Life in Andalusia

Much like Northern Italy, nobody speaks English here. I’m wishing I downloaded my Spanish translator app at this point, but we are managing. We went out on the town for dinner last night and walked the streets of Estepona. What an adorable city right on the shore. We had dinner outside on the boardwalk of the beach and walked along the shore at sunset. It was very relaxing and just what my shoulder needed.

But today was a different story. We decided to take a long drive through the mountains and experience part of the motorcycle tours – by car. All I got to say is THANK GOD we didn’t rent bikes like we had originally planned. These roads are terrifying. Yes, the views were amazing, but the stress of driving them was killing me. There goes the shoulder pain again . . . . Not only did we get to see the sights of the beautiful Spanish country side (sorry no pics from a moving car), but we also got to gawk at all the cool motorcycles everywhere. They have so much nicer bikes in Europe. It’s just not fair!

We visited an awesome town called Ronda in the late afternoon. This was the birthplace of bullfighting and we toured the biggest and first bullfighting ring and museum. Karlo was in heaven. The city was very cool and was separated into two parts, divided by an enormous gorge and connected by a massive stone bridge. One side was the “ancient” side and the other the “modern.” I personally couldn’t tell the difference as their definition of “modern” was a strange one.


After our lovely sightseeing and a very late lunch in the town center the stress started all over again. We parked in a public garage that required you to take a ticket upon entry. For some reason Karlo thought you needed to enter your credit card to get the ticket and that is exactly what we did. We stuck in our credit card and out popped the ticket. We assumed that our card would be charged when we exited the garage. Looking back on it now we realize how ridiculous that idea was . . . based on the “modern” side of the village. Anyway, we got in the long line of cars trying to exit and when it was our turn the ticket didn’t work. We had other cars honking and the attendant came over and yelled at us in Spanish. He kept yelling the same thing over and over despite the fact that we told him we don’t understand Spanish. He moved barriers and made us get back in the line of traffic trying to exit the garage. Now what? We were trapped. I got out of the car in search of somebody that spoke English. Come to find out we were trying to use the entrance ticket to the bullfighting museum instead of the parking ticket! Good heavens, stupid tourists.

So now that we got that all figured out it was once again our turn at the gate. Before we had the chance to put the right ticket in our buddy came running back over, grabbed the ticket out of Karlo’s hands and started yelling at us again. We were stuck all over again. The guy was going on and on in Spanish and we didn’t understand a word. Karlo pulled out his money and waved it in front of him, but instead of taking our money the guy took off with our ticket leaving us sitting at the gate with the cars honking their horns behind us. What a nightmare. It was then that I realized the gate was in the open position. I yelled, “JUST GO . . . QUICK . . .DRIVE!!!” Karlo floored it and we ‘escaped’ the parking garage and got the heck out of Ronda as quick as we could.

It was all very stressful so by the time we got to the long mountain pass with its dizzying heights and fast twists and turns my shoulder was killing me again. But we did get some good laughs at our Bonny & Clyde exit from Ronda. A piece of advice: if you ever visit Andalusia, learn some Spanish and don’t park in any garages!

By the time we got back to the villa it was nearly too late for dinner. I felt the need for a relaxing stroll so we went to Estepona for a nice walk along the beach. We strolled the streets and opted for a gelato dessert instead of dinner. We got back just in time to go to bed, listening to the waves crashing on the shore. By then I was all better.

If you would like to see more pictures from this day, please click here.