Edd's Travels: Marbella, Spain

And so this blog comes to Europe for the very first time ever. My previous experience of travelling on the continent does not extend beyond dimly-remembered family holidays as a child, and stag parties - even more dimly remembered - as an adult. It's stupid, really. I've overdone the American road-tripping in recent years and anyway right now I'm inclined to give the USA a wide berth for a while. Say, until after the next presidential election.

Five years ago I spent two months travelling across South America. During that trip I made an earnest attempt at learning Spanish, but ultimately I was defeated by the sheer variety of dialects and accents that I encountered in the various countries over there. Also, if I'm being honest, I spent too much of that trip reading books in English and talking to fellow travellers in English. This time I'm optimistic that I'll do better by simply forcing myself both to read and to speak in Spanish all day long. However, one thing that I've noticed in my first couple of days here is that when you speak to locals in Spanish, they generally respond in English. I can forgive them for doing so, because otherwise things go as follows:

1. Tourist: "Un café, por favor."
2. Waiter: "¿Quiere leche?"
3. Tourist "What? I mean, ¿qué?"
4. Waiter: "Milk?"
5. Tourist: "Yes please. I mean, sí."

Obviously it's easier from their point of view simply to omit lines 2 and 3.

I had three seats to myself on the outbound three-hour flight from Newcastle to Malaga, and a comfy double seat to myself on the 45-minute coach from Malaga to Marbella. The Costa Del Sol is pretty quiet right now, as it's off-season, but that's fine with me. I don't like crowds and anyway 17 degrees C is plenty warm enough for this particular tourist.

After walking west along the seafront from central Marbella to Puerto José Banús, which is where the rich people live, I enjoyed coffee and scrambled eggs with ham & cheese at a little cafe in the Plaza Antonio Banderas. Yes, it's really named after the actor. He was born in Malaga. Incidentally it's going to take a while for me to adjust from American coffee (served in pints, mild caffeine buzz) to Spanish coffee (served in thimblefuls, total caffeine psychosis).

But I've already fully acclimatised myself to Spanish supermarkets, which are like English ones, only much cheaper and with better food. Speaking of cheapness, I'm staying in a modest little Marbella pension for twenty quid a night. This is the first time that I've done two trips in a row without bothering to find gainful employment inbetween, and my finances are currently somewhat stretched as a result. There won't be any rented convertibles on this trip, but there will be plenty of pretty pictures for you all to look at, just as soon as I get out of the tourist world and into the real Spain. Marbella is nice enough, it's just not really my cup of tea. I'm not quite sure which parts of the Iberian peninsula will be more to my taste; but over the next couple of months I guess I'll find out, one way or another. Stay tuned.