Arrived in Malaga, picked up the rental car and off to Hotel Parador de Malaga Gibralfaro. The Parador sits on the top of a hill next to Castille de Gibralfaro, built in the 14thcentury. Given this was very much a travel day we opted for dinner at the hotel. Of course had to start with “sundowners” at 8pm. Hard to imagine the sun only sets at 9:30pm in Spain in June/July. Sundowners were bubbles all round – local beer for Glenn and cava for me, am tasting cava through Spain, ha ha… someone has to and best of all, Mickey and Andy will join me in the cava tasting!!! Back to dinner, had to try the iberico ham followed by fresh seafood – seabass for Glenn and magnificent octopus for me. Tasted a lovely Tempranillo – great introduction to Spain.
Morning started with a coffee and a conference call (work follows me, yes, I am not retired…) and then we got the call that Andy and Mickey had arrived. Fabulous breakfast sharing stories and catching up. Then a lovely walk to the Castile de Gibralfaro, and down the hill to old town. Time to start our journey to Ronda, our destination the Hotel San Gabriel. 6pm we met our representative from Andalucían Cycling Experience – handover of our specialized hybrid bicycles, information pack, odometer, water bottles and bike lock!!!
In preparation for our ride we were off to explore the town and found the only bar open at 7pm for a pre dinner drink. Definitely too early for the locals!!! Dinner at Almocabar on the square was amazing. Enjoyed a beautiful cava which we paired with iberico ham and fresh steamed clams. The main was a whole seabass for the table and grilled vegetables. Had to try a Spanish white with the fish… Great start to our trip…
