Day 14 - 5 July Thursday – Mijas Costa/Puerto Banus

I had a really hideous night last night, I just could not sleep at all!  So woke up late and grumpy.  To add to my woes, it’s a bit windy today, so the plans we had tentatively made to spend the day at the beach aren’t going to happen.  Oh well, every holiday has a day like this…. Just gotta roll with it!

We took our time getting up and about and then Grant and I took a walk to the small supermarket, located in the resort, to stock up on a couple of groceries.  We caught the little train back to our unit and by this time I was feeling a lot better about things – amazing what a little fresh air, some exercise and a spot of sunshine can do for one's mood J

We spent some time at the reception area doing blog stuff (free wi-fi is only available at the reception area and at Zachary's restaurant), had a spot of lunch and then at 4pm caught the bus for an excursion to Puerto Banus (pronounced something like Port-o-bun-ush)

Puerto Banus is at the end of the “Golden Mile” in Marbella and is the port where the rich and famous (and the common and ordinary) park their yachts.  Unfortunately the wind did meddle with our outing somewhat, but it was still lovely to stroll along the promenade, looking at the lovely (rather expensive) restaurants and shops that front onto the harbour. 

notice the policeman on his sedgeway!

We walked right along the pier that extends into the sea, to find a geocache that was hidden at the very end of the pier.  Under normal circumstances this would have been a lovely walk, but in the howling wind, I found it very frightening, the normally calm and serene Mediterranean Sea was looking quite fierce (well I thought so!) and the pier was so narrow and it stretched so far out to sea. I was very happy when we had logged the geocache and I could waddle back to land as fast as my short little legs could carry me.   

(Now you have to understand that this photo is zoomed in... the pier was waaay out in the ocean...faaaaar!)

After that  astonishing display of bravery on my part, it was imperative that we “find a little coffee shop”, asap!  So we went into a small mall to do so – I was rather under-awed by the mall, but we had a nice cool drink and then wandered around the area, taking in all the sights and the sports cars.
 

Paula found her dream car!

We had supper at the Hard Rock Café.  It was our first time in a Hard Rock Café and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was by no means cheap, but the burgers were great and there was a fun atmosphere. 

After supper we browsed a really lovely market that was nearby.  Then it was time to head for our bus and back to the resort. 

One of the things I love about the Club La Costa resort is that you really don’t need a car.  By taking the (well-priced) excursions offered by the resort and catching the odd taxi, we have been able to see everything we wanted to see in the area, without having to hire a car.  It makes the experience so relaxed.