Marbella etc

Today (Thursday) is our 3rd day on the Marriott resort, having spent 3 nights previously in the centre of Malaga. Ryanair was bang on time but we had some technical problems with Uber - we understand there was a blip in the internet that evening - so it was almost midnight (Spanish time) when we checked in to our high tech hotel where it's all Bluetooth entry etc.

But before I do the holiday diary I should tell you that I managed to go out on my bike with my pals on a fairly decent ride and I had no issues with my knee. Furthermore, I attended my 6 week physiotherapy check the day before we flew out to Spain and all went well. She said there was now no need to see the surgeon again - just keep up the good work.

The weather in Banchory had been pretty good before we came here - every morning we would sit in bed and look out at what we called the golden light as the sun came up and shone on the trees:

Our last evening in Banchory was a bit bitter-sweet as we attended one of Mohammed's retirement do's. No more Derbar - the end of an era. Let's hope a suitable replacement comes along. We were there with Anne and Leslie again - it used to be 6 of us every month but Johanne is now too poorly to attend:

Back to Spain now:

SUNDAY 28th September

We walked past the port to the tourist centre - cathedral, Picasso museum, Alcazaba fortification etc. To get to the top of the latter it's quite a climb and I wondered whether Jo would make it or not but she was game to try. I pointed out that it was a zig-zag path most of the way which helped.

First was the Roman theatre:

Then the climb - occasional rest was required:

We made it to the top and then headed for lunch - tapas, of course and it had to include sizzling gambas pil-pil:

Thinking a beer might be in order on our way back to the hotel, we searched in vain for somewhere with decent beer that was actually open before evening. Google Maps wasn't much help - a lot of the info seemed to be out of date or just incorrect. We gave up but did eventually stumble upon one on the way back - https://lafabricadecerveza.com/en/

A short(ish) kip at the hotel then out for dinner. Not many places open early enough for us on a Sunday evening but we hit the jackpot with https://tascalaska.es/. Excellent salad followed by paella:

More to follow in due course.