The Rain in Spain Was Not a Pain!

We have been blessed with 2 great days in Spain - Malaga on Wednesday; Alicante on Thursday.  The weather was mostly good with some clouds burning off leading to sunshine.  And temperatures in the 60's.  Then, today, it's been a windy and cool day in Palma de Mallorca.  The weather was predicted to change and it has, so it was nice to take advantage of it (and more on the weather change later).

The visit to Malaga was our first in 18 years, though the last time we were there we really just passed through on the way to a timeshare on the Costa del Sol.  It was time to explore the city, so the first thing we did was to hop on the Hop On, Hop Off bus.  It was about a 90 minute tour of the city.  

In the afternoon, we visited the 2 historical sites of Malaga - the Castillo de Gibralfaro and the Alcazaba.  First we took the HOHO most of the way up to the castle.

Then we walked down to the Alcazaba which had some very Moorish elements.

On the way back to the ship we passed the beautiful city hall of Malaga.

As we were having dinner we sailed through a rain storm.  Great timing!

The visit to Alicante was our first.  We started with a walk up to the Santa Barbara Castle.  It was a good climb, gaining about 500 feet in elevation.  It was worth the effort.

                                                

We then made our way down to the beachfront for a tapas lunch, followed by a walk along the waterfront.  Another fabulous day.

And, of course, as we had dinner the rain came again.

Today was a stop in Palma de Mallorca, probably the 4th time we've been here.  We had originally planned on taking an Oceania excursion to hike in a national park, but, after looking at the weather forecast which called for rain and cold, we decided to put it off until we're here again later this month.  The morning turned out to be mostly sunny but windy and cold with temps in the low 50's.  We decided to "make hay while the sun shone" and took the ship's shuttle bus into town.  Our real goal was to repeat something we had done on our first visit here, probably in 2008.  They do not have pastel de nata here, but they do have their own pastry, the ensaimadas.  I even remembered the bakery at which we got our first one those 14 years ago.  When we got off the bus, I originally set Google Maps to take us directly there but as we walked we found some side streets and alleys to wander through.  That had the advantage of taking us out of the wind, which as you can see here was quite brisk and Linda was quite cold!

Walking along we found some interesting art galleries.

Then it was time to find the ensaimada.

After returning to the ship it was time for my first jog on land since leaving Miami.

Now, for the story on the weather.  A couple of nights ago, as we were sailing out of Malaga, the captain made an announcement that, due to anticipated bad weather and rough seas in the area, we would be skipping our call in Monte Carlo.  We would stay in Palma longer than planned and then have a day at sea as we tried to avoid the bad weather.  It's all part of the joy of cruising.  Of course, I had to jokingly complain that the cancellation would mean that we would only be stopping in Monte Carlo two times on this cruise instead of the original three!  Next port - Marseille on Sunday.

That's it for now - except for the much anticipated Rule of Civility.  Today's is very succinct but insightful:

Rule #109. Let your recreations be manful not sinful. 

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry