Walking on Airbnb (plus Trains, Planes and Automobiles)

Another great trip with a whole week via an Air Bnb this time. Very impressed with everything about our little home away from home on this trip and proved a perfect launch for all our action and adventure.  Third time we have gone Air Bnb and feel it really does offer an immersive experience, falling into the lifestyle of the locale much more easily.  Give it a go if you get the chance, both you and I would get a credit here www.airbnb.com/c/lloydw621

In terms of this particular venue, the link on the side of the blog would be pretty easy to follow and book should you ever want to explore the Mijas area as we have done!

Packed up our stuff, and endeavoured to leave the place as we had found it, before driving the short route to Plaza Mayor.  Chrissi had done a bit of detective work and found we could park the car in the shopping centre and catch the train into Malaga for a bit of a mooch around.

We duly did this and stumbled upon an even bigger Easter Parade than we encountered in Mijas, the Semana Santa traipsing through tree lined avenues, they had even assembled a mini stadia for the occasion.  Those masks though, hard not to think about Klu Klux Klan or other evil orders.  Catholicism huge out here and has been for centuries. Malaga one of the last bastions to resist, and a bit of a fusion of moorish and more modern architecture.

Did a lot of Lonely Planet reading today, Spanish Civil War and further back; Malaga also one of the more resistant territories to Franco and his facism. Liked to pretend that I was at one with the whole liberal, arty feel of the place today.

As it was we managed to lose the Catholic procession, although take pictures of their church. Certainly can see where the money goes, although not all in this case, as they only managed to complete one of the bell towers back in the day.

Then on to the older part of town, castle walls, ampitheatre and all that kind of stuff.  Feeling a little worn out it was time for our last splurge of tapas before getting the train back to the shopping centre, our car, and ultimately the airport.

So I write this having dropped the car off, still thinking of a name for it?  We gave it the day off yesterday so it can have the name that no-one remembers from the Magnificent Seven. (last Auf Pet reference, but was Moxy in the series)  Carys can pick this up now we have returned it, paid our dues, and preparing for the flight home. Sitting on a floor waiting for the check in desk to open. I bloomin loves travelling, I do!

-Carys-

The end of our trip, well wasn't that an adventure. It flew by, but we've had the best time, in the best place! We started the morning by finishing our packing, checking under beds, behind sofas etc to make sure we'd packed all of our things. It wouldn't be great if we got home and realised something important was back in Spain.

After zipping up and loading the suitcases into the car, aswell as cleaning up the place a little, we said our goodbyes and thanked the airbnb hosts. Then, we were on the road, driving away from Fuengirola and mIjas, and towards Malaga, where our journey had began. We first parked in a shopping centre, but since it was early on Easter sunday, most of the shops were closed and not many people were around.

We went over to a small train station near the shopping centre and got on a tube train into Malaga city. It was a surprise to see another Christian Easter parade occurring through a large street in Malaga - much bigger than the one we saw in Mijas. Lots of the participants were wearing very pointy hats which was quite scary, but very unique.

The city was very pretty, I loved the cathedral and colourful building in the streets. The architecture was very pretty. Mum had fancied visiting the Pablo Picasso museum, which interested me too, but when we arrived we saw the line to get in was quite long, and it may take too long. Instead, we walked round to a fortress, which offered lovely views over the city.

Before we went back to the train station, we sat down at a restaurant on one of the streets where we got -you guessed it - some tapas! We had things like ham on melon, nachos and guacamole and Spanish omelette - all of which tasted good. Then, it was time to make our way to the airport.

IT took a while to get our suitcases checked in, as it was decided that BA weren't going to start checking in until 2 hours before take off. We had arrived quite a while before this, so it took a lot of waiting around before we could move through to customs, but we were there in the end.



Now we were rushing a little, so it was Burger King for dinner. A bit of a quick and fussy meal, but it filled us up well. It was soon time to rush to the gate, and we got on with time to spare. Now it's time for a long journey home, and as I write this, I can feel my eyes drooping...