Out and About

We haven't really been doing a huge amount here is Spain, as it's nice just to laze around at home on sunny days or go and walk on the beach (we have an impressive and ever-growing collection of shells, stone and sea-glass), hence, not much blogging.

There's just something wonderful about sea-glass, IMHO

But, we have been out and about, our biggest trips so far being to Gibraltar, Mijas and Ronda.

The Rock of Gibraltar



Gibraltar - well, that was a little strange. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't what I got!

I thought Gibraltar, being a tax-free/tax-exile sort of place would be shiny, tidy, wealthy - Bond Street-on-Sea sort of place. Errrrr, no. It's like most English seaside towns, but without the charity shops. Tatty, but not quite quaint. And it's shut on Saturdays. I have no idea why.

It was interesting, don't get me wrong, but one afternoon visiting was enough.

Emma thought it was great, but this was mainly because she got to go on two buses. We had been advised not to drive into Gibraltar, since there was no telling how arsey thorough the Spainish Border Control staff will be on any given day. Also, when driving you have to follow the signs to the next-door Spanish town (La Linea) as Gibraltar isn't on the majority of the roadsigns in Spain, as they don't accept its existance.

The queue into Gibraltar

So, we parked in La Linea, right by the boarder, walked across, and got on a bus to the town centre. The town is quite interesting in parts, being so hilly, but not great for walking around with a grumpy four-year old.

One of the many sets of steps in Gibraltar

However, she cheered up considerably when presented with a chocolate covered waffle in a cafe.

Ronda was another "must do" on our list, and, unlike Gibraltar, did not disappoint. An amazing white-painted hill-top town (and not closed at the weekend) with wonderful buildings, doorways (we love a good doorway) and views.

A side street in Ronda

 


A Good Doorway

Some of the views are not for the faint hearted, to take the picture below I had to step out onto an overhanging ledge (with a nice high rail up, thank goodness) which was suspended over this crevass in the rocks.

 
And, even better, we had some visitors staying, Chris and Sarah, who were escaping the wet, cold and snow in the UK.