Malaga and Marbella, Spain

In 2004, I took the opportunity to visit Girona and Barcelona, Spain. I returned to Spain with my wife and daughter almost twenty years later. There were two motivations for visiting Spain this past August. First, my daughter missed the beaches on the Florida Gulf Coast, and Spain's Costa del Sol region met her wishes. Second, my wife and daughter both took DNA tests, and the results showed, like mine, that most of our ancestry came from Spain and Portugal.

During my previous visit to Spain, I flew Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn airport; however, the airline did not provide a direct flight to Malaga, so we flew Lufthansa. Plus, Lufthansa allowed us to fly with our pet Yorkie in the cabin. Once we landed, my family and I drove our rental car from the airport to the Airbnb in Marbella, which only took about thirty to forty minutes. The drive was scenic as the route went along the mountains and the coast.

The Airbnb was inside a beach resort like the Marriott vacation resorts my family, and I have stayed in Florida and Aruba. The apartment was clean, and the resort area was nice and secure. Once settled, we walked less than five minutes to the beach overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Since everyone was hungry, we opted to eat at the Chiringuito El Laurel Beach Bar. That night, we ate traditional Paella with seafood, which was tasty.

The next morning, we had a delicious English Breakfast at Cafeteria DiVino, an eatery next to our Airbnb resort, and then returned to the beach. The beach area was not crowded, and the Mediterranean was cooler than the water in the Gulf of Mexico. My family and I relaxed in the water for two hours and then walked to Chiringuito Los Tony's Beach Bar for lunch. After a long day at the beach, my family and I explored the area. That night, we stopped at El Barracon de las Tapas for dinner.

My family and I drove to Benalmádena and took the cable car up to the top of Monte Calamorro the following day. Once at the top, my family and I paid an additional five euros to watch the "Birds of Prey" demonstration. The demonstration included an Eurasian Eagle Owl, several falcons, and an American Bald Eagle.

Next, we drove to Plaza Mayor to do some shopping. While walking around, we came across Amigos, a fantastic Indian and Mexican Fusion restaurant, where we enjoyed the flavors of both cultures. Afterward, we returned to Marbella and walked along the beach, enjoying the views until sunset.

My family and I visited the Castillo de Gibralfaro on the last day before returning to Germany. The road up to the castle was curvy, which reminded me of my adventure driving along the mountain road in Santa Margherita, Italy. When we arrived, we paid the small entrance fee and went inside. The views from the castle wall are beautiful. On one side are the views of the mountains in the distance, and the other is the harbor and Mediterranean Sea beyond. Below the castle was a Bull Fighting Ring. The castle served as a fortress and a lighthouse during the period of the Moors and later conquered by the Christian kingdoms during the Reconquista.

The one thing I wish I had time to do while in Spain was to visit Gibraltar and then take the ferry across to Morocco. The ferry close to Gibraltar takes about an hour to cross instead of taking the ferry from Malaga, which would have taken four to five hours. It remains on my bucket list. In the future, I hope to visit Madrid and the Bay of Biscayne region along with Portugal.