We had an early start today as we
were to travel to Seville . We had breakfast at Monumento San Francisco
in Santiago . We caught up with a few of our Camino friends
said our goodbyes and then Paul took us and anor couple to the station and
airport. We had four trains to coordinate
today Sam had all this in hand, very big day but we arrived in Seville at
6.30ish walked across to our hotel settled in then went downstairs had tapas
and few wines we needed them after such a long day.
We slept well headed out after
breakfast into Seville itself, we thought it a lovely city, saw what we could
in the time we had, caught the 3.40pm train to Malaga then a local train from
Malaga to Benal Madena. We arrived at
our apartment for the week about 7.00ish, we knew we would be very comfy for
the week. We headed out for some dinner,
so many places to choose from.
We pretty much had a very lazy
week sitting by the pool, walking the esplanade, Ash did lots of beach walks
etc. This was a very lovely end to our adventures.
We did go to Ronda for a tour on
Tuesday so a very long day collected at 8.00am and dropped home by 6.30. Ronda is up in the mountains, has a
population of 35,000. It had been fought
over, over many years by many. A very
pretty hilltop town, very different to all other hilltop towns I have
visited. We had two excellent guides,
Annetta in our coach and she spoke at least four languages as they all do, she
took the German speaking guests and we were handed over to Eugene who was most
likely in his 70s but an absolute delight.
He was a very funny man, after Annetta had given him his instructions,
she turned around and he saluted her, Sam said that made his day. We were taken to a bull fighting ring which
has been in use for over 300 years.
Bullfighting has lost favour now thankfully, there once was about 5,000
bullfights year but now very few. This
is a good thing indeed.
When Eugene let us go Sam Ash and I had lunch in a
beautiful place overlooking the huge gorge.
We then headed for the bus station, Annetta stayed with us for the
journey home and took us to Merbella (pronounced “Mabaya”). There are great numbers of apartments here,
we went to visit the old town which was delightful.
The rest of the week just
swimming etc. only one day not fabulous but we managed.
A very lovely week indeed.
Sunday October 1, 2017
This morning we left our
apartment and took the train to Malaga
Airport for our flight to Barcelona . We booked into our hotel went to a lovely
place for dinner.
This morning Monday 2nd
October we had a tour of Sagrada Familia Gaudi’s Cathdedral. This is still a
work in progress fascinating. Our guide
was very informative. Gaudi passed away
in 1926 but his plans have been adhered to, it will be hopefully finished in
2026, it is financed 80% by tourism and the other 20% by donations, it is a
very different Cathedral indeed.
We then took a spin thru the
market, having a little catch up now, Sam has done his homework for our flights
home tomorrow. We will head out for
dinner shortly.
This has been an amazing
adventure, we have seen some fabulous places, met some extraordinary people,
laughed a lot, travelled many many ks, we think about 5,000 by train in Scotland and about 20,000ks by train in Europe . Ash has
enjoyed her three weeks with us and us with her, she did say she could not have
done as long as we have.
God has looked after us and we
are very grateful. We have been taken
care of everywhere we have been and not on any occasion have we felt
unsafe. There is a big police and civil
guard presence everywhere but if this is what it takes this is how it should
be. None of this is threatening or distressing they are just doing their job.
Sabine and Sam and Ash xxxx
