After spending the night in Ronda and waking up this morning to view the bullring, we then drove the 1.5 hours to Málaga.  We decided to take an alternate route taking us along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, but first we climbed up and over some mountains before dropping to sea level.  It was s beautiful drive, pretty reminiscent of mountain roads in northern California.  The ride along the Med wasn't what I was hoping for, with beach towns pretty much blocking the view, but it was a pleasant drive all-in-all.

We checked into our Airbnb around 4:30 PM.  Hanna had visited here a few weeks ago so she knew she wanted to be down by the Mediterranean Sea around sunset.  We figured we had time to hit the Alcazaba first, so we headed out:

When we arrived at Alcazaba it was close to closing so we continued walking to the Sea.

We didn't do so well finding a place for dinner in Ronda, so we were hoping for something better tonight.  Being on the Sea, I asked Hanna to look up "seafood tapas" and she started naming off some places.  I stopped her when she mentioned a place with "pesca" in the name because it is fish related.  Where we wound up with an amazing, incredible tapas bar that is now the standard we will hold tapas bars to. 

We pretty much ordered what the guy next to us had...a plate of lightly fried sweet peppers, a whole octopus, and a couple of shrimp skewers for Tim and Hanna.  As usual, they gave us a bonus dish of olives and bread to ago along with it.  Overall, it was a great meal and fantastic experience.

Even picky-eater Hanna enjoyed the meal!

After dinner we returned to our apartment to get some sleep to prepare for a huge morning of visiting many sites.  First stop is the Picasso Museum. 

Picasso was born in Málaga, so of course they have a museum.  This place didn't have any of him famous works since it is mostly works given to and donated by family members.  Plus, the exhibit was undergoing renovations so they only had 33 works on display, but they discounted the entry fee making it worth the time and money to see Picasso where Picasso lived.

After the museum, it was back to Alcazaba.  On the way we passed by the ruins of a Roman amphitheater right at the base of Alcazaba:

The tour book mentioned that if we couldn't see Granada's great Alcazaba, then visit this one, so we did:

When we bought our ticket to Alcazaba we were offered a discounted visit to the Castillo de Gibralfaro, a fort above Alcazaba, so we decided to check that out as well.  Little did we know that after climbing to the top of Alcazaba we had to go all the way back down and then climb up past Alcazaba and continue climbing for nearly 1 mile.  But, as usual, the views of Málaga were worth it.

By the time we got back down it was nearly 3:00 PM and Hanna had a 4:00 PM bus to catch, so we headed back to the car.  During the walk we happened upon a park bench with no other than Picasso hanging out on it:

We got Hanna to the bus station and said our goodbyes.  We will hopefully see her in a few weeks during her spring break when she plans to fly to wherever we happen to be...she's hoping for Italy.

ROADTRIP!!  How exciting to be hitting the road for 3 days with Hanna.  For the first night we will be staying in Ronda, Spain which is a 3 hour (110 mile) drive.  To break the drive up we will be stopping in Antequera, one hour away.

As soon as we entered Antequera there was a sign for public parking that conveniently also had a tourist information booth.  Adorned with a map we mad our way out of the parking lot to be met by this gorgeous sculpture that just grabbed me:

As we walked up the main street we passed a supermarket and decided to buy the makings for a picnic lunch.  Here we are enjoying it street side:

What a beautiful, small village this is:

We were here primarily to check out the Alcazaba, a Moor fortress built in the 14th century. Like all forts, this one required us to walk up hill where we were rewarded with this view of the Antequera below:

What an incredibly amazing place this was:

This scenery is exactly as I imagined as you read about the Middle Ages:

Just passt Alcazaba was an old church with amazing architecture inside:

After Alcazaba, we made our way back to the other side of town where our car was parked and took in the sites of Antequera one last time:

We got into the car and drove the last 2 hours to Ronda to check out one of the largest "white hill towns" in this area of Spain called Andalusia.   Check out our apartment we rented for the night.  We have the whole first floor:

Oh...this is right next door to our apartment:

We got settled in and decided to walk around and find a place to eat.  As we walked down the street the bells on this church started ringing:

We approached a bridge just around sunset and saw all these people looking over the edge.  What are they so enthralled about?  As soon as we reached the bridge and looked over we now knew.  Holy cow!  This is amazing!  The town of Ronda is divided into two sections by this 360 feet deep / 200 feet wide gorge spanned by this incredible bridge built in the mid to late 1700s.

With the sun quickly setting it was hard to get any more photos, so you will just have to wait till later when I post photos from the next day.

We wound up in Plaza del Soccorro that was lined with tapas restaurants and just picked one to eat at.  The food was just so-so, but the sangria and the company were great:

After dinner we went back to the apartment and got some much needed rest after all the driving, walking, and visiting we did today.

Our plan for the next day is to tour the bullring in town and then drive to Málaga where we will stay on Saturday night.  We managed to get out of the apartment around 9:00 AM and crossed that magnificent bridge again.  Here is a view of the valley that I couldn't get last night;

I am pretty against bullfighting and would never attend a fight, but being in Spain we had to tour one bullring, and from what I read, this is the bullring to visit.  Ronda is home to the first, thus oldest bullring in Spain built in 1785.

Ronda is quite proud that Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway both frequently visited here:

OK...one more look over that amazing bridge before leaving town for Málaga:

We pretty much slept through the night and got up around 10:00 AM and was ready to check out at noon.  When we checked out I told the woman at the desk that we should have a rental car here and she said the rental car was here, but didn't offer any forms or the key.  "Where is the car?" I asked.  She pointed at a guy in the lobby.  Ah...the rental car company is here....got it.  I was expecting the car to be dropped off and the people in the hotel to deal with it.

Anyway, we got the car and I drove for my first time in Europe.  It was a bit scary driving where we couldn't understand any of the signs and driving where the streets can be as narrow as our car and driving where there were traffic circles everywhere, but luckily we were starting in a small town to start.

It was now after noon and we needed to drive into town to get a sim card for our cell phone since we didn't think it was a good idea to drive around without a working cell phone.  Plus, we need a way to communicate with hotels and Airbnb hosts.  We drove around, found a parking spot, found the phone store, found a sandwich shop, ate lunch, and was ready to leave Rota by 2:00 PM.  We have 3.5 hours (185 miles) to get to Granada.

What an amazing drive.  We drove past a couple of medieval towns that we would have loved to visit, but we wanted to get to Granada and check into our Airbnb and meet up with Hanna by 7:00 PM.  The apartment we found was only about 5 minutes from Hanna so we agreed to meet her at the park between our houses.  We were so happy to see her:

How exciting to be so far from home and be able to meet up with family.  We walked around town and came across a church with its doors open for service, so we peaked in:

Hanna had class the next morning, so we called it a night pretty early which was fun with us since we still had a touch of jet lag.  

The next morning we slept in and had trouble getting ready to go.  By the time we were ready I got a text from Hanna asking what we were up to?  I told her we were about to go for a walking tour.  She said that she had 2 hours until her next class and that she would join us.  She told us to walk up a street and she will walk down it and find us.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, Tim and I walked down the wrong street and got lost in the tangled, narrow streets.  With no way to communicate with Hannah we just gave up and began following a walking tour outlined in our tour book.  First stop was the "Corral del Carbón" that was a caravanserai, a protected place for silk merchants “to rest their camels, spend the night, get a bite to eat, and spin yarns”.  This place dates back to the 14 century.

Next stop was Alcaicería which was originally a Moorish silk market and is now a tourist marketplace:

Next stop was Plaza de Bib-Rambla with a cool fountain topped by Neptune:

Next we walked by an impressive cathedral built between the early 1500s and finished 200 years later in the late 1700s.  Notice the triumphal arch design purposely used to celebrate the triumph over the Islamic moors that were here originally.  As a matter of fact, the church was built right over a destroyed mosque.

This next building, that was closed when we arrived, is where Ferdinand and Isabel's, the famed king and queen that funded Columbus' expedition, coffins are located:

Just outside this building was this cool stonework in the ground:

Next we arrived at the Plaza Isabel La Católica with an impressive statue of Queen Isabel and Columbus:

Onward the tour took us through Plaza Nueva:

Past a small church that was also build over a mosque:

And finally to Paseo de los Tristes where there was a cool flamenco dancer statue:

This is where the tour would then take us to the grand attraction of Granada, the Alhambra which according to the tour book is "the last and greatest Moorish palace and is one of Europe's top sights."  Well...we couldn't get a ticket in advance and wasn't up for getting on line for one of the "day-of" tickets at 7:30 in the morning, so a photo of Alhambra will have to do:

On the way back we needed to find a bathroom so decided to find a place to have a beer and use their bathroom.  We noticed a sign up an alley and headed that way and found a place with a patio with a view of Alhambra where we had Alhambra beer.  If this doesn't count as experiencing Alhambra, then I don't know what does!

Since we are now drinking the tap water, I decided to try my luck at one of the cool public water fountains:

We saw so many cool doors today.  This is one of my favorites we came across:

Since we walked up one street to get a beer, we decided to continue climbing and was rewarded with a viewpoint with a great view of Granada:

We finally met up with Hanna after she was done with classes.  We met her host family and had a great time visiting with them.  We then went out for dinner (pizza) and on the way back we came across this awesome statue:

By 9:00 PM we were back at our apartment and very ready for bed after a long day of walking.  Tomorrow we leave Granada for a three-day weekend with Hanna to explore cities west and south of Granada.

We both slept very well and woke around 10 AM feeling pretty good so we got, showered and decided to go for a walk around Rota.  Oh, by the way, here a a photo off our balcony of our hotel grounds...pretty nice!  On the other side of the buildings opposite the pool is the beach.  We took a peek, but compared to the beach we lived on in Destin, Florida all winter, it wasn't that exciting.

What a cute city Rota is.  This is a typical street downtown:

We stopped for a light lunch and continued our walk when we noticed the beach at the end of one of the street.   We went down to check it out and saw there was a walkway going along the beach, so down we went to continue our walk:

The paved beach path ended and turned into wooden boardwalk through a forest that runs along the beach:

We felt pretty tired when we got back to hotel.  Tim wanted to buy water, but all the stores were closed during siesta time, so he was forced to drink the tap water.  We know the water is safe to drink, but it is still a bit scary to drink it.  Tim agreed to try it first, and if all went well in his gentle digestive system then all will be fine for me.

After a few hours all was well, so we now are both drinking the tap water...at least until we go to Italy, then the experiment starts all over.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the pool, but not going in since the water was freezing.  Around 7:00 PM we walked back to the bar we went to yesterday and had a bite to eat and a couple of beers.  We arrived back at the hotel around 9:00 PM and passed out.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel and get a rental car to drive around Spain for the next 30 days.  Our first stop in Granada, where our niece Hanna is doing a semester abroad.  We can't wait to see her!

We woke, packed our bags, ate breakfast, and was back at the terminal by 10:30 AM.  When we checked in we were told that there were 5 other people signed up and that they were all categories above us...here we go again.  The somewhat good news is that if we don't make this flight then we can drive the 3.5 hours to Dover, Delaware where there is a flight tonight and another one tomorrow into Germany, but lets take this one step at a time. 

We went up to the waiting area and counted the 5 people that would be ahead of us and was feeling about 50 / 50 at this point.  Then we heard more people coming up the stairs.  A total of 8 people, two families, are now checked in.  After talking to them we found out that they were active duty, so they will be ahead of us as well.  That now makes 13 people ahead of us...our odds just dropped.  As we watched the C-5 being loaded we were just hoping there would be seats for us.

About 30 minutes later the C-5 aircrew came up to the holding area.  We asked if they were going to take passengers and they said they were and there was enough room for all of us.  We all just wanted to give them a big hug, but resisted the urge and celebrated among us all.  20 minutes later our name was called and we went down to get our boarding pass:

Notice the total cost in the bottom right corner.  I can't believe we are about to fly to Italy for free...well, not totally free..it cost us 20 years each in the military.  About 1 hour later we boarded the flight:

We took a bus out to the plane and climbed the 5 stories or so stairs to the top deck where the passengers sit.  The seats were old commercial-type seating, but faced backwards and there were only small round windows on the couple of doors up there.  We made ourselves comfortable along with the other 13 others and a Navy unit going to Italy.  It should be about 7 hours to Rota, Spain and then we continue to Sigonella, Italy 12 hours later.

6.5 hours later we touched down in Rota, Spain.  It was now about 4:30 AM local time, 8:30 PM the day before to our bodies.  We now had about 12 hours till be had to show up for the continuation to Italy.  We walked around the base some waiting for sunrise.  During this time some circumstances arose that I will not post here, but can discuss at a later time, that led us to decide to stay in Spain for a while instead of continuing to Italy. 

It was now 6:30 AM and decided to wait for the rental car window to open at 8:00 AM (midnight to us).    1.5 hours later we talked to the rental car people and went to look at the one car they had available.  It was small and would barely fit our bags in the trunk.  They didn't have anything bigger and I thought the price was high compared to what I saw online.

We decided to then walk to the Starbucks to use the WIFI.  I first found a local hotel to overcome jet lag in, and then researched rental cars.  After going back and forth and having trouble making decisions due to being so tired, we returned to the terminal to rent the car...and then we didn't rent a car...I was so tired it was hard to think.  We decided to just take a taxi to the hotel and figure our the rental car later.

It was noon (4 AM to us) when we arrived at the hotel.  I thought we would be sitting in the lobby till at least 3:00 PM, but they allowed us into our room at 12:30 PM where we immediately went to sleep.  After a few hours with Tim still sleeping I rented a car online that will be delivered right to our hotel for $120 less than the base rental car...cool deal.  I woke Tim up, or was it  the noise my stomach was making because I was so hungry.

We got up around 8 PM and found a local place to have beer, simple tapas, and little sandwiches.

We returned to the hotel around 11 PM, watched some Big Bang Theory dubbed in Spanish along with too much CNN, CNBC, and BBC, the three English language channels.  Our plan is to stay up as long as we can and hopefully wake before noon.

4 March 2017

As soon as I woke up I called the passenger terminal to confirm that the flight was still scheduled.  They said it was so...so far, so good.  We relaxed the rest of the morning and after checking out of the room we killed more time in the hotel lobby using the internet and searching sites talking about Germany.  I can't believe that by tonight we should be in Europe.

It was finally time to go so we collected our stuff, drove to the terminal, and checked ourselves in as present for the flight.  We were told there was only 2 others signed in and they were active duty meaning they have priority over us, but we weren't too worried because if there were 2 seats available there will probably be 4 seat available.

We went upstairs and met a young Army couple on leave for 2 weeks that are trying to get to Europe.  They have been trying for the past 3 days with no success, but when the C-17 landed on the runway one hour later we were all feeling confident that we were going to make it today.  That plane is so big, it must have room for the four of us.  Not too long after the flight landed a representative from the terminal desk came us to tell us that the flight wasn't taking any space-a passengers.  BLAH...we are now 0 for 2 trying to get on flights.  I guess this is what they call the "space-a game."

We are a bit upset, but not discouraged.  There is a flight tomorrow out of here that goes to Sicily, Italy via Rota, Spain, and if we don't make that one we should have time to drive the 3.5 hours to Dover Air Force Base for a later flight that flies to Germany.  We immediately went downstairs and signed up for the flight tomorrow.  We were told to be here by 11 AM for the roll call.

We went back to the hotel we just checked out of and checked back into the same room we just left and spent the rest of the day in the room watching TV and researching Italy now that we are headed there instead of Germany.  Here's hoping we will make it on that flight tomorrow.

3 March 2017

We spent an awesome two months in a beach condo on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach.  The rent for the winter months is 4.5 times less than during the beach season which started 1 March which was the day we checked out.

Here is a picture of the condo we stayed in.  We had an awesome corner unit with a wraparound porch giving us an unobstructed view down the beach.  In the picture Tim is walking towards the condo and I am on the balcony:

During the two months we had Tim's mom stay with us for three weeks:

We also spent a lot of time riding our motorcycle making up for lost time.  Here are a couple of photos the toll booth took of us when our SunPass didn't work. We were riding to Kissimmee, Florida for the weekend.

We then had Clint, my brother-in-law come and stay with us for just over a week:

Bottom line...we had a relaxing and incredible two months settled down, but our feet got itchy, and the rent was going to triple, so it was time to say goodbye to the beach and set off on our next adventure...a trip to Europe.

The day we checked out of the hotel, I noticed there was a flight out of Charleston Air Force Base to the U.K. on 3 March, so we thought we would go for it.  Oh...I guess I should mention that we didn't purchase airline tickets to Europe. We are going to fly space-available (space-a) where we can get on a military flight and pay about $15 each to fly overseas.  The biggest issue is that we can't make a reservation so we have to just show up to the terminal and hope there are empty seat that we can fill.

We hit the road on 2 March and headed to Charleston.  About 2 hours out I checked the flight schedule and saw the flight we were trying to catch was cancelled.  This is the fun of trying to fly space-a.  I did some searching and noticed there were 3 flights out of Norfolk, Virginia in the next 5 days, so we passed Charleston and continued on.  After a night just outside of Savannah we continued on the Norfolk and went straight to the passenger terminal to mark ourselves present for a flight leaving tomorrow (4 March) to Germany. 

We now need to check back in at 2:00 tomorrow to see if we get on the flight.  If not...well....we will deal with that tomorrow if we don't get on.  Wish us luck!