So Here's Our Vacation Blog...
Woke up this morning to our last Mediterranean sunrise. Here’s the view while I was lying in bed looking out through the wrought iron balcony railing. Very calming, not a ripple on the sea.
The flowering vines covering one wall of the hotel’s second floor were lush - no idea what kind of flowers they were, but I bet I know somebody who does...
They hung down to the terrace entrance on the ground floor - very soothing.
We packed and left, this time noticing how extensive the flood damage was, and spotted a parking lot full of muddy, banged up cars. I think the city moved them here from other areas of the city. Some were not too bad, just covered with mud (so flooded on the inside), while others, like this Mercedes, were done for.
As we headed south past Alicante toward Murcia we noticed a large number of greenhouses. We’d seen them on our last European trip in Italy and eastern France, and knew those were for tomatoes, but weren’t sure about these. Then as we neared Almeria the entire surface was covered with greenhouses - miles and miles, side-by side! Every flat surface held them, and they were knocking down hills and terracing mountains to squeeze them in any way possible. Not the best photo out the car window, but you get the idea.
Turns out Almeria has the highest concentration of greenhouses in the world, totaling about 100,000 acres. What do they grow? About half of Europe’s vegetables: peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers. For a better idea, click on this link, Google Map of Almeria Greenhouses, and turn on satellite view. Amazing. We had to stop and have a closer look - drove up to one and pulled back the plastic to see for ourselves what was going on in there.
Looking at all those tomatoes made us hungry, so we stopped in Velilla-Taramay for lunch on the beach.
Very relaxing, since it’s the end of September and nobody’s at the resorts.
We learned something new about tomatoes, or should I saw kumatoes, which were on the menu. Ever hear of them? They were found growing on the fringe of a tomato farm in Spain in the 1970s, and finally cultivated and patented in 2006. They’re a bit sweeter than a regular tomato, and the color is different - greenish brown, with a little reddish color. Now I’m not a big tomato fan - won’t eat them by themselves, but these were delicious. Paired with avocados (which I also don’t like) and topped with olive oil, I couldn’t get enough!
Marge had 'grilled seafood’ for lunch because we saw a man cooking on the beach over a wood fire built inside a cement boat; this sounded tasty, but when she got her plate she couldn't believe the pile of food. Wow! There were three shrimp (prawns?) on top, each about seven inches long. Half dozen razor clams, a dozen mussels, a swordfish steak, two complete fish of some kind (bone in), and several other steaks and fillets from fish we couldn’t identify. To her credit, she ate most of it, but then was done for the day.
Got to Marbella, checked into our luxury hotel in the old district. We splurged a bit on this one, with a beautiful sitting room on the main floor like you’d find at a mansion in Savannah, a winding staircase with vines hanging down from the fourth floor, a four poster bed, a basket of fruit and goodies on the bed, and on top of the building a private terrace overlooking the shopping / restaurant district below. Very nice, photos tomorrow. The walkways of entire ‘old town’ are paved in a pink marble set in small round stones placed on edge. Never saw this before, and it’s very appealing.
Naturally there’s an old church in town, Our Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation, or “Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación.” Built in the mid-seventeen hundreds, it’s not very large but does have a hundred foot tall bell tower with very loud bells that ring through our open balcony window every half hour. Here’s a photo from our hotel rooftop terrace.
It has several beautiful altars, covered in gold that’s much shinier than any of the others we’ve seen this month, and the side-altar statues are most realistic, lifelike.
I haven’t been to church so much since I was in grade school - can’t just take pictures, you know, have to take the opportunity to pray a little in each one! So we continued on looking for a restaurant where we could play dress-up tomorrow, spotted some very colorful sights, like this one in the town square,
and this alley with an Italian restaurant, which is right below our balcony.
On a humorous note, we passed a store where there was a sale for not-so-well-endowed women. Willowy, let’s say.
Most people know that when I was young my dad sold bushes wholesale to Frank’s nursery, about 10,000 each summer. I never wanted to see another Golden Vicari after that period ended. Well, somebody must bought one back from their Detroit vacation long ago, because there it was in a stylish clay planter with a commemorative ceramic plaque.
So there it is, counting down the days before we get back to reality, but still enjoying every minute. More tomorrow!