Walking is good for the heart.

Yesterday was a great day.  I had to say goodbye to my new friends and teachers, but after school I had a great time.  Here are some pictures first before I tell about my afternoon.

Matt Meredith, I mean, Basta from Norway, and Leon from Germany.

Two boys in my class.

 Leon was my savior, always helping me, as where Basta, we just laughed a lot together.

Basta is just like Matt.. strawberry blond hair, long hair (longer than Matt's), skater gear, aviator glasses, same expressions.  I swear Basta is like our third cousin or something from Norway! haha!

This was my morning teacher.  She was super compassionate, but also talked a mile a minute, which was so hard for me to understand.  We sang a lot in class together... she was quite the entertainer!

Ok, so after school, I went to find some good Spanish food for lunch.  I ended up having a Chicken wrap.  hhaha!  All the spanish dishes were so expensive and I just didn't want to spend $20 on something I may hate.  BUT, while sitting in the cafe, a nice man noticed I was studying my spanish.  I didn't even get his name, or maybe I did, but I don't remember... for two hours we sat at this small cafe, on the beach and he helped me speak spanish.  He speaks german, spanish and english, teaches martial arts, and is in banking now.  It was my first encounter with a stranger in Spain, that wasn't involved with the school.  It gave me hope.  The reason I say this is because I feel like when I walk up and down the street, people stare at me.. not glance, STARE!  So, being an American, I smile, sometimes I even say "hola!"  but they just kind of glare or stare back with a blank expression.

After I had lunch I walked an hour into the city, and on my walk, I encountered this 20 plus times.  After that many glares or blank expressions, I started to imagine myself just wigging out on them. You know, they look, I look back and smile, they continue to stare, and then I make weird faces and start acting like a clown, just to maybe get some reaction!?!?!  ok, so I didn't do that, but I laughed out loud picturing myself doing it, and then, I got more blank looks because I was laughing at myself.  *sigh

The walk was beautiful.  Here are a few pictures:

Can you see me?  I am in the U! This is on the beach.

How many cats can you see?  Stray cats are like an epidemic here.  Dogs not so much, but cats, everywhere.  You hear meow all day long.  :(  Most live in the rocks by the beach.

This is close to the center of the city.  In the back of the picture you can see a wall of bricks.  This is the wall of Alcazaba.  Google it. 

http://serbiamontenegrotravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_alcazaba_of_malaga_in_spain

Here is a website that talks a bit about it.

I started at the entrance of Alcazaba and walked forEVER.  Inside the walls are gorgeous gardens, old pottery, and amazing views of the city.  You walk uphill, and it goes on and on.  But you have to walk all the way back down in order to get out.  I didn't know this.  I thought I could get out on the other end and then go see the castle, which is on the top of the hill.  Here are some pictures inside Alcazaban.

  This is me inside the walls.  Most all my pictures is one big long arm and them me.. ahha.. The city picture is the cathedral.  The one I showed in my ealier blogs.

After climbing back down, I went up the hill to see the castle.  It's a hike for sure.  Lower lake and plus some. :)  I thought the castle would be all their rooms etc... but because a lot of the walls were made with limestone the center of the castle is pretty much gone.  Inside are some walls still standing, a gallery and a cafe (and cats!).  I had a half hour left before they closed, so I was snappity snap snap inside and then on my way.  Here are some pictures:

View from the castle.  The bull fighting ring.

City view.  There was a cloudy mist out yesterday, so not that clear.

This was a very tiny room.  There were three all beside each other.  Unless it was for a 6 year old, then everyone was SUPER SHORT back in the day!

I hope you are enjoying the pictures.  I miss having a travel companion (Rose bud!), who just wrote me an email telling me that she probably would have fed me a granola bar when I was crying on the corner by myself.  Oh how she knows me so well!!

I am off to Cadiz today.  One of Europe's oldest cities!!  They also have a big church there, I think one of the biggest in Europe.

Thanks for reading friends!

xo

Cole