Chapter 22: Marbella

It was the week following my trip to Fuengirola. I had really enjoyed my trip, and booking the travel was fairly straightforward. So I decided to book a trip for the upcoming weekend, to Marbella. Marbella was closer than Fuengirola, and I had heard a lot about Marbella, so was interested to see it. I would go with my mate Diego, who had lived in Marbella briefly when he was younger, and knew a bit of Spanish.

Me in Marbella by the beach.

Marbella is a different proposition to Fuengirola. It's a much bigger city, and therefore the walk to the hotel, was longer, and the cost of the hotel higher. However, our hotel was pretty central for the beach and town centre, although they had a weird rule that you had to hand in your room key to reception each time you went out. I should also point out that we were staying in Marbella Old Town, the regular part of Marbella. This isn't the really high end area of luxury yachts, supercars, mansions, and celebrities. That I understand is Puerto Banus, a suburb of the sprawling locality of Marbella.

This is a different area to where we were.

After checking into our hotel, Diego and I went down to the beach. It was late afternoon, and the sun was still shining. We went into a laid back beach bar. So laid back in fact it had reggae music playing. There's always something to see in Marbella. From the beach bar we watched the boats on the water, some of which were fancy yachts. Considering summer was officially over, there were still a lot of people enjoying the beach and swimming, out on the ocean doing water sports, or even getting a massage on the beach. We visited a few tourist sites, and got a few photo opportunities with some giant sculptures, of which there are quite a lot in Marbella. As the sun set, we went looking for food in the streets near the beachfront. Diego fancied a steak, so we ended up in an Argentinian restaurant. A bit of a contrast from where I had dinner in Fuengirola, no English beer or stag parties at this restaurant.

Diego at one of the many giant sculptures in Marbella. 

There were however a lot of English at the bar we went to next. It was an Irish bar called the Claddagh Bar, and we went there to watch the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. England were playing South Africa, so plenty English fans were to be expected. As it was an Irish bar, Diego didn't get much chance to practice his Spanish, although his language skills had been evaluable earlier, in understanding our hotel's weird key policy. Some of the games during the Rugby World Cup had been a bit dull, so Diego and I made a bet with each other on which team would win the game. The stake was £10. I chose South Africa, based on their recent good form, while Diego felt England's kicking game would be their advantage. It was an exciting game, and a good atmosphere in the bar. For much of the game, it looked like Diego's prediction was correct. Unlike me, he actually plays rugby, which may give him an edge on understanding tactics. However in the end, South Africa won (by one point), and it was their ability to score tries that made the difference. So I was £10 up. Not a bad night's work. I should be a pundit!

A profitable venue.

The next morning we had brunch on the beachfront. I had a chorizo toasted sandwich, and felt very Spanish for doing so. We walked also the coast past the Marbella Beach Club. The Marbella Beach Club featured in a poster I had on my bedroom wall in Edinburgh, to inspire me to go abroad.

Poster in Edinburgh

This was however when fantasy got in the way of reality and it started raining (see the image below). Thankfully it wasn't as bad as the torrential rain when I drove through Spain. We went into a historic church to shelter from the storm, as Diego is religious, and was interested to see it. Dating from 1500, this church was apparently built upon the ruins of a mosque. There was a Sunday mass going on, and it was certainly different from any kind of mass I had ever seen (although not that I've seen many exactly!). But what I mean is, next to the priest, there was a woman playing a banjo! We sat down near the back of the large church, and noticed there were TV screens and speakers on the walls and pillars, to help people see what was happening at the front. I guess even churches can't escape the march of technology! Next thing you know they'll have a app!

The Rain in Spain!

My prayers were answered, as when we came out, the rain had stopped and the sun came out! We went for lunch at an Italian restaurant, with a menu in Spanish and English. We were certainly getting a range of international cuisine this trip. I got a big plate of meatballs, and while it wasn't 3 courses for 10 euros (as in Fungirola), it was so filling I didn't need any other courses, and it was still a bargain compared to Gibraltar prices.

The sun was back out in the old town.

After lunch it was time to head back to the bus station. Keeping with the theme of yesterday that there is always something to see, Diego pointed out a funny feature of the traffic lights (when we were crossing the road to the bus station). Unlike in the UK (and Gibraltar) where there is a static green man to cross, and it starts flashing when time is up, here the green man was animated, casually walking when the light was green, and then spreading up to run when it was about to turn to red. I liked this, it provided a bit of humour while crossing the road!

Something else which entertained me at the bus station was a vending machine, not dispensing drinks or snacks, but pharmaceutical products. In Spain and Gibraltar there seems to be a pharmacy on every street corner, so I'm not sure why this would be needed. Maybe the Spanish take a pharmacy very seriously!

Not your usual vending machine!

On the bus back to La Linea there was a bit of entertainment. A woman in the seat behind us aggressively blew her nose many times one after the other. It must have been over 20 times in a row, and sounded like she was blowing up a balloon. When she eventually stopped, one guy shouted 'bravo'! Everyone on the bus laughed. So I guess if I'd driven to Marbella, Diego and I would have missed out on this hilarity!

Banter on the bus.

As the bus got closer to La Linea the weather worsened significantly. It was now clucking it down, and blowing a gale to boot. The situation wasn't much better as we crossed into Gibraltar, Diego and I almost getting blown away as we crossed the runway. It was then that I decided to look out my winter jacket from my suitcase. However, I needn't have bothered, as a few days later it was back to summer weather conditions!

Winter Jacket