October 8 ,2011
            Sheila and I awoke to a windy cloudy day.  Similar to our experience travel in France, I think we are more tired then we think upon our return. Obviously, it is a day of transition and doing household chores like laundry and making shopping lists. On our trip to Granada we did pack in a lot of walks, tours and observations and almost like jet lack it takes the both of us some time to get back on our feet.
            We are planning for our trip to Seville on Wednesday and hope to take in a Flamingo dance with dinner and look at other aspects of the city. Unfortunately for us the bull fights are over in September and October, but we will attempt to see the bull ring which has been toured by our friends.
            So we had a day of putting up our feet, reading, and reviewing information for our trip. I took a trip to check out a different golf course. We have driven past a golf course that goes under the highway we take to Marbella. The course looks plus so I found the name of the course and drove over to get some information. The course looked much more direct and not as up and down as Cabopino and the cost is the same. When I got back I emailed a request for a t-time and will see how that works out.
            We did make a trip to La Canada Shopping Center in Marbella and had a light lunch in the mall and did some shopping.  A few light tapas from a food court shop that were ok as food court standards.
 



















            We ate in and enjoyed gaining our strength and just plain relaxing.   We did enjoy a marvelous sun set from our deck.
 

















October 9, 2011
            The weather seemed to clear a little in the morning and we took care of some personal items and worked on our email. It is strange when I am on vacation or away from home there is this idea/concept that pops into my head that I ought to be doing something worthwhile and not waste my time. I am sure this is a tape that I play from my childhood that if I am not doing something constructive I am either wasting my time or being lazy. Since I have retired I have struggled with this tape that has played throughout my life, only now I hear it more often because there are not many things I have to do to be or look busy. We have a magnet on our refrigerator at home that says "Jesus is coming, Look Busy". I find it wonderfully funny, but at the same time it is a reminder to me that the mantra of being busy or looking busy has extracted a lot of energy and tension in me. Here on vacation if there is a day to just hang and relax it should be a gift instead of a opportunity for guilt.  Boy, what an aside from just being concerned about not planning time or things to do! 
            The late afternoon we decided to go down to the Cabopino Marina and check out some beach restaurants that we had not been to before.   We were early enough to find a parking spot in the marina area. We walked toward the beach and sat in the patio of a tapas place. We ordered a few standard tapas and had a leisurely evening set of starters and drinks. The beach was starting to cool down and the breeze of the Mediterranean was really wonderful. We finished as the sun was nearing the horizon. We walked back to the marina and decided to try the El Puerto Restaurant adjacent to the tapas place. The manager was taking in tables from the porch and we not sure that they were serving dinner, because we only saw another couple in the place. He did not hesitate and found us a table, gave us a menu and took our order for drinks. The decor was sailors and ships, carved figures, frigates, tugs and fish netting. The dining area was covered but had huge open areas so the draft came through the area. We order a fish soup for Sheila and I order clams in garlic sauce. The food was really delicious and the ambiance was beach front all the way.   We saw two ocean liners on the ocean all light up like the fourth of July. One was quite close to our shore and the other was on our horizon perhaps a quarter of a mile out. It was a wonderful way to listen to the wind, watch the sun set and celebrate a wonderful evening.

October 10, 2011
            I left early in the morning to drive west to the Rio Real Golf Course. Sunday night I found my on line confirmation of an 8:00am tee time so I was there 20 minutes early and beat the sun rise. I had to wait for two groups to go off the tee to start my round. The course, for the front nine was straight forward with some difficult tee shots and I found the distances to be hard to read because it was measured in meters not yards. My conversions were off as I either over hit the ball or came up considerable short. One par three whole I took out a club thinking that it was the right distance and I flew over the gree by twenty yards but fortunately for me the slope on the back kicked the ball down near the apron of the green. The back nine offered a very different challenge with a dog leg right that was out about 225 yards and a down hill number 11 that was more optical allusion than distance. I was able to relax on the back side and finished with a 93 or 21 strokes over par. I really liked the layout of this course and the challenges were reasonable by comparison to the Cabopino course. It was a little hot so the persperation dripping off my hat did become difficult when swinging the clubs, but I have become use to this condition even at home.
                I caught a nap and we decided that we would give ourselves one more try at finding Marbella.  Sheila and been looking at maps and comparing where we had driven and had a pretty clear idea of how we should be able to find it. We got to Marbella and made a left turn and soon up the road we found an underground parking garage and got out, found a stair case and walked up a side street, stopped at a shop and after finding a few items we asked about the church and town center and we found that we were only three blocks away. We walked down some narrow allys and found the Plaza of the Oranges, the hub of old town.
 

















            We sat at one of the restaurants on the square, Restaurant de Naranjos, and order some tapas, mellon and jamon and some chips. We forgot to ask for 1/2 racion so there was too much food for a late afternoon.
              After enjoying the busy activity in the square and crowds gathering as life seemed to pick up on the square, Sheila and I went to the Church of the Annunciation. I had the opportunity to offer some prayers for friends and family and look at the architecture of a small but beautiful church.

 


































                We walked around the streets and checked out the shops. The crowd seem to grow all the while until it felt almost clausterphobic for me. We wander up a narrow street looking for a oute back to our car and came to a dead end, by a restaurant. What was surprising was we caught the sight of a three story structure decked out in planters and flowers which was quite beautiful for a dead end.  













                We went back to the Plaza of the Oranges and I found a small chapel which was a hermitage. I thought I took a picture of it but it did not come out when we down loaded the pictured. We found our way back to the car and realized that we had found the only parking lot in the immediate area, thus allowing us more time to explore old town Marbella.
                The evening was a relaxing one and we had take out from Da Bruno's for dinner.

October 11, 2011
                I am a little surprised by how much time it takes to keep up with this blog. As a matter of fact my hands get tired from typing. The left hand which is affected by my stroke has difficulty as I persist in the writing and finding an a and an r become more and more difficult. So for those of you who are following the blog, I must apologize for getting behind.
                We decided to take a day to relax and make sure we are prepared for our journey tomorrow   We ate in for our meals and got a good night sleep.