One of my goals since we arrived in our little Spanish town was to go and see the wind turbines firsthand; that opportunity was finally granted to me as Mary and I went on a lovely hike. This was really about showing people how Green we both are...
A couple days later we took a day-trip to ancient and beautiful Andalusian city of Antequera. Our devout followers may have spotted the Indian Head in our flickr albums, but I'm taking this chance to formally point him out (inside the green circle).
The almond tree atop La Atalaya's one-tree hill was in bloom after we returned from Antequera. For more pictures of our windmill hike, Antequera, and the one-tree hill, don't miss our Andalusia flickr pics.
Our time in La Atalaya had to, like all workaways, come to an end. Luckily for us, we already had a big beach house to spend the next ten days in, more or less for free! If we tell you how we came upon this ideal deal, we'd have to kill you. So our host very kindly carted us down to Malaga, the largest city on Spain's Costa del Sol. Once there we picked up a rental car. To rent this car for ten days the total cost was only seventy-four euro. To put that in perspective, our rental in Germany, for one day, cost over two hundred euro. Basically, it was super-cheap! We hopped on the highway and headed to our destination of Marbella, a ritzy beachside playground city renowned for its affiliation with organized crime. On the way, we stopped by the grocery store to load up on food & wine. When we arrived at our house, it was everything we thought it could be, complete with multiple terraces, a gazebo, fountain, swimming pool, plasma TV & accompanying Bose surround-sound system. Before we could even settle in, Mary and I took it upon ourselves to find an adapter to connect the laptop to the TV, so we could Netflix the week away. We found the amazing La Cañada shopping mall, complete with a giant grocery store! We certainly did watch our fair share of Netflix, but that's not all... read on!
Marbella is home to a famous Bonzai garden. This particular specimen has been painstakingly pruned for over 400 years. As Mary pointed out, that means that artisans have been tending to this little tree since before the founding of the USA.
Later in the week, we took a hike up to the summit of one of the mountains overlooking Marbella, Cruz Juanar. Mind you, at the top of this mountain, both our camera lense and image sensor were pushed to their limits, and to put things in perspective, I've circled the Rock of Gibraltar- which is no less than twenty-five miles away in the distance. It was clearly visible to us.
Apart from the beautiful view of Marbella and the Mediterranean, in this photo I've circled what is, if you look closely, the northern shores of Morocco in Africa.
This was the view of the mountain valleys to the north, see them all in our Andalusia flickr pics.
These are Mary's double-dark-chocolate-white-chocolate-chunk-ginger cookies. Boy, were they tasty!
One afternoon (before siesta) we went downtown to Marbella's market where we picked up spices, a couple fresh squids, and some salmon. I fried up the calamari (above) and Mary cooked the salmon the following evening. All of our cooking was one of the best parts of the trip!
German poet Rainier Maria Rilke describes Ronda best (though the city was also an inspiration for part-time residents Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles): "I have sought everywhere the city of my dreams, and I have finally found it in Ronda" and "There is nothing that is more startling in Spain than this wild and mountainous city." Personally, I think the bridge looks like something pulled straight out of The Lord of the Rings. Ronda is nestled up high in a mountain valley, where it really makes you wonder how people came to create such a beautiful fantasy world so deep in the middle of nowhere. The drive up the mountains from Marbella is gorgeous. It's probably worth your time to take a look at our Ronda flickr pics, keep in my mind that they are a separate photo-set than the previously referenced Andalusia flickr pics.
We've just arrived at our hostal in Madrid. Thankfully, here we have maybe the best internet connection I've come across in Europe (making blogging and uploading photos a breeze). In a couple days we'll be flying in to New York City! Hopefully, soon thereafter, we'll be able to discuss our adventures in person!
Have a Happy Valentine's Day!
-Jake
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