After the last night in Granada ~ with shawarma, tea, and hookah ... we jumped out of our bed at 8:45am. Karina did not even have dinner - she was so tired, she slept from 5:00pm and through.
Saying good-byes to the wonderful little hotel, we took cab back to the airport - to get our rental car from Europcar. There was NOBODY at the airport - and Europcar was the only rental car counter that was open. We were lucky that they had a navigator for rental available - I bought Spain map and loaded on my Garmin - but when I turned it on in Spain, it does not load.... I just brought one stupid Garmin with me..... With 6-speed, stick-shift VW Golf, loaded with water and snack, we were on to our day drive to Ronda.
Driving out of the airport, heading down to the Mediterranean Coast aka Costa del Sol was pretty easy. In about 90 min from Granada airport, we arrived in Nerja.
I didn't know why, but the town felt a bit odd.... very bright, around 70F.... lots of older people.... and then, I realized, people here looked different than people we were mingling with in Barcelona or Granada..... and then noticed.... majority of the people we were passing by were a bit ill-dressed, in lots of pastel colors.... pale skin..... Brits (and some Germans....) It was strange to be surrounded by Anglo Saxons.... instead of dark Latins.
After our 2+hour stop in Nerja, we drove to Frigiliana. It is a quick 15~20 min drive from Nerja - and stunningly white, small hill town.
By that time, it was almost 3:00pm. We decided to skip checking out Malaga, or Marbella... and zipped to Ronda. Nerja/Frigialina to Ronda is about 1.5+ hour drive. I forgot to mention, we had NO TRAFFIC problem ~ that what happens around Costa del Sol, when you travel on Christmas day.... absolute off-season, and the locals are off also....
The route takes you along the Coast until Marbella, and then you take a winding uphill road up to Ronda. This drive is not a comforable one as a passenger.... with the curves, and altitude changes, I sort of lost my senses... and our Garmin navigator on rental... flew out of my window.... only by luck, the navigator itself was still attached to the power code... but the base is gone. I have two days to come up with some excuses before I return the car at Seville airport......
Our hotel in Ronda is an aboslute magnificent place, overlooking the gorge. The building is old... and it does feel like this is a "investigation" location for Ghost Adventure guys (except they would need to dress far far better....).
After checking-in, and sort-of unpacking, I herd Chris and Karina, as usual for the walking tour of Ronda. We stopped at Bullring (which we will visit tomorrow) - and then to the Puente Nuevo.... 18th century bridge going across 360 feet hight gorge. I am not good at height at all..... Chris and Karina know that. But of course, being funny, Karina was doing things that absolutely freaked me out... so much so that right there, I started to cry. Fear, stress, fatigue, (and traumatic loss of navigator base...) all culminated to that point... I was in tears.... very fragile moment that I haven't had in many years.
We posted some of the pictures on Facebook from our iPhones also earlier ~ check them out there also. The Hotel has fast WiFi down in the lobby area!
Tomorrow, we will drive to Seville from Ronda ~ about 2~3 hour drive with hopefully, not so winding roads ahead. Our trip is now heading to the last 2 nights.....
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