Journey with Jeff and Deb: Day 1

Day 1

We arrived in Malaga, Spain at 11 AM (that would be 5 AM our time) after leaving home at 10:00 AM the day before. We met up with Jenny and Pat at JFK airport in NYC and flew together on our overnight flight direct to Malaga, Spain. Our flight was mostly uneventful and we were glad to arrive bleary-eyed, but safely!

After securing our luggage and our rental car, we then made the one-hour drive to the Marriot timeshare in Estepona, on the Costa del Sol. We are happy to report that cars drive on the right side of the road in Spain, which made the trip much less stressful than it could have been. The Mediterranean Sea was on my left and beautiful steep, high mountains with no trees on my right. The multi-dwelling houses were all white with clay roofs. The mountains were absolutely beautiful!

We checked in to the resort and then spent the afternoon lounging by the gorgeous pool, catching some rays and some much needed z’s.

Beach at Marriott Playa Andaluza

Snoozing by the pool.

Prior to going to dinner, we made a run to the nearby supermercado (a grocery store named Mercadona). We were, for sure, the only English-speaking people in the place, which made for an interesting adventure. First, we were unable to figure out the shopping cart system (I know, sounds like it shouldn’t be a challenge). The carts were locked together, and we learned, after several attempts at communication, that you had to put a .50 euro coin into the lock to unlock the cart – the coin being refunded at the checkout. Since we didn’t have any coins at that point, the cashier, after rolling her eyes, smiled and gave us a coin from her cash register. The supermercado was a busy place, filled with people of all ages and groceries that, for the most part, looked similar to what we are used to, but with many fewer varieties. Being on the sea, we found their fresh fish selections to be phenomenal, though. AND, they had Coke Zero...a huge plus for Jeff.

After taking our groceries back to the villa we drove up into the mountains to the small white village of Benehavis for dinner. There are many “white villages” nestled in the mountainous region of Andalucia, named for their alabaster white walls that dot the hillsides and stand out in the bright sunshine. The streets were narrow, very narrow, and the dwellings are old and quaint. This particular village is known for it’s many restaurants, which line the winding streets. It was very late for me by the time we had dinner – 10 PM. Here in Spain, they eat breakfast late – 10 AM, lunch, late -between 2-4 PM, and dinner, late- after 8:00 PM. Eating before that is unheard of, in fact the restaurants are not even open until then. The sun only begins to set around 9:30. The activity and number of people out and about at that time of night was amazing! The town and the surrounding area are just beautiful.

We ate at a restaurant, named La Escalera, with an outdoor patio overlooking the town. Jeff and I had sea bream, which was very fresh and tasty; our meal was leisurely (as most things are here) and we left the town close to midnight. Pat, our most able driver, drove us back down the mountain and we retired around 1 AM, ending a very, very long day...

buenas noches