Andalusian Adventures: A home from home…

As another busy year is coming to its conclusion, I thought I’d revive my blog to share my personal journeys and adventures that have taken place throughout 2019. To give some context of how this all happened, at the end of last year my parents planned and made a decision to spend some time abroad to live and work, since it was always an ambition of theirs to do so and chose to re-locate to the Costa Del Sol in southern Spain…

The beginning of 2019 saw them head for their new life in Andalucia, we’d spent hours researching everything they’d need to know beforehand (which certainly paid off) and they managed to settle into their new surroundings and way of life quickly. They were based near to the small town of San Pedro (de Alcantara), a quiet working town which avoids the majority of the tourists with it being located slightly inland.

My first visit to see my parent’s new home was booked for early February, I’d spend 6 days out in Spain to take advantage of some cheap flights into Malaga and planned to explore a number of coastal towns, making use of the inexpensive and reliable buses, whilst also looking to take in two football matches.

Even in February it turned out to be lovely weather compared to what I’m used to, averaging around 20 degrees and being clear blue skies most days. The first few days were spent locally around San Pedro, where I was able to visit Marbella and Estepona with the latter being my personal favourite even though it is the smaller of the two.

The plan for the weekend was more ambitious, which saw us travel south to Gibraltar (via La Linea) to spend a day at the home of “The Rock”.

The bus journey went well and after walking over the border we found ourselves going across the airport’s runway and into the city centre. Even though it is small, it’s a very interesting place that’s covered in history. Gibraltar is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary places you could visit and I’m so glad I was able to go on my trip.

After having a walk along Main Street, myself and my Dad decided to catch the cable car up to the “Top of the Rock” to take in the views and meet the monkeys that inhabit it, followed by taking our time and walking back down one of the paths into the centre, then re-joining my Mum and having a meal together.

The views were incredible!

After a longer and more tiring walk back down than we’d anticipated, we quickly had a meal before heading off to my first football match on the trip, at the fantastic Victoria Stadium, which is the only football ground in Gibraltar. The late afternoon kick-off fitted our plans nicely and happened to be in the suitably name Rock Cup competition, between Lynx and Gibraltar Phoenix. The main reason to visit here is the outstanding views behind both goals, look one side and you get “The Rock”, the other and you get the airport’s runway, even during the game there were 2 take off and landings at the airport which was fascinating to see being so close. The match itself wasn’t the best, but being a cup match and having free entry made it interesting nonetheless, with the ‘away team’ Phoenix deservedly progressing as 3-1 victors. After the game, it was time to walk back over the Spanish border and catch the bus back ‘home’ ready for Sunday.

We had another early start the following day, as we headed to nearby Marbella for a 12pm kick off in the Segunda B (third tier) which was also my first game in Spain.

After arriving in the centre around one hour before kick off, we spent some time walking along the beach and relaxing in the morning sun. The ground was only a short walk away and after arriving with some time to spare, we had a walk around the ground and I purchased a club scarf for ten euros to add to my growing collection. After paying a very reasonable twelve euros entry (considering they’re professional) we took our seats in the more modern all-seated stand opposite the older main stand.

This turned out to be a very enjoyable game all-round, Marbella edged it slightly and won 1-0 thanks to a deflected shot in the second half. The phrase “Spanish style of football” is quite common in the game, but you’d think that only applies to their national team or top La Liga clubs, well in this case it certainly didn’t. It was quite remarkable to see the way that both teams were trying to play which was a credit to them and they largely cancelled each other out because of it. It certainly gave me appetite to watch more games throughout the Spanish pyramid to see if it was all this good.