we got a slow start due to our jetlag, but spent the rest of the day exploring marbella and very briefly puerto banus. the marriott is not technically in marbella, but in a next door town called elviria. before heading out to explore, we went to a beachside restaurant, merendero cristina, which is right next door to our hotel and has a wonderful outdoor area to sit and eat. i didn't expect to feel like i was in mexico, but pretty much as soon as we sat down the street/beach vendors came our way trying to sell 'rolexes', sunglasses, table cloths, and all kinds of assorted stuff. dad and i shared an excellent seafood paella and we all had some sangria.
we then explored the town of marbella. there is a very neat old town with lots of apartments and stone pathways which are very narrow. there is always a nice park with lovely tile benches and a path down to the beach. the path has fountains and a series of salvatore dali sculptures. the one i really liked was the bull. somehow they are just to spanish to me... but the plaque said that dali called it an elephant. i not buying that... i still think it is a bull... after exploring the town for awhile, we drove over to see what puerto banus was all about. as far as we could tell, it was mostly upscale, expensive shops and we decided that we were all too tired to care and decided not to park and look around.
on the way home, we stopped by a mega grocery store, la canada (with a squiggly above the n), the looks i've never seen before and never need to see again!!! it was huge and attached to a mall. the entrance was thru the mall! upon entering, the store puts cosco to shame in terms of sheer size. it had everything.... just like cosco, but bigger and totally overwhelming (to a non foodie). when you first walk in, they have bug slabs of pig legs hanging on the wall - they'll slice you some ham right there. it reminded of how in china towns they hang their chickens in the window. yuck! at the store, we bought breakfast foods and stuff for dinners as well. our hotel is an apartment. they are timeshare units and it has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths with a kitchen and dining and living room. so we ended up eating our dinners and breakfasts in the room as it was easier and by the time we'd get home from our day trips we were all exhausted and didn't want to go out. besides custom there is to eat a huge lunch... which we did every day. back to the store... it had the largest assortment of everything and so i had to take a picture of the queso section which took up - no kidding- a couple of aisles. and they had regular carts and baskets, but they also had this hybrid basket that had wheels and a long handle - it was very cute and clever!
after the store, we all headed home where we cooked a lovely meal and went to bed ... ready for the next adventure.
****for some reason my computer sucks and won't upload pictures. every time i try, it freezes and won't upload them. it makes me very angry, but i guess the pictures will just have to wait.... sorry!!! if you want to see them all in their full glory, feel free to ask and i'll email them to you... *****
1 comment:
bummer about the pictures. i can't believe you got hit with street vendors off the bat, that's so annoying.
Post a Comment