On The Road Again!

Today was our day to pick up our rental car and hit the highway to Alicante! We were both a little nervous about finding our way, but fortunately our car had a GPS machine. We had to stop one of the Europcar staff members to help us get it going, but once we had it up and running ... we did quite well! Okay ... there was that one little mistake that took us to the airport in Malaga instead of the highway that could have been avoided ... but ... the man on our GPS rerouted us successfully!!

The drive was absolutely beautiful. The scenery and topography changes in some amazing ways over and over again along the way. Orchards and flat barren areas that looked more like Phoenix ... and then ... the "Fields of Plastic" emerged into view!! These are greenhouses that are erected for miles and miles and miles and miles along the Costa del Sol! The tonnage of produce they put out must be staggering!!

In fact, we passed many a trucker whom we assume was hauling beautiful fruits and vegetables! We were thoroughly enjoying our 5.5. hour drive until we decided to stop about after about three hours of driving to grab a little snack. We didn't want to get caught up in big city traffic, so we were looking for a little town ... highway side.

We decided to pull into "Librilla". It has a population of 5729. We figured we couldn't get too lost in a small town so we travelled down 'main street' until we came upon a place that had tables set out in front of it!

We wandered in and had to point at what we wanted in the little coolers ... no one spoke a word of English ... and well ... our Spanish leaves a lot to be desired. We ended up with a torte (potato and egg ... I think). And, of course, the old boy added some anchovies and pickled artichoke hearts to his plate! They even had a great white wine for us! The total bill was $11.00 EUR!!

There was a mercado across the street from it, so we thought we'd grab our groceries there. We realized during the car ride that we had forgotten our Pringles in Malaga. That was not the worst of it. We also forgot the three bags of Inez Rosales tortas that we made a special trip to get before we left Seville!! We were broken hearted to think we would not have them for our time in Alicante ... but ... miracles exist!!

We were wandering through this tiny grocery store in Librilla and the old boy spotted 3 packages of them high on the shelf! They were only $2.20EUR each. We paid $7.00 each in Seville!! Hmmmm. The wine was also priced accordingly. We picked up a couple of bottles ... one for less than $2 and one for less than $3. So, our bellies were full and our pocket book was not robbed!!

We got back in the car ,,,, but ... the next hour was hellish!! It was rush hour in the city of Murcia and Alicante and the highway was hard on my nervous system. The speed limit is 120km/hour and the truckers (hauling all that fabulous produce) are in the right hand lane going too slow. The commuters in the left hand lane are going too fast. And THEN, there are the ones who insist on darting in between each!! Arghhhhhh.
It was a rough ride for me for about an hour ... and hence ... I felt bad for the old boy trying to navigate the scenario with me doing the brakes and silently screeching in terror beside him.

The good news is that was only for about an hour of our five hour ride. The rest of the trip was quite lovely. And, we feel a bit of freedom having a car at our disposal. I'm not sure what we will do with it ... because our place is amazing!! I am on the deck right now ... overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and watching the sun set behind the mountains to the west of us. ❤️

The sun is setting behind the mountains, but casting a gorgeous glow over the sea!! The colors are so soft and muted ... they almost look unreal. And, the sunset is casting light on the differing parts of the city across town. It is truly magnificent to watch!

Neither of us were particularly hungry ... but ... we thought we should head out for a bit to eat. The old boy searched it out and found a restaurant nearby. The walls were completely glass so I could see all the colors on the water and cotton candy pinks in the sky as the sun descended.

I ordered the salmon with veggies and the old boy ordered the veal gizzards along with some kind of sausages. He took one bit of the gizzards and boldly declared something I have not heard him say yet this trip: "14/10".
He was so excited about those dang gizzards. He liked the sausages too ... but ... I may not hear the end of his infatuation with the gizzards. I really enjoyed my salmon and the veggies were 10/10 for me! We also enjoyed an Argentinian crepe that was exceptionally good for dessert.

So, all I can say is this: L'Albir is making a fabulous first impression. Tomorrow we will have a chance to check it some more! It's far past our bedtime, so I will sign off for now.

See you tomorrow ... k&j ❤️Read more