Malaga

The beaches of the Costa del Sol have seen Malaga become one of the most visited regions in Spain. When we arrived in Malaga at 7am it was pitch black. The kids were exhasted so it was 9am by the time we dragged ourselves off the ship. I was wearing jeans with thongs and a t-shirt (very Parisian - not!). I noticed lots of people around us with boots and big jackets on. We'd just come from the sun of Funchal and were going to the beach why would you need a jacket? Well luckily the kids had tracksuits on. We caught 2 buses from the ship to get into the main town. Our plan was then to get transport to Marbella, a Coastal town very popular with tourists. Given that Marbella was an hour away and we were due to be back on board the ship in only a few hours we decided this maybe wasn't our best option. When we hopped of the bus it started to rain. To get out of the weather we headed into a small Cafe with a Wi-Fi signal (Wi-Fi was prounced We-Fe in French but has since gone back to Wi-Fi). We had a coffee and Frank spent 30 minutes trying to connect to the internet without success. Then we walked out into the weather again. I said to Frank, 'My toes and other body parts are about to snap off'; it was freezing.

Frank made a great suggestion, 'Let's just go to a department store'. Despite our pact, in Casablanca, to never go to a shopping mall again on the trip it sounded like a great idea and a way to seek respite from the rain and freezing winds (note to self: always check the weather report on docking in new place).

El Corte Ingles was like Disneyland for women, rows and rows of shoes and bags - all amazing and mostly on sale up to 70% off. Leather bags were about 25 Euro about $33 AUD. I was tempted to do a little shopping and hire a truck to take it back to the ship. But here's the thing (the carry on challenge from an earlier post). We have no room - at all - in our four carry on bags which are truly busting at the seams. Frank had to rugby tackle them through the hand luggage sizing display at CDG airport. When airport admin asked him to see if they could fit, I laughed. 'There is no way they those bloated puppies will fit', I thought,'and there's no way Frank will allow them not to'. The struggle that ensued was hilarious. If Frank thought getting them into the luggage sizing guide was difficult getting them out was even more so. At one point I thought we would have to take the sizing device with us to Barcelona. Since then our luggage has changed not only in weight but it scale of terrorist threat. I have gathered many bottles of lotions, potions and gels (all over 100ml). Not my fault - they were 'free' with a hair cut on board the ship (this is actually true - you buy these products you don't pay for the hair cut - and combined they cost less than the haircut). Further, we have machine guns, lacky guns, light sabers and basically enough weapons to start a war (at least at a kid's birthday party). A little dress, maybe a bag, can not hurt. Of course not. It's a cruise; I can't go to the formal dinner in jeans. It's not respectful. Frank and the boys head to the Cafeteria for a snack and thus follows the best shopping of the trip. There are no crowds and for a brief hour I get in the zone. I end up with a dress (or two) and vow to throw out my thongs.

Have we really seen Malaga, well not really, but El Corte Ingles was definately worth the visit.