Last day in Malaga

Yesterday was my final full day in Spain, so we all tried to make the most of it by spending the day at the beach. We played volleyball for a little while with two young Spanish men, who were quite unimpressed with our lack of volleyball skills. My sandals broke mid game, so I was constantly running around trying to cool off my feet from the hot sand. Us Spinellis aren't exactly known for being the best volleyball players, so it was quite a comedic event. 

Did I mention that we saw THE BLACK PEARL??!!!

Besides that, nothing too exciting happened throughout the day. We all went for dinner around 9 to Mama Leone's, which everyone had been raving about. I still can't believe how late the Spanish eat dinner, we weren't finished our meal until almost 11 o'clock!

My beautiful sistas!

Momma Spinz getting in on the action!

On our way down to the restaurant, Mj insisted on taking a photo of us at the marina. I can see why, it is such a beautiful spot (not that you can see it, she isn't the best photographer haha).

At mama's, Alanna, Mj and I ordered a 10 euro three course meal. For the appetizer, Mj and I each ordered a mixed salad, while Alanna got chicken soup. My salad was great, however, I have noticed that in Spain they typically use iceberg lettuce for all their salads, where I would have preferred some better greens. Alanna does not recommend the chicken soup. We ordered sangria at dinner also!

For the entree, Alanna ordered Spaghetti bolognese, Mj ordered chicken and fries, and I ordered spinach lasagna. I was thrilled with my dish. At first glance, it looked very creamy and there was little pasta to it, but I ended up eating the entire thing. I've only recently become a spinach fan, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this meal.

For dessert, Mj and I ordered a caramel creme brûlée, while Alanna ordered rice pudding. Nothing special to note for the desserts, but overall they were good. Rachel and Emilee split garlic bread and a chicken Cesar salad for dinner, which they were not too fond of. Again, I thought it was incredibly weird that it was iceberg lettuce in a Cesar salad! 

After dinner we took a long walk along the marina, and ran into a few friends from the dance studio. We also stopped for another photo op, naturally.

We did not stay out too late at the marina, as we had to head back to the hotel to figure out our flights for the next day. 

Goodbye Spain... Next stop... Munich, Germany!!

Dinner is served

We just got back from our night out in benalmadena. Dinner was at the same restaurant as on Saturday, and the food was delicious. We also had the same waiter, who speaks very good English and is really friendly and helpful. 

Rachel and Alanna ordered chicken Cesar salad.

And, bruschetta bread for me!

I must say, out of all the restaurants in Spain, this one really puts a lot of effort into the aesthetics of the dish, which we really appreciated. It looked so appetizing, and tasted as good as it looked!

After dinner we walked along the puerto marina and went into a few little souvenir shops along the way. We may or may not have picked up a back scratcher for my Nonna!! Hahaha. Then we had gelato (chocolate for me of course) and headed back to the hotel. 

Mj is cursing at my iPad right now while trying to do her bidding for next month on this crappy wifi (apparently they call it "wee phee" here in Spain lol). Alanna is reading while eating cheese and onion chips and drinking red wine. Rachel is in the shower, and I'm relaxing on my bed after having a few glasses of white wine! It's so cheap here, only 1 euro at the supermarket!! Deal of the day!

Oh, I almost forgot. I cannot leave without posting this hilarious photo of Alanna. She snap chatted this to me yesterday. We joke all the time about how she is Khloe kardashian, as they have very similar personalities (as far as I can tell). I even went as far as to yell "way to go khlo" as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma for graduation- no joke. So anyway, I thought this photo was way too funny not to share, because they actually look alike when Alanna completely distorts her face:

Hahahaha

Goodnight!

Beach day in Benalmadena

I'm currently sitting outside on my balcony after just having a relaxing shower. I wish I could say how serene it is out here, but I'm listening to this group of people make what sounds like a mixture of duck and seagle noises across the street hahaha. It's the strangest thing I've ever heard. I'm just waiting on Alanna and Rachel getting up from their naps and then we are all headed to dinner. Today was another beautiful day here in Benalmadena! We spent the first half by the beach and the second half by the pool.

I stand corrected- to my left is Alanna, naked, posing against the balcony door. How unusual...

Here's some photos from today:

Not sure if I'm running away due to the freezing cold Mediterranean Sea or because I stepped on a sharp shell..

We walked along the beach and saw the most amazing selection of rocks and shells along the shore. Alanna seemed pretty uninterested, but for Rach and I this was a gold mine!! We spent so much time looking through all the rocks, trying to spot out the coolest ones.

Since we are on a tight budget, we decided to make our own sandwiches for lunch. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella cheese were bought at the local supermarket! Not the fanciest meal, but this has become a standard practice for us on this trip!!

We are headed to dinner now, so I'll post again tonight and hopefully share some details from Emilee and Mj's trip to Morocco!! I personally can't wait to hear all about it! If they are in good enough moods to tell us, that is. 

Beautiful day in Malaga!

Beautiful- a word to describe my first official day in Malaga in a nutshell. Most of today was spent outside enjoying the beach. We started the day off having a buffet for breakfast, which consisted mainly of croissants, churros, and an assortment of fruit (watermelon and pineapple mostly). I had a few cups of coffee with my breakfast as it was quite good. We then headed down to the beach and tanned for a few hours. 

We parked ourselves right by the water, as this was the coolest area. It was such a beautiful day!! The sun was beating down on us all day long, which has resulted in Rachel looking like a lobster (She was "testing" out the sun to see if she needed sunscreen....lol). After lunch we decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool area.  

Isn't this amazing!!? This is my mom and sister's view from their hotel room...and they still complain! 

After enjoying many hours in the sun, we went back inside to relax in the hotel before dinner. I took this time to do some yoga on my balcony, it was SO NEEDED. My body was as stiff as a board- it felt so good to move. And what could be better than doing yoga outside, on a balcony, in Spain!!! Nothing.

**No butts were harmed during this yoga session, despite what appears to be a lack of circulation caused by my bathing suit in this photo. hahaha**

For dinner, we roamed around the streets for a while before grabbing a quick bite from the Panda Cafe on the boardwalk. Fries "chips" and salad for me and Rach to split! 

Emilee and Mj are headed to Morocco tomorrow with the rest of the dance pack, while Alanna, Rachel, and myself will be enjoying the beach again. Hopefully the beach volleyball tournament will be finished by then so we can have some fun on the beach!!

Ps- I apologize for the low quality photos. We have really terrible wifi here in the hotel! I'm literally sitting in the corner right now, by the balcony, waving my arm in the air. It sucks. But... It's Spain, and I sure ain't here for the wifi haha so the only real inconvenience is times like these when I'm trying to upload my posts!

Goodbye Madrid, hello Malaga!

Today my sisters and I left Madrid and took a 6 hour bus ride to Malaga. It was on this bus ride that I wrote a fantastic (in my opinion haha) and lengthy blog post about yesterday's festivities. I was unable to post it until I checked into my hotel here and had wifi, by which time my post seemed to disappear. This was incredibly frustrating, so I am in the process of re writing it now and will post it as soon as possible ! So far yesterday was the highlight of my trip so I cannot wait to share the details!

Anyway, back to today's events. After saying goodbye to our quaint but lovely hotel "Acta madfor" we took the metro to the main bus station (Alvaro) in Madrid to board our bus to Malaga! 

I was actually surprised, the bus ride flew by today. You could choose your seats ahead of time, they were comfy, there were TVs, and even a 15 minute pit stop. Canada could learn a thing or two from the Spanish!! 

Maybe I'm ignorant or not well versed in geography and countries of the world, but I had no idea what the terrain in Spain was like. It was the most beautiful 6 hour drive, consisting mostly of hills and mountains. I'll be honest, I was scared on a few occasions that our bus was going over board!! But we managed to make it to our destination safe and sound! 

After arriving in Malaga, we then had to take the city bus to Benalmadena. I think I've spent more time on buses and trains on this trip than anything else, but it really has been worth it. It was a stressful event trying to find a bus to benalmadena and not many people were able to help us due to the language barrier, however, we eventually hopped on the 110 bus and made it to our destination! 

Benalmadena is gorgeous!! The beach is beautiful and the architecture of some of the buildings is outstanding. Walking down the steps towards the boardwalk feels like you're in a totally different world. 

My sisters and I were starving, so we went out for dinner and tried to find something for 25 euros, as this is all we had left haha. 

Along the boardwalk we found many restaurants, cafés, and shops, but we chose to eat at El Ventisquero, as the staff was very engaging, the menu looked great, and we found some fellow English folk in there! We ordered pizza (Margarita pizza for me) and salad for dinner, and enjoyed a football match that was playing on television. 

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk and the beach. What a beautiful night.

We later met up with the rest of my family and walked around the marina. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, as I left my camera at the hotel, but I absolutely will tomorrow. It's crazy how alive the city becomes at night. It's 2:35am right now and people are flooding the streets! We are headed to bed, as we have an early date tomorrow morning with the beach (and breakfast buffet) otherwise I would have enjoyed staying out!