first pair of “cords” I’ve had for over 30 years. OK, I’m ready… Now it was off to see every shoe store in town. Actually I had a good time walking through the stores and pulling shoes off the shelf and asking…”How about this one ???”. I’m sure you know the answers I was getting… Finally successful, we headed off to the grocery store and then strolled our way back to “Bumble Bee”. We ( I ) thought it was time for lunch, but Louise had a good idea for lunch at home, so after finding out what she had in mind, I agreed. After a quiet evening, we settled in for the night in anticipation for Sundays “lunch”.
I don’t know what it is, but since we have been in southern Spain, we have been staying in bed until well after 9 am…fact is, it’s 9:30 at least before “I” roll out and head for the shower. This had better improve before we head back to the states.
Merry Christmas !!! Its Christmas morning (and again after 9:20). A “wonderful breakfast”
purchased a wonderful sweater in a small mountain town outside of Valencia, and decided this morning that it just wouldn’t work with the new cords, so I put the cords away and pulled out my black jeans (heck, I really didn’t need the cords anyway…). Louise got all dressed up in her bright new hot pink sweater and black shawl and together we headed off to town one more time…lunch was waiting. I had mentioned earlier that we had made reservations at the “Parador de Ronda” for their Christmas Lunch. When we got there, the tables were all set up with 3 large wine glasses, a champagne glass, 4 different forks and 3 knifes, and some wonderful table accessories…now this is going to be a special lunch. The menu read like a book: Each person was to receive 6 different appetizers, a sub main course, main course, first desert, second deserts (6 different ones at once), as much white wine as you would like with the first half of lunch, as much red wine as you would like with the last half of lunch, and then it was into the champagne that never found the bottom of the glass, and finally a cup of coffee. Just to give you a sample of the menu;
Appetizers
Iberian Cured Ham
Acorn Iberian Pork Loin
Cured Goat Cheese from Ronda
Sweet Duck Wrapped in Crisp Pastry
Home Made Meat Croquettes
Sub Main
Stuffed Piquillo Red Peppers with Sea Crab
Main
Grilled Tenderloin of Veal
First Desert
Warm Ice Sabayon with Wild Fruits
Christmas Cake and Almond Nougats
And, And, And…
I’m afraid I have a slight guilty feeling right now, but one thing I know, IT WILL PASS !!!
Tomorrow, we move onto Granada…tonight, I try to recover from this afternoon…

23 December ’05, Friday.
We found out about an arrival of “The Three Kings” for tonight, so we decided to stay around camp until later tonight and then go into see the arrival ourselves. That also gave us a chance to do a little laundry. It seems that doing the laundry is almost a daily routine. For the two of us, we do seem to go through a lot of clothes washing, but you know the old saying… ”Cleanliness is closer to Godliness”… The weather has changed a little by the wind calming and the sun coming out off and on. The temperature seems to have increased as well, but I’ll bet it was just the difference in the wind chill. We had a pork roast that I was to barbecue, so at 3 I put that on to grill. Putting that together with some great pasta, we had an early dinner and then dressed for the night in town. We missed the first part of the Three Kings arrival, but made that up by being early for the second. The second part “Benlen Viviente” (The Live Nativity), took place in a courtyard beside the old city walls. We climbed the rock step to the top of the city walls to see the view and watch things get set up below. The crowds arrived slowly, but as we looked down into the valley below, we could see people coming out of their homes and walking toward the walls. The little kids jumping all around in expectation of the evening ahead. Every once in awhile, there was a large firecracker sent into the air for an explosion that would rock you where you stood. At an area of the wall that was used as an entry into the wall, they had a crib set up and a couple of young teenagers had dressed as Mary and Joseph. Just outside of the entry, there was a cow, mule, and about 15 sheep. In a niche above the entry stood an Angel. Further up on the wall a star lit the way to the crib. Out into the grounds beyond the wall there were a “smithy”, woodcarver, potter, and women working a spinning wheel. To keep the people warm, they had built 3 bon-fires scattered around the area (boy, can you see the lawyers handing out their business cards in the states on this one??? Oh yes, the stairs leading to the top, and all along the wall, didn’t have a railing to hold you back from falling either, which was about 30 feet at the highest point). There was a large stage set up for a group that sang and danced Spanish folk and Flamingo songs all night. Along the back of the courtyard they were serving sweet bread that they cooked in a hot oil pot, home made sausages, olives, other meats and cheeses, and 2 different home brewed sweet liquors that tasted wonderful on a cool night around an open bon-fire. When the crowd got to the largest, the arrival of the Three Kings and Papa Noel was just what the kids was looking for. It was wonderful to see the excitement of all those kids, or should I say most of … Just like home, there are some that just don’t want anything to do with “that strange looking person”… Now at last, the kids could pull out their “List” and present it to the Kings in great anticipation that come the 6th of January, every item on it would be delivered to them because they had been “The Best Kids In The Whole World”… All and all, WE ALL had a great time and now have some additional memories we can look back on…Christmas in a small town in Spain…Ronda.

22 December ’05, Thursday.
“There is a place in Spain that is the ideal spot to watch a bullfight for the first time…” (Ernest Hemingway). I must say, I would really have liked to have had the chance to see my first bullfight while here. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been in Spain too long, but I would. After seeing the “Bull Fighting Arena” here in Ronda, and going through the museum under the grandstands, walking the fighting arena and kicking up the dirt, taking time in the bull pins, I felt the urge. It must be the history or the architecture or maybe the personality of the arena. This bullring is one of the oldest and most “monumental” of its kind. Ronda is noted as the “cradle of bullfighting in Spain. True bullfighting didn’t start until the early 18th century, but in the late 1500’s, they used to train the horsemen that went into combat, by riding in defense around and through the fiercest bulls. The Bulls were quick and would make the rider and the horse a quick adversary if given a chance. Well I guess you can see, I have been impressed… Now it was time to see if we could find a grocery store. We need a few things to tide us over the holiday season, so we went on the hunt. Walking the main pedestrian shopping area, we were taken with all the local shoppers and the holiday music that seemed to come from every store…it was a busy day for the shoppers of Ronda. Finding our grocery store, we filled my backpack +, and headed back to camp. As we were walking through town, I happened to look into a doorway and saw a crowd. Now this doorway was no more than a doorway…a standard door with a window, and that was the most of it. It was a “Tapa’s Bar”, and with the crowd of “locals” crowded tightly into this establishment, we just had to wiggle our way in and have lunch. Let me tell you, it was a good choice. We had a skewer of salmon and shrimp, white fish, potato salad with fish, and a skewer of barbequed pork. To go along with that we had 2 beers and a glass of wine…All for $9.10 !!! OK, now the long walk back up the hill, into the wind and back to “Bumble Bee”…it’s getting colder too !!! It looks like we both will wear our socks to bed tonight. Then in the morning…I just love getting out into this cooler weather, wind howling, and have to get into the shower in the COLD shower block, hot water or not, it is tough on the bod…

21 December ’05, Wednesday.
The moment we left the city limits of Marbella, we were climbing into the mountains. A nice 2 lane road, but it was one of those that would drive some drivers absolutely nuts…impossible to pass on. If a car or VW van just can’t run up the steep hills and make the sharp turns quite as fast as those that end up behind you, well it’s just too bad. The turns come at you so fast and plentiful, it leaves no distance even for a quick car to get by. That was the case for telling me, I couldn’t take the time to look…). One of the only distractions I had on my mind was the gas gauge. I have said it before, and I’ll probably be saying it the rest of the time I’m able to drive…”I will never let the gas gage show below the 1/3 mark without getting it FILLED !!! But for some reason it still gets down to the point that I get into those “No Gas Sweats” too often. Every time we got into a real steep climb, the gage went down below empty, but then when we kind of leveled out it went just above the “E” mark. One of my saving points was we only had 50 miles to go and I was in hopes that half of that might be down hill. Fortunately we found a gas station about 10 miles out of Ronda, so from that point I could be rest assured that I wouldn’t have to walk for gas through the mountains. Oh yes, then there was the wind. Did I say wind, hell it was a hurricane and it was pushing us from the front back down the hill for the whole trip. After pulling into the campground here in Ronda, we found out that the wind was going to stay with us for at least 3 or as much as 6 more days. If the wind quits it will rain…what do you want??? OK, we will live with it. After setting up camp, we headed out for town. We were told it was just a 1.7km walk to the walls of the old town, but by the time we walk into the “new city”, we might want to call a cab to get back. All bundled up for “Winter” walking, we headed off. Both of us looked like a couple of heavy weights walking down the road. It felt strange to have all those clothes on all at once, and still feel comfortable. The wind was pretty much at our back going into town and it was down hill all the way. Now lets talk about 3 hours later when we want to head on back to “Bumble Bee”. It was tough going, but I guess it wasn’t tough enough because we plan on doing the same tomorrow… I guess I should say a little bit about Ronda, and what we were able to see the first afternoon there. Ronda is set in a spectacular location, one massive rock outcrop that straddles a limestone gorge. Because of its impregnable position, Ronda was one of the last Moorish “bastions” to fall to the Christians in 1485. There is still a lot of “Moorish” influence shown here in the architecture, whether be it new or old. Of course we have the cobbled streets and sidewalks?, narrow streets?, white washed buildings with window grilles, small patios with lots of flowers streaming colors and fragrances everywhere. There are very few dogs or cats around this town, which is quite unusual. Walking the “Old Town” from one end to the other doesn’t take a lot of time, but there is a lot to see. The 1st stop I wanted to make was at the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge). Built in the 18th century, this bridge spans the huge Tajo gorge. It is 330 feet deep and about 200 feet across. It is spectacular, and I’m glad I had a chance to see it. Then it was off to see the Casa del Rey Moro. This was a castle for the Moorish King, when the Moors were in power prior to 1485. The Santa Maria la Mayor church, which was built on the foundations of a Muslim Mosque. Of course, there were a couple more churches, a convent, 2 more palaces, 3 gates, 3 bridges, and etc, etc… This is a town that we are having a good time in and if the wind would let up for a while it would even be better. Well, we’ll be back tomorrow….

20 December ’05, Tuesday.
We’ve been staying close to camp the last couple of days, and have made a small change in our itinerary. With the weather deteriorating a little bit, but so far no rain, we have decided to pass on Gibraltar and head directly to Ronda and await Christmas. Everyone we have talked to and most of the books we have been reading have indicated that Gibraltar is not worth the hassle and the time it takes to make it a worth while stop. With that being the case, we have just stayed close, did some laundry, and walked the beach, to the grocery store, and a few times to the internet across the street. Since we are staying close, it has given us a chance to meet more of our “neighbors”. This is a large campground and a winter destination for most, with staying times going out as far as April. Most of the campers are motor homes from 20’ to 38’ (24’ avg.), with a few caravans (camping trailers). Just about all have an attached tent, but there are a few that have up to 3 or 4 tents spread all over their pitch. I would guess that about 20-25 are “permanent campers” the way they are set up. There is a wonderful pool for those that come in the “high season”. The grocery store is nicely stocked, and the prices are not too bad. This morning I was sitting out side as this couple walked by. Seeing our little Seattle sticker on the bumper, they stopped to talk. They have been to the northwest recently to visit friends on Vancouver Island. There are 5 of them all together ( mom, dad, and 3 teenagers) from Sweden. Their plans for the rest of the winter are to rent a home here in Marbella and just enjoy the Spanish hospitality for the winter, and write a book. The book is going to be about their most asked question…”How Can You Afford To Travel Like You Do” (or something like that…”buy a VW Van”…). Even if the sun hasn’t been out for 2 days, the temperature is still comfortable enough, with the lows of 50+ and the highs reaching 65+-.
I barbequed chicken last night (I still think the chicken we have gotten here in Europe is by far better tasting than that we have at home), and Louise made a wonderful pork stew for tonight’s dinner…we really do eat well, and we MUST keep walking or we will swell like a balloon. We even splurged tonight by buying some ice. Unfortunately, it will all be melted by morning, but what we were able to have tonight made it worthwhile. We have also been gorging ourselves on Mandarins. This is the same time of year that we did the same in Turkey…they are REALLY good and cheap as well. Louise has also found her favorite cookies, and our shelf is pretty well stocked of “Spekulatius” cookies…they are pretty good…

18 December ’05, Sunday.
We were at it again, this time we were heading off to Fuengirola (OK, you pronounce it…). It is about 20km the opposite way from yesterday’s trip (East). Our trip must have been longer, because it cost us $1.56 (fifty six???, were do they come up with the six ?), instead of the $1.16 yesterday. We had heard that there was a “market” on the beach today, and it might be fun to go too. Fuengirola is definitely a tourist town, but far from what we saw yesterday in Marcella. This is a Spanish beach front town from the get-go. Being a Sunday, most of the stores were closed except those closest to the beach front. All the local families were out to enjoy the day and doing just what we were doing. We had come for the market so no sooner had the bus stopped and we were headed straight for the beach. Fuengirola also has a nice boardwalk, and the market was being held at one end of it, just off the sand. I would guess that there were about 100 booths, selling anything from clothing, shoes and boots, tourist “junk”(trinkets), and food. We started working our way through one row and then on to the next. At the end of the second, it was time for a “coffee break” (her idea, I wanted to keep looking..). This little beach coffee/snack bar, had great coffee but what it is now known for, is their chocolate cake and ice cream !!! I must admit, I had both, and it sure was good. Then, it was time to get back to walking the market. I bought a pair of pants with zip off legs for $8, and Louise bought a rhinestone T-shirt. Finished, we headed out, but just as we were reaching the boardwalk, a couple of ladies came up to us with white carnation flowers in their hands. They wanted to sell us one for five cents. Well, that is a good deal, so I reached into my pocket and got out a nickel. Louise was doing the same, when all of a sudden, the lady that was talking with me, took the flower from my hand and put it into my pocket…now wait a minute, what is your hand doing in my pocket ???...yep, she tried to get my wallet !!! Fact is, while this one was trying to get my wallet, the other had done the very same thing to Louise, and had put her hand into Lou’s purse…we were among the fortunate ones, we didn’t lose anything, but we did learn just how quick they can be, and also one of their ploys. Well, that done, we headed off hand and hand, walked the rest of the boardwalk soaking in the sun, sea, and surf and saying a little “Thanks”. Just prior to sunset, we ended up back to the market area, where everyone was just packing up, and found another restaurant to have a light dinner. Did I say light, well, I ordered those sardines that are either fried or barbequed, and some great little squid, while Lou order a wonderful avocado and tuna salad…we shared it all. Boy, this is getting more like a “vacation” all the time…ain’t it great. Day at an end, we headed out to find our bus back…”Do you know were we catch it ?”…”Right were we got off..”, “Were is that?”… Fortunately, it wasn’t too hard to find, but when it came time to get off…we missed our stop. It could have been worse, because we only missed it by ½ mile, so it was easy enough to walk the highway back. It was noisy, it was dusty, but we made it…another adventure….

17 December ’05, Saturday.
Marbella, probably the most “polished” or “glitzy” town we have been in yet. There is no doubt that there are lots of people with loads of money living in and around this town. The newness of everything in the “new” town in contrast to the old of “old town” helps make this an enjoyable outing. Yesterday we caught our bus into town about 11am. Driving down the freeway, Louise mentioned a terrible noise that was coming from the engine compartment of the bus. “It’s just a fan belt slipping”… About 30 seconds later, the bus driver was waving us off the bus… I don’t know what it was all about, but about 40 of us were escorted by foot to the next stop and were told to wait for the next bus. Well, that’s another first for us… Arriving in Marbella, we had a small street market going on at the plaza right in front of us. One of the stands was operated by the Tourist Information Office, so we got our faithful map and headed off for the “old town” first. “A” typical old town, buildings from the 14th to 15th century, narrow streets, lots of little stores and restaurants on the main floor, apartments above, and everything painted white. About 6 churches and more than a dozen “plaza’s” make up the rest of the area. There is a small portion of the old walls, but the castle is gone. There were a few people walking the streets and plaza areas, but overall it was pretty quiet. We found a table in the main square that had half sun and half shade and decided that it was lunch time. Nothing exciting, a chicken salad and tuna salad sandwiches that did their thing in filling the tummy, but unfortunately that was about it. Then it was time to head for the new part of town…the “polished and glitzy”. This part of town runs from the main road that splits the town in half, down to the boardwalk and the marinas. The new part is also divided in half, the east side and the west side, and in between them is a beautiful green space, fountains, water feature that runs down the street about 200 yards, and about 20 bronze sculptures that are placed every 20 yards or so until you reach the boardwalk. All the shops, hotels, apartments, and condominiums are priced for those the “have”, but those that don’t can sure enjoy looking… The beach that runs for miles both ways is absolutely beautiful. The golden sand and the green/blue crystal clear water make you want to stop and enjoy immediately were you stand. One thing interesting, yesterday we walked down the beach from the campground (which is about 75 yards from our van) and we came upon a sailboat that had washed up on the beach. Unfortunately it is now a total loss to someone, but this afternoon, while walking the boardwalk here in Marbella, we came upon another sailboat. This one had run aground on the breakwater in front of the town…complete write-off… It would be interesting to know the story behind both of them. Last time we came upon a sailboat beached, was 2 years ago in Cabo San Lucas…it seems like just yesterday. About 5, we caught the bus back to “Bumble Bee”, and got ready to make dinner…one of my favorites, spaghetti. A note of interest (our at least it was to us…), we met one of our neighbors, and they have quite a story to tell…they have shipped their motor home to the states twice, and traveled extensively in the US, Canada, and Mexico for over 2 years total. They even drove the highway to Alaska one year. The favorite place that they visited was a little village area just north of Puerto Viagra….(just checking to see who’s reading this…) They are from Switzerland, and have also visited each and every country that we have been in…now that is vagabonding !