Malaga, Spain

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We were already inside the Strait of Gibraltar when we got up at 6:30 am. Clay went up and got us front window seats in Palm Court to wait for sunrise. I was in the shower when we took a hard corner. There was a bit of pink on the horizon over Africa to starboard as I entered Palm Court. The Rock of Gibraltar came into view as the sun rose over the Mediterranean Sea. There were some dolphins in front of the ship as we began to turn and exit the Strait. We went to breakfast at Marketplace about 9 am. Our latest breakfast since boarding. We sat on our usual starboard side and had it almost to ourselves since everyone was crowded on the port side for the views of the Rock as we sailed around the corner.

We reluctantly canceled our Monte Carlo final ship's excursion to St Paul de Vence. We had gotten a memo advising how strenuous and steep and long the walks would be to get there. When I finished a self-pity cry for things lost, I returned our tickets to the excursion desk to cancel. She told me she'd been and it was a long walk at a 45 degrees incline. It's better this way. I'd rather be sad to miss it onboard than be embarassed to hold up a tour group by failing to perform as expected.

We had no firm plans for today and that was good. Good because I had a bowel upset this morning. It lasted until after 1 pm. We were cleared to leave the ship then. We left a little before 2 pm when it seemed safe. Clay was prepared to go alone if I wasn't ready to go by 2pm. The last ship to town shuttle returned to Serenity at 7:30 pm so even though all aboard was 11:30 pm, 7:30 pm was our return deadline. The shuttle ran to the Plaza de la Marina at the port gate and the start of town. It was an easy, mostly level walk for us from there up past and around the cathedral to Museo Picasso Malaga. We didn't visit the Picasso birthplace because it looked further away than we wanted to walk. We enjoyed the museum and their audioguides format. We were fighting Crystal tour groups the whole way. I can't imagine paying for that! Hopefully their tour was more than what we saw of them. It took us less than 30 minutes to get there from Serenity and that was because a shuttle bus left the second we arrived and we had to wait for the next one to leave. Then we stroll and browsed and used an ATM and Clay sat and ate a pistachio gelato before got to the museum. We paid 6 and 8 Euros for admission. I got a cool Picasso blue & white striped shirt! It will need to be hemmed up but I love it. We did some more wandering and found 2 places to eat dinner. We had potato croquettes and a salami pizza at Terra Mia. It reminded us of a pizza and pizza place in Naples and with reason because that was their theme. It was really good with 3 kinds of cured meat. We backtracked for dessert of chocolate crepes we'd passed at La Teteria right by the museum. Both places were delicious and affordable. Clay had seen some other treats he needed though and we wandered and shopped some more. He got a ham sandwich at a to go counter of Casa DBandera. He bought some candy at Sabor a Espana. It was a good day. We set a relaxed pace with low expectations and planning. It was a beautiful sunny day. It would have been hot but for the constant cool breeze in the air.

Feli had done her usual excellent job and service our room before we returned. We found our bed turned down and more importantly, our ice bucket full. An hour later and Clay has gone to bed and is sound asleep. We don't have to change the clocks tonight. We have a sea day tomorrow. Our last full one before the end of the trip.

BTW, the blog cover photo of Bob on the dashboard of a Mini Cooper is from our 2006 port call here in Malaga.

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