Is this the end???

It's been well over a year now since I last wrote in this blog but I wanted to get my final pictures on here from Spain! So I guess better late than never, right? After my trip to Malaga I only had a few weeks left and I wasn't about to stop with the adventures. Since the last part of this trip was a while ago I don't have a super detailed account for what happened but I do have tons of pictures...which I would like to share. The majority of my time left in Spain was spent with my friend in Granada. She completely saved me as I was having problems looking for a place to stay...plus she's uber cool. Being in Granada is great and whats even better are all the small towns nearby that one "must go visit." Jaen, Baeza and Ubeda were all on my list of places to see so a friend and I decided to go check out the sites. See our adventures below: p

Now that I've been back in the states for a while I keep wanting to go back and visit friends. I had an absolute blast while visiting everyone and traveling to new places. The next time I visit I'm planning to go with my new hubby (Mike and I are getting married in May! Yes...same guy from blog pics). I can't wait until we're off on our next adventure together. XOXO Thank you all for reading!

Not quite enough sun

After all the fun in Cordoba I was beyond exciting for a couple relaxing days on the beach.

So when I got there, the first step was get into a bathing suit and onto the beach! From there I met up with my friend Paul and we headed out to lunch. I was thrilled because we were going to have a typical Malaga lunch...consisting of all fish! Pescado frito (fried fish) is the THING you have to eat when visiting Malaga. Glad that got checked off the list!

Following that was more beach time...and possibly a siesta on the beach :)

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that it was a relaxing day on the beach which was perfect after all the commotion that had just happened in Cordoba. Since I was really only going to be in Fuengirola for 2 days, 1 night, we had to take advantage and go out for a little bit that evening. So we went out for some typical Spanish tapas (ensaladilla rusa, huevos con atun, boquerones...) and then moved on...to an Irish pub.

Normally in Spain that would be a strange thing to find but on the Malaga cost there are TONS of foreigners hence why there are so many English and Irish pubs. I was excited for this one though because, as Paul let me know, there was going to be a live band. They weren't anything big but they were playing tons of classics  (in English) that everyone there knew. In addition to that excitement I also got to try a typical Irish cider (Magners) which was pretty good.

Well our night was pretty short out because the next day we really had an adventure...picking up trash on the side of the highway! How exciting.
               
Paul actually helped organize a group together to do a variation of "adopt-a-highway." The idea was we'd go out to an area where this same group had actually planted trees earlier in the year. We headed there and with about 40 of us, we managed to clean the area with the trees in just a couple hours. Plus we got t-shirts and hats, who doesn't like that?

just some of the people that came out to help

After breaking a serious sweat we all headed to a park nearby and got some paella cooking. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for me and Paul to wait for the paella because I had to go catch a bus back to Cordoba. We still had to eat something so we headed to a tapas bar, el Cañubo (ni caña, ni tubo), and then we were off...or rather I was off. And back to Cordoba I went...


That night in Cordoba I was going to try the feria again, hopefully this time with a little less excitement.

And it was a success!!! We went out, danced, checked out some casetas and I even ended the night (at 5am) with a loaded Spanish baked potato. What a good end to my visit in Cordoba!

Spanish loaded potato= ham, olives, cheese + corn
 different but yummy

What a night!

I know I'm behind (again) in my posts when I just finished packing to go home and I still haven't told you about the last 2 weeks...

Tomorrow morning I'll be headed home after a wonderful and adventurous three months in Europe. I've been so busy the last two weeks visiting everyone that I've found no time to write. So I'm gonna play a bit of catch up to let you know what I've been up to.

Let's start w/ NOT being on an island and back to the mainland...

After getting back from Mallorca, I pretty much turned around, packed up my bags and headed to Cordoba. I was visiting my friend Niki and it couldn't have been better timing. Starting around the second week of May is when all the festivities start happening there and I was right on time for all of it. There's so many things to do in May in Cordoba but the one thing we were counting on doing was visiting the FERIA.

the girls heading to the feria

Now, feria literally translates to the fair...and that's what it is. A spanish fair. There are rides and food stands all filled with people BUT there is quite a difference between any fair I've gone to in the states and the ones in Spain (or at least in Cordoba)...It's pretty much a HUGE party. They have tents for everyone to go into and visit. Inside are live bands, food and LOTS of drinks. Many Spanish people dress up in their traditional outfits and dance a traditional dance from the afternoon all the way into the early morning. In case you don't know...early morning here means 7-10am. yea...that's a lot of dancing. I mean people do come and go but there are literally people around at all times (except for maybe between 10am and 2pm, but that I'm not sure since i wasn't there until the evening).

the spanish women are sporting the traditional Sevillana dresses

Here they're dancing Sevillanas

The whole idea when you go is just to stay out all night, drinking fino (sherry wine), dance and enjoy the company. If you're not careful, however, you may end up drinking too much fino, dance around a toaster with a group of friends and get a ride home in an ambulance after falling down...and that was my night. Lesson to be learned? Be careful with the fino!

We and Niki got some beautiful flowers to show off

Ya gotta have a few of these for proof of a fun night

One of the live bands in one of the casetas (tents)

This was right in front of Juan 23, a frequently visited caseta by our group

 j







This pretty much describes Feria in a nutshell...














Some of the people in "our group"

Heading to another caseta

We all got home at the "normal" time...7am. That meant we were all exhausted and dedicated the next day to rest and relaxation. And took FULL advantage of it because the next day I'd be headed to another town...this time to visit my friend Paul on the beach in Fuengirola (coast of Malaga).