Marbella..the Monaco of Spain!!

May 30, 2008

We started on our way to Almeria, but as we approached, the weather looked good, so we continued on directly to Marbella, a 266 mile day. This leaves us in sight, literally, of Gibraltar. We were somewhat fortunate to get a slip….Brian comes through again, smoothing the way with his friendly way and Spanish!

This is quite a town, compared often to Spain’s version of Monte Carlo. An incredible amount of bars and nightclubs and restaurants! We are backed up to a quay with all of the above, along with all the fancy shops found in Monte Carlo. We have had some terrific dinners in these little places, watching the goings on…..lots of Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, Lamborghini’s, and the such, along with many young women strutting their “stuff”. The action does not get going until close to midnight (which lets Ellen and I out), and people don’t even start eating until 10:00PM. There is a vast majority of Brits here, which seems strange, but it certainly helps the language barrier.

The Old Towne of Marbella is about 7 km east of the marina in Puerto Banus where the boat is. This old town is a gem. Ellen, David, and I spent Sunday PM strolling around, and you can see from the pictures how interesting it is. Fortunately, or unfortunately, most of the shops were closed (Sunday), but the restaurants and bars were open….so it wasn’t a complete loss!!
Tomorrow we will head thru Gibraltar and start our way up to Portugal and across to Madeira. The weather does not look very good this week for a crossing, but we will just have to be patient, and wait for a weather window.