We stayed in the town called Torremolinos on the coast of Costa Del Sol in southern Spain. The weather was outstanding! Around 35°C everyday for the two weeks.
The people are very nice and some speak English. But as this is the first country that I have been to that speak a different language, it was sometimes hard to convey your message across to some locals.
The beaches were nice as well. Not as nice as the Aussie beaches due to the amount of pebbles. But still 100% better than the English beaches! Haha!
One of the first things Alana and I did was walk along the beach to view all the shops in La Carihuela. There are quite a number of touristy places selling touristy keep sakes and there were heaps of pubs!
On the way back we stopped at a bar on the beach for a drink. This is where I had the best Mojito that I have ever had!
It was so nice that we came back the day after to have another! Alana and I also did some touristy stuff like go to the local Crocodile park!
The park was quite big and had about 200 of the beasts!
The presenter was a very nice Spaniard who spoke in Spanish first then English second. Unfortunately after he had finished speaking Spanish and started talking English, all of the Spanish tourists would start talking among themselves, loudly. The presenter had to stop frequently and tell them to shut up while he was talking.
The presenter was also a bit mad. He would pick up the crocs by the tail and drag them around!
He would also poke them with a stick to make the crocs hiss and snap! The biggest croc there (and the biggest in Europe!) was the so called Big Daddy. Named so as he is massive and that 167 of the other crocs in the park are his children.
In the picture above the presenter is making Big Daddy growl. He said that this growl is the closest sound to what the dinosaurs would make. It was an interesting day. There were big pools with lots of crocs in them. The presenter also fed the crocs with chicken carcasses. At the end of the tour we were invited to hold a baby crocodile! Here are the pictures.
Alana and I also went to the local Sea Park. This place had Dolphin, Sea Lions and other animal shows. The highlight was the Penguin show. The tank was awesome as you could see the Penguins swim around in the water. They also had a bird show with some very well trained birds.
We spent most of our days lazing by the pool on sun beds. I managed to get a tan! I don't have any pictures of the pool unfortunately but it was a very nice pool.
One day Alana and I went to Malaga which is about a 30 minute train ride from Torremolinos. This is the biggest city in Costa Del Sol. This is the place to do some shopping! Alana managed to find some very nice Lacoste shoes, for which she has been looking for a very long time.
We also went on a tour bus to see the sights of Malaga! We visited the home of Pablo Picasso! And actually went into his room! We also saw the Hollywood equivalent of Spain where the famous Spanish actor Antonio Banderas started out his career. But by far the best sight was the Castle. Castillo de Gibralfaro was made in the 14th century and was made at the top of Malaga overlooking the city. Here is a picture of the city and of a bull fighting ring.
Lastly we stopped over at Gibraltar for a day. Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704, and has remained a territory of Britain ever since. Below is a picture of Gibraltar. It is a massive land mass sticking out of the Earth.
Gibraltar is also home to some Monkeys that scatter the rock. Gibraltar is also home to tax free shopping! Alcohol, cigarettes, technology and perfume are very cheap here. I managed to pick up a few litres of tax free alcohol :) Here is a picture from the top of the rock looking over Gibraltar city.
And here is a picture of a very cheeky monkey next to a sign.
The rock was also creating a cloud from the sea side. Due to the wind coming in from the sea and hitting the near vertical rock face. I have a picture and two video's, one facing the other way with monkeys. It was very cool!
It was quite an interesting feeling letting the newly formed cloud hit you in the face. But it was great to watch.
On our second last day in Spain, Alana and I went up in some cable cars in Benalmadena, about a 30 minute walk from where we were staying. The cable car trip took 15 minutes and travelled just over 2km. Once at the summit we could see most of Benalmadena with breathtaking views. Alana took this cheeky picture of me as I was taking a panoramic picture.
This is the picture that I was taking at the time.
There are alot more pictures but I do not want to clog up this blog! I will put the rest up on Facebook soon.
Remember that you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.
Thanks for looking! Spain was a great holiday and I wish to return there one day and visit more of the country, not just the touristy bits.
Ryan
