Spain: Nerja

On to Nerja! But first we had one important task: pick up a car. We walked the very short distance from our hotel back to the train station and dutifully waited for the train. Yen amused himself with the mirror that lines the wall of the station.

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Did I mention in the last post that he just got a new camera? When you’ve got a new camera and you suddenly find yourself on vacation, you need to act fast to understand all the new bells and whistles. Yen practiced on me while we headed for the car. See me? I’m getting on a train…

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…and now I’m on a train.

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Ok, so we got our car. It was an adorable little Peugeot. It zipped on down the highway to our first destination, Nerja. But don’t forget that it’s still Epiphany, so some Wise Men were waiting when we arrived.

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Nerja is particularly famous for a cave nearby, which (in 1959, I think) was discovered to have paintings inside. Those aren’t available for public viewing, but we toured the rest of the cave.

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It’s a lot less colorful than the ones I’m used to (Wind Cave, for instance), but it’s very, very tall inside.

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Outside, we moved on to Nerja’s next claim to fame, this huge aqueduct.

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And then we were on to the town itself. There was one particular picture Yen wanted to take, but the mazelike streets never allowed us to find the location to take it from. We’ll just have to figure it out next time, I guess. Finally we made our way to the town center, parked, and headed for the Balcón de Europa.

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At last we couldn’t take it any longer and sat down for some lunch. While we waited, Yen borrowed my glasses to see whether they suited him. (No.)

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Refreshed (and with our own accessories again), we headed back out to play the part of tourists in earnest.

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Here I am with a statue of the king who named the Balcón.

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There are cats everywhere in these little coastal villages.

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There’s no evidence in this picture, but there were dolphins swimming all over in the distance.

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One of the reasons there are cats everywhere is the locals take pity on them and feed them. We saw random food dishes throughout our visit.

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At last sunset was coming, so we hurried back up to the top to catch a glimpse.

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These kids were having a great time buzzing around on their electric Vespa.

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At last dark was falling, so we made our way to the resort where we were staying. So very, very tired. And we needed to rest up to continue the schedule Yen had planned.

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http://www.visitcostadelsol.com/what-to-do-and-see/what-to-see/balcony-of-europe-p28861