This has been the first day that we've had to ourselves, which was very, very nice. We didn't have to rush to have breakfast and then run off anywhere. We just got to do our own thing until the evening and that was great! The only sad part is that it is our last day in Spain. *sniff*
After we got up this morning, Steve and I walked down to the beach. It was still early, and not many people were out, so we had the beach almost to ourselves. We were told that the water would be warm, but that was a filthy lie! I tried to walk into the surf and immediately ran out, because it was freezing cold. It was also very windy and a little chilly, so walking around was a bit uncomfortable at first, because we were wearing shorts and tee-shirts, as you do. The main thing I wanted to do, as I do whenever I'm on a beach, is look for shells, but there were hardly any there at all. We found a few, fairly large in-tact arc-like shells, but they were few and far between. What we did find a lot of, though, were rocks. Seriously, chunks of marble, I think, were everywhere. So we picked up pretty rocks as well as the few seashells we could find! Our luggage is going to be very heavy, I bet!
Take a good look at my Lunch Lady Ankles!
The beach was pretty. The sand was coarse and dark, so nothing like the sand in the gulf, but I didn't mind. We walked for a bit, and then lay down in a couple of the sun chairs that lined the beach. We thought that they must belong to our hotel, since they were right in front of where we were staying, but we had only been there a little bit before someone came and asked us for money! Oops. We hadn't brought any cash down to the shore, so we had to give up our chairs. Boo!
We headed back to the hotel to choose what to do with our day, and Steve decided that he wanted to sit next to the pool. I didn't mind, but it felt kind of silly to lie next to a swimming pool when we had the Mediterranean Sea right in our backyard, but I only gave a token protest. We texted Anthony to tell him where we were and lay down for a bit. The sun was bright and hot by this time, so we managed to get some sun. The pool area was really crowded, and so when Anthony and a couple of other people we knew came downstairs, I decided to abandon my chair and go back to walking on the beach. I left Steve in his chair because I was kind of bored. :) The rest of us walked around for a while, picking up more rocks and stuff, until Steve met up with us and we were ready to walk down the street and look in the shops.
I'm glad to know that cheesy beach culture is international. We found some really cute stuff and some really awful stuff, but it was a lot of fun to go in and out of the souvenir shops. We also had such at a local place while we were out. Somehow we ended up eating in an English pub not far from the beach. It was weird and out of place, but we ate there. I joked that I went all the way to Spain to eat in an English pub, where I ordered a hamburger called a "New York" burger that had Irish bacon in it. It was...not good, but we had fun and I didn't mind.
We also watched part of the World Cup with some guys from England, and in light of full disclosure, I felt kind of dumb. Our tour guide had been talking about wanting to see the Spain and Portugal football game for several days. I had no idea he was talking about the World Cup. I thought it was just a regular game, so when we got to our hotel and two huge ballrooms had been set up with chairs and televisions, I thought "Wow, these people take soccer seriously." While we were at the pub, Anthony had to explain to me the significance of the game (France and...Egypt, I think) and what was actually going on! So, you know, now I know why it's such a big deal. Oy.
After we left, Steve went back to the hotel, but Anthony and I decided to go back to the beach for a bit. As we walked around, I started noticing that a lot of the ladies on the beach were topless! (No pictures of that, perv.) You know, I had read about that being a thing here before we left, and even joked about it on Twitter, but honestly, I had forgotten all about it until right then. Once I noticed, it was difficult for me not to stare a bit, because seriously, just...nipples everywhere! I feel bad about being caught so off guard, and it isn't that boobs are a foreign commodity to me or anything, but I'm not used to seeing them out in the wild like that. I got over it fairly quick and didn't stare long, though. In fact, I was a little jealous. It looked so comfortable and free and none of those ladies gave one fuck about it, either. I wished I could have done it too, and I suppose I could have, but I didn't for a few reasons. #1- a lot of the men we were with had zero chill about the topless women. They were not catcalling or anything like that, but they were taking pictures and making comments among themselves and that's just gross. I was traveling with these dudes and I didn't want them seeing me like that, because I had a feeling it would get brought up in some kind of uncomfortable way later on.* Yuck. #2- I was with Anthony, and as dear of a friend as he is to me, he is not the kind of friend I even talk about boobs with, much less show mine to...so, no thank you. #3, and this one is a bit more internal than the others, I REALLY have to trust a person before I can be that vulnerable around them. I don't have a great track record with people who have seen them on purpose. (I say on purpose, because the girls do "slip the surly bonds of earth" from time to time on accident.) Not that there have been many, mind you, but most of the ones who have tend to...not ever talk to, or want to see me again. So...yeah, I have issues. Having said that, I think I could have done it if none of the band people or Anthony had been there, though, because no one else cared or even paid attention. I was also gratified to know that you didn't have to be young, thin, or attractive to be topless. What I'm trying to say here is that I saw several people's grandma's bare breasts, and I can never unsee that, but good on them. Anyway...lots more boobs than I thought I'd see on this trip.
Other than that, Anthony and I rented some beach chairs and just chilled out for a few hours. I actually fell asleep, and the sun shifted, so half of my body got burned and half didn't, so that'll be some fun tan lines!
Later that evening, we had one more trip to make, which was to a swanky hotel up in the hills where we were given a reception. It was better than the reception we had in Ireland, because there was actual food there and it was fantastic! The view from the front of the building was amazing as well.
We had a lovely dinner and a lot of fun. This was a great way to end our trip to Spain!
*Yeah, I made the right call about the not-going-topless-in-front-of-these-men thing. One guy, who was more creepy than the others, approached me and another woman later and got weird about the topless ladies he had seen on the beach. It was one of those conversations where you start looking around for an adult, because you get that uncomfortable.
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