Puente

In celebration of Spain's independence from Napoleon and a similar concept to Labor Day, we had a five day weekend. Therefore, like the majority of Spainards, we traveled. Thursday afternoon I went shopping with Meg to get some last minute necessities and once she left, I started to pack. I realized at about 19.00 that our bus tickets were for the wrong day! I started panicking because our bus was supposed to be leaving in three hours and we had an entire days worth of activities planned for the next. I literally ran to the bus station and after waiting in line for over half an hour, changed the tickets. By the time I got back to the house it was after 20.00 and I still hadn't packed aaaannnd I had to change the bus tickets to 22.00. I had to shower, pack, have dinner and make lunch and then run back to the bus station within an hour. It was a hectic start to a packed weekend.
We finally get to the bus, pass out and wake up 8.5 hours later in an unknown land. We were in Algeciras, a commercial hub. Its purpose was a tourist attracion to get to your next location. Ferrys to Africa, buses to other locations. We arrived at 6.30 and had to wait for the rest of our group to arrive. By 8.30 everyone was there and we were ready to get on the next bus to La Linea. Stopping many times for directions, we finally made it. We got to La Linea, put all of our stuff in lockers and walked the line. As soon as we crossed, we found a taxi tour, paid our 25e and hopped on. The tour took us to all the major sites on the rock, a guided tour through the streets of the city and let us play with the monkeys!

"Gib"


Our sweet ride


Espana (from the rock)


Since I've sworn not to go to Africa, I had to wave from Gibraltar



It was obvious we weren't in Spain anymore. Matt minding his head in a cave in the rock.



We visited one of the five families of monkeys on the island. Once we got to their area, they started hopping all over the cab.


We asked the tour guide, Dennis if we were able to touch the monkeys. He said no because they bite. When we got out of the car I thought they would just keep their distance and we'd just observe.


I was wrong. I was standing there for all of thirty seconds and one jumped right on my back. I was the first for them to get friendly with and was not expecting it at all. As I was screaming and laughing and freaking out, another one decided to join him. The guide finally gave in and got them off my back.

Much better


At the top of the rock there was a baby and its mommy just taking in the view. (The monkeys are all hams and pose when you take their pictures)


Dennis had a little monkey friend of his own.


Next we viewed tunnels that ran throughout the inside of the rock. They were used in many wars and there are big holes in them that they would put canons through.

The city from within the rock.


Matt took in the culture change:

After our tour, we started walking back to the bus station. Before exiting, we made sure to get our passport stamped (we had to run down the people at customs to get them). We made it to the bus station, hopped the next bus to Marbella and had a nice relaxing hour and a half ride. Matt and I played some word games and dots and we cartooned a bit. When we arrived, we hiked down to our hostel and checked in.

We were all exhausted but we were bound and determined to get to the beach. It was about 17.00 at this point and we decided to make the most of the rest of our day. Matt and I packed our beach bags and crossed the street. (We were about a three minute walk from the beach). The rest of the ladies (Jenn, Kate and Nicole who were with us in Gibraltar, and Laura and Nicole who went strait to Marbella) rested up. The beach was beautiful, but it was getting a little late to be prime tanning hour. We relaxed a little on the beach- I definitely passed out for a good 15-30 minutes. Matt serenaded me on his guitar. We observed the locals with no shame. Then we packed up and wandered around the town a bit. We found a supermarket and bought some necessities: digestive cookies, stroopwaffels, fanta, tinto, tonic and coughdrops. On the walk back to the hostel, we found a cute little restraunt with a menu del dia. We went back to the hostel, changed out of our bathing suits and partied a little bit with the rest of the ladies before going to dinner.
Dinner was amazing. The restraunt was owned by a woman who was from London and she had lots of crazy friends. We dined outside and enjoyed stories from a crazy old man named Mitchell. When dinner was over we headed back to get some much needed sleep.
The next day we rose at a decent hour and went straight to the beach. It was divine.

Signs of a good beach day:


Matt did some exploring:

We found tons of beautiful shells and sea glass

"We could make our own amusement park"

I spy...



We said our goodbyes to the Mediterranean (or at least until next month)


Back at the hostel there were puppies I got to play with


We walked the ladies to the bus stop because they were heading to Granada a day before us and then we walked around the old part of the city.

Matt hit his toe really hard and couldn't walk, so we hung out at the hostel for awhile and watched Simon Birch in Spanish and then headed out for some dinner. We got kepabs (yea, yea)
and sat out on a wall near the beach. It was a beautiful night and we watched the lights out on the water. We called it an early night because we had to get up to catch a 9.00 bus the next morning. The moment my head hit the pillow I was asleep.

Lizards we saw on the walk back to the hostel:

This one's a smart one: he hung out by the light waiting for the bugs

We arrived at our hostel around 12.00. We relaxed for a bit and then decided to get some food. We wandered around the city for awhile and waited for the others to be done with their tour of the Alhambra. While we were waiting, we stopped in to see the chapel where the Catholic Kings were buried.

(no pictures allowed inside)

When we were done, we met up with the rest of the ladies and got tea in the Moroccan Quarters. It was so fun back there- tons of shopping (teas, hookas, clothing, pillows). Then we walked up to the top of the hill to the Mirador to check out the view. It was absolutely stunning. The top was so fun with tons of hippies and gypsies selling things, dancing, music. We watched the sun set and headed back down for dinner.

The Alhambra from the Mirador

The next morning we had to get up at 6.00 to wait in line with the rest of the world for tickets to get into the Alhambra.
We finally got tickets and our entrance time for the Palacio was at 13.30, so we walked around the gardens for awhile before heading back down into town to get some breakfast, shower and explore the city a little bit more.

Generalife

Murallas in the distance

We ran into the other girls on the way back down. They had had some issues with their hostel and were tired and ready to go home. Their bus was at 13.00, ours was not until 19.00. We talked for a bit and went our separate ways. We checked out of the hostel, left our bags with the people at the front desk and wandered around the city for a while longer. We took a bus back up to the Alhambra and took our tour. (We used Matt's camera because mine was filled and dead...so sorry, not pictures until later.) Then we headed back into town, had some lunch, did a little more shopping and headed back to the bus station. 1.00 this morning we arrived in Madrid again, went straight to bed and didn't move again 'til this morning. All this travel is killing me. Fortunately I have a whole 24 hours more to prepare myself for Paris. AYE!