The Spanish Trilogy. Benalmadena Dec 2018. Day 5 Parque la Paloma,shopping & a cheap mini pub crawl

[roxie2001]

Wednesday 19th December

Our last lazy morning, we discussed visiting Marbella again but we were really enjoying the weather and staying local so we decided to spend our last day in Benalmadena. We didn’t know what to expect from this holiday, my sister visited with friends in September and didn’t like it much (she did stay for 10 nights in a residential apartment) but it exceeded all our expectations.
We went for breakfast.

I saw Michelle and she loaned me her map and how to walk to the cable car if we wanted to. We chose to walk to Parque la Paloma first.

It was massive with random chickens and ducks waking about. It was brilliant, and we spent a good hour here.

We saw rabbits as well.

We noticed a market/car boot so had a look but it was more like a junk yard!

Back to the park

I really enjoyed the cactus gardens.

I hate heights so gave the cable car a miss (I did tell Matt I would go if he really wanted to) and instead we took the bus to Torremolinos to look around the centre.
It didn’t take long and cost €1.10.

It was a quite a big town centre. I needed to get my mum some tobacco, she gave me the money to change into euros for 10 pouches before we left and I also got her 5 for a Christmas present. They were €9 each for Drum.
We walked around the streets and I recognised the shops from the other day. Matt didn’t believe we had walked here until we saw the square, it didn’t seem we walked that far when we walked on the seafront.
We took a bus home and went for lunch.
I posted this on Instagram as I loved all the little signs.

Paella again, plus Matt was happy to have sprouts, his favourite veg.

We went to get ready, Matt finished first and went to the bar.
Anyone on the university visits thread will know that my Dd has applied. She had an upgraded unconditional offer from UEA, her second favourite but her first choice is Nottingham Trent.
While Matt was downstairs she snap chatted me to say Trent had upgraded her to unconditional as well. This was the best Christmas present. I jumped around a little then met Matt, he hadn’t looked at his snapchat so he called her straight away. We both got a bit emotional and had a drink to celebrate.
The entertainment staff came round and asked us to guess how many cards he had in a pile, the winner would be announced later. He asked for our names and then said he knew I was Sapphire from karaoke the other night.
Matt wanted to try a pub called St Andrews on the main road so we walked there. Unfortunately it was closed so we went to an Irish bar called OReillys. A bottle of Mahou and cider was only €2, we couldn’t resist that! It was really friendly in there.

We looked in a souvenir shop and got a lighter/torch and an ashtray for my mum and a shot glass for Dd. Matt also got 2 belts for €5.
Then onto Bonanza square.

The Mad Ass Irish bar.
A beer and mojito was €8.70.

It was quiet so we just had one more drink in another sports bar.

They didn’t have cocktails or Sangria so I had half a shandy. It was only €2.50 for that and a beer.

We headed back to the hotel and went to the bar. It was quiz time, Monuments tonight. Michelle came in with her son and friend and joined our team. I think we did ok, but didnt win. We would have done better but the people marking our paper were very precise and didn’t give us Auschwitz (correct answer was Auschwitz concentration camp) and a couple of others that weren't spot on.
Matt and I left to have dinner.

A Barry White tribute was the entertainment, he was pretty good and got everyone dancing at the end.
Then it was karaoke again.
I sung I predict a riot, then Michelle’s son went on to sing Olly Murrs, bless him, he was only 9.
We made the most of our last night and had a late drink and said our goodbyes to them.

[Melbatb]

You again packed a lot in! Hard to believe it was the week before Christmas looking at the weather!

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

You again packed a lot in! Hard to believe it was the week before Christmas looking at the weather!

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I’m so glad we found the park, it would have been nice to have a picnic there, they also had a cafe/bar inside.