I’m drinking tequila as I make this entry. It was a bit of a day.

I awoke early – around 5am local time, so sometime during the second period of the deciding game for the Oilers. Checking my phone, I saw that it was 4-2 in favour of Vegas. Not that I really care, but Carla does, so that had the potential to affect my whole day.

We came to the decision that we were going to go somewhere else by rail tomorrow, but that’s as far as we got. I thought I had better start figuring something out. This is not how I normally roll, but this vacation, we decided, was about getting out of our comfort zone. I can assure you that we achieved that goal today.

Beginning around 7am I started looking at the rail map of Spain. Where to go? Malaga, where we’ve been spending the last week is on the coast and we really like being near the ocean, so I figured we could head up the east coast to Barcelona and then decide from there.

OK. First destination decided. Now to figure out how to get there. Rail seems to be the way to travel in Europe from everything I have read. The train systems are super fast, comfortable, and they take you right into the center of the city vs. airports which are often quite some distance from the action.Forget about driving, I read, because the traffic and parking situations in the cities are a nightmare.

I quickly discovered that there was a lot to learn about travelling by rail. Not knowing what our plans were going to be, I thought it best that we opt for something that would give us maximum flexibility.

I tried booking rail passes through Spain’s “native”  Renfe system. I had read that the website was somewhat problematic and might have trouble with “outside” credit cards. The advantage to using their system is that seat reservations are included and everything can be done online. Great!

But no.. the website wasn’t just problematic. It was total (pardon my french) dogshit. I ended up using another site (raileurope) to purchase a one country Eurail pass which would allow us to travel on eight separate days. We had to decide if we would go first class or second class. I read that for the most part europeans travel second class unless they are going on the company dime, but we thought “screw it, we’re on holidays” and booked a  first class pass.

Then, we had to figure out where we were going to stay in Barcelona. We found an airbnb place in the city center near the water.

In order to travel on one of these high speed trains, you need to make seat reservations. To my dismay, we couldn’t do this online. We had to go to the station.

We set out on foot for the train station, which is some distance away from our airbnb. Today was the hottest day since we got here (28) and we were sweating buckets by the time we rolled up on the train station.  This place was like an airport. A big airport. There were many full on retail stores and even a great big supermarket on the second level. We stood in line for quite a while before we were able to talk to an agent, but managed to get our seat reservations done. I’m hoping we won’t have to do this in person every time we travel and that today it was necessary due to the tight timeline.

After leaving there, we were both feeling pretty sunfried and frazzled, and that was compounded by a sketchy data connection that had us walking in the wrong direction for many blocks while thinking we were on course. We finally made it to the bike shop to pick up our rented bikes for the last day we would have them, but by then we only had about 2 hours left to ride. We headed down along the harbours and the beaches for a while. It was really windy today and not quite as crowded as previous days. Getting on the bikes was good because we cooled down and had some fun.

We returned the bikes and walked back to the condo, The elevator is out of service today, so it was 8 flights – 144 stairs back up to where the cold beer was.

 

 

 

 

Today we got out on the bikes again. Dan and Fran wanted to do a ride North out of Malaga and into the hills. We got kind of a late start and the heat of the day was already upon us. About 15 or so km into the ride and while climbing up the steep winding roads,  Carla and I were about ready to puke.We are most definitely not in the same league as Dan and Fran, who just ran the Boston Marathon. I was on the ebike again, and though I could probably have left everyone in the dust by using the motor, I was riding with no or minimal assist because I was carrying Carla’s water, so I didn’t want to get too far ahead. We decided to let Dan and Fran continue on without us and we back-tracked. The return trip was a lot more fun and a lot faster.

After getting back down off the hills, we rode to the ocean and found a palm tree to sit under, eating some snacks we had in our packs and drinking a now semi-warm beer. It was fun watching the families enjoying the beach on a Sunday afternoon.  We spent a few hours exploring the oceanside, sometimes riding the back alleys, and taking in the sights and sounds.

Both of us now have sore butts from riding over the portions of the trail yesterday that were cobblestone, and just  generally not being used to riding any distance. We were glad to get off the bikes at the end of the day.

We discussed our next moves and we will part with Dan and Fran on Tuesday, possibly to re-connect in another town later. They are set up to bike town to town with everything in their bike panniers. We’re not set up for that luggage-wise and we also want to see more of the country than is possible on a bicycle. Tenatatively, we are looking at going up the east coast of Spain using the rail system. We will definitely want to make it to Barcelona, but there are many other coastal places to visit. The options are endless.

Weird and difficult dreams last night had me feeling disoriented in the morning. Must have been that pizza the night before.After a couple of coffees, the world started to make sense, though.

Our plans for the day were to pick up the bikes we reserved and ride down the coast a bit. The forecast was looking kind of rainy, so we didn’t get a very early start.

Once we got the bikes sorted out, we started threading our way through the busy morning traffic toward the ocean.. The waterfront was packed with people. There were vendors and street performers everywhere. A magnificent tall ship in the harbour stood in contrast to the kajillion dollar yachts still parked there from the day before.

As we threaded our way through the crowds of people, we started picking up the smell of wood smoke and food cooking. What we were smelling was Espetos – grilled sardines skewered on pieces of cane being roasted over open flame. We passed by numerous seaside restaurants where large raised metal fire pits in the shape of boats were smouldering away with a variety of bluefish, whitefish, calamari and octopus being cooked. It was sensory overload. The colours, the sounds, the smells. All the more enhanced by the fact that we were moving through it on our bikes.

As we got further and further away from Malaga and passed through a couple of smaller towns, the restaurants thinned out and gave way to housing and industrial areas. It started to rain to rain, so we took shelter in a tunnel. Just by coincidence, it was the Túnel del Paseo de los Canadienses. A tunnel so named for the assistance given by Canadians to the Spanish in 1937 (in particular Norman Bethune) who answered the call for medical assistance in the fight against fascism in Spain.

After riding a bit further, we decided to turn back and weave our way home. We stopped along the way to eat at one of the seaside restaurants. We downed a couple of beers, had some sardines, prawns and red snapper. It was an expensive meal, but delicious. Unforgettable, really.

We got back home with the bikes and had to go up the very tiny elevator with them one at a time to our eighth floor pad.Well, almost all of us got up the elevator. My bike was an ebike (I’m not a strong cyclist like the others), and being a bit larger it wouldn’t fit in the elevator. So, what I saved in energy using an ebike, I expended getting it up eight flights of stairs. Serves me right.

We finished off the day by attending a football match. The local team has been having a bad season and were ranked 19th in their division. Consequently, the stands were about 40% empty. THey did manage to pull off a win, much to the crowd’s delight. It was a fun experience. After match beers and tapas capped it all off.

More biking tomorrow, I hear… and now, to bed,

 

Day three started out leisurely. Neither Carla nor I slept well, so we were dragging our asses a bit. Dan and Fran were already gone on their morning run when I rolled out to make coffee.

We spent the morning at the Alacazaba,an ancient fortress that dates back to Moorish times in the 11th century. There were many stairs to climb to get to the top so I was grateful for the milder temperatures and the breeze. I was also grateful for the lovely little bar at the top that served a much needed cold beer. What was really cool was that this was literally in our back yard.. just straight up the side of the mountain.

I’m new to this ancient history stuff. Up until today, the oldest buildings I had ever seen with my own eyes were in Quebec City. These go back quite a few centuries more. The views at the top were amazing, as you can see below.  I won’t get into all the history here. You can google it if you want to learn more about it.  Suffice it to say, it is very old and has changed hands numerous times due to its strategic importance and the ebb and flow of political power in the region.

We came down off the mountain and had lunch at our swanky Spanish pad, After lunch we planned to head right over to Gibralfaro Castle, which is connected to the fortress and dates to the 14th century. We did eventually make it there, but all of us crashed hard after lunch for over an hour. It may have been the bottle of wine we had. Checking my Apple watch, it told me we had covered less than 5 km, but climbed 33 flights of stairs, so… yeah.

After the castle wwe walked to the port and checked out some very posh yachts that were moored there. I was afflicted with a very irritated eye, the source of which I still haven’t figured out for sure, but I think may have been sunblock seeping into my eyeball from sweat pouring down my face. Anyway, it hurt. A lot. Carla picked up an eyewash and we parted ways with Dan and Fran so I could go home and shower and get some drops in my eye. We ended the day eating rather disappointing take out at the kitchen table. My eye was already feeling better by then, though, so I was grateful for that.

Tomorrow we have a big day. Cycling down the coast and a nighttime football match to go to. Time to sleep.

Our second day had us on a variety of missions, one of which was getting hooked up with data plans so we could stay in touch with one another, navigate using maps, and, of course stay in touch with people back home. 30 euros get you a month of unlimited calls and 100 GB of data. 

Once that was accomplished, we headed to the Mercado Central de Atarazanas ( the big market in Malaga) to check that out and buy some food items. This was a full on sensory experience. The sheer variety of everything from produce to seafood to meats and cheeses was amazing. Prices seemed very reasonable for the most part. At one stall we were buying strawberries and the vendor, without being asked, offered us some to try. I had forgotten what a real strawberry tasted like. In North America our produce is geared more towards looking good than tasting good. 

Brunch was next on the agenda. We ate at an outdoor table on one of the many beautiful marble paved streets here. There was a big construction lift right next to us that suddenly started up and blasted us with noise, making conversation almost impossible. The locals eating there seemed completely unfazed and carried on enjoying their food. I guess this is how they roll here.  

I had forgotten the backpack I was carrying back at the mall we bought our SIM cards and data packages at. It had an air tag in it which popped up a notification on my phone that I had left it behind. Technology, eh? Just as we were rolling up on the shop, they were calling us to let us know it was left behind. 

On an interesting side note, we’ve found that almost every place we’ve been to here, people are quite fluent in English. The one exception was this Orange cell phone store. Still, bvery nice people. 

Oh yeah, on the way to get the forgotten bag, I got a quick lesson on how the traffic lights work here. I’m used to the ones back home that turn amber and start counting down how many seconds you have to get across the intersection. Thinking it was ok to scoot across with 8 seconds left on the clock, I almost got mowed down by a speeding car. He let me know with his horn that I had effed up. 

Later in the day, we hit a local supermarket for more provisions. I always feel like you haven’t really visited a country until you’ve bought toilet paper there.  

Generally, I thought goods and necessities were surprisingly affordable. They sell booze in their grocery stores here and it pretty inexpensive. 

I let the rest of the gang go to the beach while I stayed back at the condo. I’d had enough sun for a while and thought I would do the traditional Spanish thing and have a siesta.  Turns out I didn’t miss much. The beach right in the heart of the city is crowded and not the greatest. Apparently they get much better further out to the west where fewer people go. 

We finished off the night by heading out for Tapas. Dan and Fran’s friends Maggie and Greg joined us again. The place we went to had a bewildering menu entirely in Spanish. We knew some of what we were ordering, but not all of it was clear, or how much of it to expect. They kept bringing food to the end of the table that Dan and  I were sitting at, and I think we may have eaten quite a bit of the others food. By “we” I mean me.  Sorry, guys.

After that we finished off the night in another small bar with a “zarpe ”, which , if I have this right, is the last drink of the day in Spain. 

Then it was time to stagger home (getting gelato along the way, of course).  

With all of the eating and drinking it’s good that we are doing lots of walking as well. I was surprised when I looked at my watch and it told me that even though  I opted out of the beach and Dan and Fran’s morning run,  I clocked over 20,000 steps and more than 18k. 

Tomorrow is another day.