The Costa del Sol...Saturday

So we were up and out of our dirty hostal around 10am, and Jamie and I hit up some little stores right when they opened, since we had missed them last night.

Then we reloaded into the car, squeezed out of our money parking spot, and headed off to Ronda. Ronda is about 1.5 hours away from Sevilla and is a very small and very touristy, but also very attractive city. Their claim to fame is a large bridge, the original of which was built around 1400, and from which 30 people were thrown at the start of the Spanish Civil War. For 1 euro, we went into the bridge and visited the museum. It is actually a very high bridge--I definitely would not want to be thrown off of it for any reason...unless I was attached to a bungee cord I guess.

After Ronda we zipped (well, not really zipped) down to Gibraltar, which is a British colony (passports needed, but no stamp provided!) on the very southern tip of Spain. You can actually see northern Africa from the miradors (viewpoints).

Gibraltar´s claim to fame is the crazy tailless monkeys they have, who are very brave and can jump ridiculous distances. We found the monkey area, and the car was immediately attacked by half a dozen monkeys when they saw that we had bread in the car. A couple of times they almost jumped into the car! One also pooped on the hood of the car. Apparently we could have gotten fined 500 pounds for feeding them, but guess what? We did it anyway. I almost had some video, but my camera, usually ever-so faithful, decided to crap out on me at that moment. But, we got some hilarious pictures. I´m hoping to send one into the Illinois alumni magazine!

After Gibraltar, we toured up the coast even further (we all have to be at the Malaga airport around 4:30, so we´re planning on staying up the whole night and moving progressively closer to the city through the night), to Marbella. Marbella is a really attractive small city along the Costal del Sol which is known for their previous mayor laundering 27 million euros around 2002, who was put into jail in 2002 and was subsequently out on bail. However, he died in 2004.

So, that´s where we are now. We looked in the guide book and found an authentic restaraunt with cheap food. We found it, and I thought it would be cool to order the rabbit, since I´d never had it. The meat itself was tender (once you picked it off the vertebrae) and flavorful, but a little gamey. However, I had to stop eating it once I found the skull, brain, optic nerve, and liver on my plate staring back at me. Ick.

So, I don´t think I´ll be able to post again until I get home tomorrow at 6:30 EST. I´ll have pictures up soon! :)