Another item ticked of my bucket list

[stevewool]

Just been on holiday me and Ems a nice relaxing break just after Christmas would do us both good was my thinking.
So of we set out on the Saturday morning quite early 3am to get to the car park then onward to Birmingham airport for our 6.45 flight to Malaga.
Everything from leaving the house to arriving went so smooth, then was collecting the car, you need this insurance sir,"no i dont", do you want sat nav, "no thank you" , would you like full to full fuel, " that is what i am wanting", we could upgrade the car to a Audi Q3 for £ 14 per day, "no thank you".
Well after all this we went down to the underground car park and there it was a Fiat 500, what a smashing little car, the only problem we could not fit both cases in the small boot, but hey there is a back seat for the case, a check all around the car and it did look good under those lights so off we set.
Just over 1 hours driving we arrived at of place what we shall call home for a week, Marriott Playa Andalusia , a few miles past Puerto Banus and again we was around 4 hours too early but sir your villa is ready.
A quick unpacking then a quick trip to the local Aldi and all was set for our holiday.
Day one just chilling out and a trip to see the sunset over Gibraltar ,AMAZING,
Next day was a trip i was looking forward too and thats where the tick of my list comes from, a trip into the mountains to Ronda, yes i have been before but have never managed to walk down into the valley to get the picture i have always wanted, and i did manage that and more.
Ronda is an amazing place to visit but the bridge over the gorge is truly wonderful, a nice cup of tea in a beautiful old house roaring fires and big sofas was a great start plus a pee stop too, infact lots of pees before we left this place onto the walk down into the valley.
Lots and lots of pictures was taken and it was a great day out too.
Part two to follow.

[Tawi2]

I was based on Gib on several occassions,great place,did you do any of the tunnel tours or dolphin trips or anything?Puerto banus is a decent place to hang out and people watch :xxgrinning--00xx3: lifestyles of the rich and famous.

[stevewool]

I was based on Gib on several occassions,great place,did you do any of the tunnel tours or dolphin trips or anything?Puerto banus is a decent place to hang out and people watch :xxgrinning--00xx3: lifestyles of the rich and famous.

We did not go to Gibraltar , but from the beach i thought i saw a dolphin jump, and i was right, way way in the distance, but have around 5 pictures of it jumping out of the sea.
Pueto Banus is not my cup of tea , so over rated in my eyes yes a beautiful place at night to see and be seen , there was so many boats there for sale and there was some beautiful old wooden sail boats plus there was a beautiful original fiat 500 parked along the front too.
I took Emma there mid morning and it was cold too so we did not stay long, infact we stayed for about 2-3 hours and that cost us over 10 euros

[Tawi2]

Yes mate,plenty of dolphins around Gib,next time you go just on the right once your past the runway theres a marina with shops called ocean village,theres dolphin safari and dolphin adventure?Two dolphin tour places anyway,one set of reps wear blue t-shirts one wears yellow,much of a muchness,you go out in either boat and see pods of dolphins,you can also go to the top of the rock and see the apes but they arent friendly things.Puerto banus is where the rich go to be seen,and the poor like me go to see :biggrin:

[Terpe]

So glad you enjoyed your holiday Steve.

The mention of that area brings back memories for me. My brother lived there in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. We would tour around together by motorbike and car all over. So many great times had.
We enjoyed many many stays in Estepona.

My retirement in that area was often more than just an idea.

[stevewool]

It is a beautiful area up into the mountains and away from the madening crowds, and there seems to be either nothing to do or something to do, but it's when you decide you want to do it, a bike would be a must plus some sort of car too, but if it's Europe that you would like to call home, well I can't think of anywhere better either

[stevewool]

Well here i go again.
Monday after breakfast and a walk along the beach we decided to drive down to Marbella , to take in the old town and maybe a early evening meal somewhere, but how things can change.
Up to the car and as i had opened the boot i had notice a right deep scratch i did not notice that when we had picked the car up so i did think the worst, but hay we are on holiday so it soon went out of my mind so off we set.
Only took up 15 minutes but we had to drive through Marbella so Emma can take a picture of the famous sign, that done back into the centre to park the car and then we headed down to the beach area, infact it was a nice dry no windy day so a nice walk along the beach we headed to the marina.
At the end of the marina just where the bronze lady water skier statue is there is a restaurant that leads onto the beach, anyway as we turned the corner they was BBQ fresh caught Sardines and sea base, well that caught Emma's eyes straight away,they did look yummy but i was on a mission to get to the sea to get some pictures taken, well after around 1 hour we had finished and out it came " can we eat here Steve ", so that we where ate.
Sea base and Paella was ordered but on our order Emma wanted the head and tail left on, so a nice cool drink was ordered and the owner noticed that i had been taking pictures and he decided to show his pictures that he has taken , very nice too,.
A cool drink was going down very well and then the food was being delivered wow what a lot there was , sun on our face a great view beside us and great food what more could we asked for" a little cheaper sprang to my mind, but you pay for what you get sometimes and this time it was worth it.
How times seems to go slow and how sometimes it flies bye, we had both, a nice stroll back along the prom Emma wanted a Gelato ice cream and the flavour she wanted was strawberry and cream, hang about i like that one better "you have this and i will have that", anything for happiness i thought.
Well by this time it was getting late sowe forgot the old town and came back to explore the pools and saunas and all things nice.
Tuesday what a day full sun and very warm a lazy day on the beach was had just digesting all that food from yesterday followed by a game or two of badminton and a early night too.
MORE TO FOLLOW

[stevewool]

A few pictures taken of one of my bucket list items .
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l554/stevewool/DSC_5688_zpslnq4vzwn.jpg (http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/stevewool/media/DSC_5688_zpslnq4vzwn.jpg.html)

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l554/stevewool/DSC_5655_zps8nrg3hmo.jpg (http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/stevewool/media/DSC_5655_zps8nrg3hmo.jpg.html)

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l554/stevewool/DSC_5709_zpssp7jp0a9.jpg (http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/stevewool/media/DSC_5709_zpssp7jp0a9.jpg.html)

[mickcant]

Very interesting Steve :xxgrinning--00xx3:
Mick.