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Tuesday, 21 November. Today was our last full day on the Costa del Sol and a much appreciated free day as well. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the mid-70s. After a leisurely breakfast, the four of us took a taxi to San Miguel, where we strolled and window shopped. Perhaps most notably, we bought a couple boxes of remarkably good, and remarkably cheap, chocolate truffles in the supermercado. At 12:30 we caught a taxi back to the hotel and then had lunch together at La Fragata. Afterwards, Jane and I walked to Benalmadena again, this time finding a slightly different route. When we got back to the hotel, we rested and started packing for tomorrow's early departure. At seven, the four of us had another excellent dinner at Ming House.
Wednesday, 22 November. All good things must come to an end, they say, and this was it
for our stay in Torremolinos. We had to have our luggage out in the hall by 7:30, then went down
to breakfast. We sat by the window to watch the spectacular red sunrise over the clear blue
water. At 9:30 our bus left for the airport in Malaga for our 11 a.m. nonstop flight to JFK in New
York.
The Air Plus Comet charter flight was not very pleasant. It left late, was crowded to capacity (about 250), and took more than two hours longer than the eastbound flight had taken. There were only four bathrooms, all of which had ceased to function hours before we got to New York. Fortunately, our flight from JFK to Washington didn't leave until 5:20, so we had no trouble making the connection. The same five happy travelers we'd met in Washington two weeks before while waiting for the outbound flight were all at JFK, too, and we enjoyed visiting with them. We got to Dulles Airport just before seven, and Joseph met us there with our car. We were back home at Massanutten by ten. General Observations. In spite of a rather shaky start (missed air connection, lost day, wrong hotel), it was a very pleasant trip. The value for the price was exceptional. The Nautilus Hotel and the dine-around restaurants far exceeded our expectations. The side trips were generally excellent, too, though some of them were not very "efficient." Specifically, much time was wasted that could better have been used to show us sites of major importance that were only minutes away. But undoubtedly there are those who prefer this more relaxed pace and are content to see only a few of the many interesting things these places have to offer. As many of the others taking this trip undoubtedly have discovered, one can live better and spend less by going to the Costa del Sol for a month to escape the cold than by spending the time in Florida. |
