We arrived in the evening, a bus load of twenty-eight weary travelers. My friend Jan and I stumbled up the stairs of to our room. Only then did I realize that the hotel - La Princesa Playa - was only 100 feet from the Mediterranean. I could hear the waves gently hitting the beach below. I opened the balcony door and stepped outside. It was like dying and going to heaven.
I had expected a small town with not much ambiance and a hotel blocks from the beach (obviously I had not done my research). How this economical tour with which I was traveling could place our group in such a lovely place with a spectacular ocean view was beyond comprehension, but who was I to argue. I planned to enjoy my short time in paradise.
There would be one full day in Marbella, and we were on our own to explore. In the morning, after breakfast, I walked to the roof of the hotel to get the lay of the land. First though I faced the ocean awed by its blue immensity. At the Horizon merge into the clear blue sky. A day to explore what I have just discovered, was one of the most expensive pieces of property in the country. Antonio Banderas had a house there. I was in good company.
In the old part of Marbella has a classic look of the Mediterranean - narrow cobbled streets and whitewashed buildings with red tile roofs, wrought-iron balconies and bougainvillea. Jan and I research laboratories, and looked at the window ofmany shoe stores. If we felt a bit 'tired, we stopped in one of the bars for a glass of wine and lunch, then walk back to the hotel. In the afternoon we made our way down the pedestrian zone, which is always parallel to a white sand beach, which seemed to leave. The dinner was a bargain and a warm salad of shrimp and avocado and a plate of grilled salmon. Today was one of the happiest days of a two week trip through Spain.
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