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Cuba - More than old cars
Weather: 26º C Overcast and Sunny
Mileage: 210 Km; Total 3,440 kms
A short trip today so we planned on 2 stops on the way. The first was Fuente de Piedra and the second was Antequera.
Outside of Fuente de Piedra is a lagoon which is Europe’s major nesting area for the Greater Flamingo migrating from Africa. The lagoon is a shallow saltwater body where the birds arrive between February and March to breed. They leave in August when the lagoon dries up. We expected to see many thousands of them. We did see some but not the numbers we expected. The visitor centre did do tours of the lagoon but needed many people before that would happen.
We did wander around however, to see if we could get the occasional view of the lagoon through the bushes. We saw a few flamingos swimming, eating and flying but not many. There was also one by itself in the bush and we have attached a photo of it. We think we saw this same one in a photo Alister took during his trip in Africa. He will have to confirm this for us.
I suppose our expectations here were too high and we will need to go to Africa if we want to see them by the hundreds of thousands if not millions.
The next planned stop was the Dolmens near Antequera. The Domens are prehistoric megalithic burial chambers. They were built some 4,000 years ago out of stone slabs weighing more than 100 tonnes each.
We were having problems finding how to get to them so we drove to Antequera, parked the car, somehow found the Tourist Information Office and got instructions on how to get there. We were also told we would need to be in by 3pm as they close at 3.30. It was now back to get the car and find our way to them. We saw one signpost and the map we were given was not that helpful as there was no scale. In the end we did not find it and next thing we knew we were on the motorway – GRRRR. Fortunately the motorway was headed for Malaga.
If we have one complaint about Spain, it would be the lack of signage to find Information Centres (you need one of their maps to find out where they are) and road signage to places of interest. They are also not big on viewing stops for those that are driving. I suppose we are saying that Spain does not cater that well to the driving tourist. To overcome this we have been doing quite a bit of research on the internet to get addresses for the TI offices and sites of interest. Even this is not perfect. Some of them provide Latitude and Longtitude degrees which really helps those, like us, with GPS equipment.
With grumbling and expletives coming from the driver we headed for Malaga. We had also better have internet access in the room there. In Granada we had to go to the reception area for internet access as they were upgrading the internet access capabilities on the floors.
Didn’t take long to get to Malaga having avoided the toll roads. It all seemed quite direct so not sure where the toll roads went. Billy indicated the distance on the toll roads was longer than the one we took and we were on a double lane divided highway with a 120 km speed limit. We even saw another highway being built alongside the one we were travelling on – to cut through a mountain we believe. Can certainly see where some of their infrastructure spending is going.
No problems arriving here although no parking outside or in the hotel so we parked in a public car park nearby. It turns out that we should be parking there and the hotel gives us the ticket to get out at a heavily discounted rate. The room does have excellent internet connection – YAY.
We had not eaten since breakfast so out for some food and to find the Tourist Information Centre. The TI Centre was 100 metres down the road and beyond that was the Marina and start of the beach area.
Some information about Malaga, It is on the Costa del Sol and is also one of the oldest cities in the world having been founded by the Phoenicians about 770 BC. Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.
Mileage: 210 Km; Total 3,440 kms
A short trip today so we planned on 2 stops on the way. The first was Fuente de Piedra and the second was Antequera.
Outside of Fuente de Piedra is a lagoon which is Europe’s major nesting area for the Greater Flamingo migrating from Africa. The lagoon is a shallow saltwater body where the birds arrive between February and March to breed. They leave in August when the lagoon dries up. We expected to see many thousands of them. We did see some but not the numbers we expected. The visitor centre did do tours of the lagoon but needed many people before that would happen.
We did wander around however, to see if we could get the occasional view of the lagoon through the bushes. We saw a few flamingos swimming, eating and flying but not many. There was also one by itself in the bush and we have attached a photo of it. We think we saw this same one in a photo Alister took during his trip in Africa. He will have to confirm this for us.
I suppose our expectations here were too high and we will need to go to Africa if we want to see them by the hundreds of thousands if not millions.
The next planned stop was the Dolmens near Antequera. The Domens are prehistoric megalithic burial chambers. They were built some 4,000 years ago out of stone slabs weighing more than 100 tonnes each.
We were having problems finding how to get to them so we drove to Antequera, parked the car, somehow found the Tourist Information Office and got instructions on how to get there. We were also told we would need to be in by 3pm as they close at 3.30. It was now back to get the car and find our way to them. We saw one signpost and the map we were given was not that helpful as there was no scale. In the end we did not find it and next thing we knew we were on the motorway – GRRRR. Fortunately the motorway was headed for Malaga.
If we have one complaint about Spain, it would be the lack of signage to find Information Centres (you need one of their maps to find out where they are) and road signage to places of interest. They are also not big on viewing stops for those that are driving. I suppose we are saying that Spain does not cater that well to the driving tourist. To overcome this we have been doing quite a bit of research on the internet to get addresses for the TI offices and sites of interest. Even this is not perfect. Some of them provide Latitude and Longtitude degrees which really helps those, like us, with GPS equipment.
With grumbling and expletives coming from the driver we headed for Malaga. We had also better have internet access in the room there. In Granada we had to go to the reception area for internet access as they were upgrading the internet access capabilities on the floors.
Didn’t take long to get to Malaga having avoided the toll roads. It all seemed quite direct so not sure where the toll roads went. Billy indicated the distance on the toll roads was longer than the one we took and we were on a double lane divided highway with a 120 km speed limit. We even saw another highway being built alongside the one we were travelling on – to cut through a mountain we believe. Can certainly see where some of their infrastructure spending is going.
No problems arriving here although no parking outside or in the hotel so we parked in a public car park nearby. It turns out that we should be parking there and the hotel gives us the ticket to get out at a heavily discounted rate. The room does have excellent internet connection – YAY.
We had not eaten since breakfast so out for some food and to find the Tourist Information Centre. The TI Centre was 100 metres down the road and beyond that was the Marina and start of the beach area.
Some information about Malaga, It is on the Costa del Sol and is also one of the oldest cities in the world having been founded by the Phoenicians about 770 BC. Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.
- comments
Ros Sounding like a really great trip and more history than you can poke a stick at......good on you. Flamingos in their MILLIONS are in SA...think it is Kenya but someone will correct me. Your specimen is very white too...needs a dip in the pink food dye.
Gael Who needs vegetables when you're served up a treat like that! YUM!
Gael I think Ros is right - from memory Alister's flamingos did look pinker, and, yes there were literally millions of them. It's not so much Grrrrrr here, but it's certainly Brrrrrr! Not sure what the outside temperature is, but we've just had a heavy hail storm. Apparently they are even expecting snow in Wellington? It's anticipated that in the South Island for the next 3 days it will be -20 degrees - imagine! I gather that last time it was this cold and snowed over was 22 years ago! So think of us here, and your "Grrrrrr" should soon translate to "GRRRRReat" ! Still loving your blogs and incredibly impressed how you remember such detail - I tend to forget what I've seen in a movie only the day before!!!??? Take care and enjoy!
alister that flamingo must be a different breed. I have only seen PINK flamingos. Yes, Kenya but also Bolivia and Galapagos to name a couple of other places in case you are thinking of trying to see PINK Flamingos and looking for alternative countries.