Our Lady of Sorrows in Olde Town Marbella

 Olde Town Marbella is a quaint area of Marbella, the historic district that is a must see if you visit.  We walked, shopped, and ate and never tired of what there is to see.  This little blue shuttered area was a bit hard to see looking up to the 2nd floor, but you can click to enlarge and you'll see a religious symbol.

 Not to mention the most interesting and colorful and OLD Bourgainvillea Vine.  I covers almost 3 stories on this old house and look where the root is.

 Hornacina Virgen De Los Dolores.  Christian Faith was imposed on the city in teh XV century and many niches were made of Saints and Virgins on buildings, and balconies to bless the people and the city.  These are particularly common in areas with an Islamic past such as Marbella.  The house has been dated back to the 17th century.

 You can see the clay tiles on the roof, and there appears to be a pizza place on the top floor..or perhaps that's an old sign?  We couldn't tell.

Another sign talking about the many street niches and their importance.

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.

Newspaper Man in Malaga Spain

Malaga Spain.  Hubby, our friend Jane and I were strolling about Olde Town Malaga, the historic area.  We spotted this fun Newspaper Man.  I don't know how people do this, get themselves to be perfectly in character and then not move!  I saw 2 such human art forms during our visit to Spain.  This one patted the seat for me to sit down, then held my hand as we read the paper.

We flew from Chicago to Madrid to Malaga airport which is about 45 minutes or less to Mariott's Marbella Beach Resort, where we stayed.  If you missed yesterday's post, scroll back to see the resort.  A few days later our friend Jane flew into Malaga from Paris.  Once we picked her up, we headed to Olde Town for food and possible visit to The Picasso Museum.  We never made it to the museum, as we continued to stroll and explore.

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.

Casa del Corregidor, Marbella, Spain part II

 Did you see yesterday's post?  If not scroll back it's part I to this one.  Casa del Corregidor, historic AND a wonderful place to fill your belly.  I'm continuing to blog in a-z style for the month of May all about my recent trip to Spain.  So today is D=Dinner.  Our first meal here at Casa del Corregidor in the square of Olde Town Marbella, Spain was tapas style.  Certainly not portion sizes, but we ordered items that we could all share in.  There were 3 of us.  Round 1 was a fresh fish platter and veggies.  The fish were grilled and quite tasty.  I'm not one to ever order fish; but did enjoy most of these.  There were about 4 different fishes on the platter.  Only one seemed oily or stronger to me, but both Jane and hubby enjoyed it; as would most folks who like fish.

 Another round was an awesome beef kabob, again grilled with luscious fresh vegetables.

 We enjoyed wine, as you can see; and a delicious and pretty flan....something they are noted for.

 While we ate outside, as did everyone else; the inside of the restaurant is very cute.  Small and intimate.

 The far wall is a wine rack!  Wonder how long it would take to try everything, lol

 Outside, sidewalk cafe's are made very comfortable with heaters even on days with damp cool weather.

 That's me on the left with our dear friend, Jane who joined us for this marvelous adventure of traveling in Spain.

 This makes my mouth water.....my best meal of the entire trip.  Beef Stroganoff.  I couldn't eat it all, but I sure tried.  This was our 2nd visit to Casa del Corregidor.

 Jane had the paella with all kinds of wonderful seafood.  We had paella elsewhere earlier in the trip; but this was better.  See the pan......right there on the table.

A seafood sampler.....No one leaves here hungry and definitely a place to return too.

We truly do plan to return to Spain, and while we will try new places...........we also plan to return to our favorites........this is at the top of the list!

Tomorrow's post will be the reflection of this years A-Z challenge

**REMINDER, please leave the url to your actual blog post, NOT your google+ page, NOT your blogger profile/dashboard page. Use the name and url option, or leave a hyperlink. **After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide. My focus for the month of May will be Spain.

Casa del Corregidor, Marbella Spain

 Casa del Corregidor built in 1552 is one of the oldest stately houses in Marbella, Spain.  While this picture looks like a power washing or painting is needed

 This part is quite beautiful.  Click to enlarge and see the details on the 2nd and 3rd floors.  These area's are not open to the public.  The bottom level is a restaurant.  Were we ate 2 scrumptious meals, because one just wasn't enough........more on that tomorrow in part two of this post...D for dinner.  The building has a blend of 3 types of architecture, Gothis, Renaissance, and Mudejar.

 The historic sign tells us the house was that of The Chief Magistrate.

Another shot on a different day, light was a bit better.  Please click to enlarge and look at the balcony area in.

A building 462 years old....in the Olde Town Marbella.  We loved it there.  Put this on your list, as an historic spot, and pop in tomorrow ......come hungry the food is superb!

**REMINDER, please leave the url to your actual blog post, NOT your google+ page, NOT your blogger profile/dashboard page. Use the name and url option, or leave a hyperlink. **After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide. My focus for the month of May will be Spain.

Odors, Offensive Overbooked.......yikes

Several O words related to travel come to mind, looking for a O destination?  How bout a post I did previously on Olde Town.

Odor, Offensive, organization, overbooked, and oversized..........are words that popped into my head thinking about travel.

• ODOR, when you decide it's a good idea to take something smelly on the plane to eat later, you are not everyone's favorite traveler.  The entire plane, passengers and crew members have to smell your too garlicky, too spicy, fishy, too Mexican and really don't appreciate it.  Think about your fellow travelers, you're not flying a private plane.
• OFFENSIVE, your noisy game is offensive to those around you.  Turn it off, or plug in your ear phones.  Likewise your constant chatter about how important you are, is offensive to others.  Remember if you're really that important, rich...you would be aboard your personal plane.
• ORGANIZATION, think about what you need at hand, think about what you will be using in your carry on and pack accordingly.  Don't just throw everything in, stand up every 10 minutes to grab something from the over head bumping your neighbors as you go.  Don't stand in the aisle for 20 minutes while you route for something and hold up the rest of those trying to board.  We have a constant theme here folks, YOU are NOT the only passenger, be considerate of your fellow travelers.  The idea of being organized is even more important if you're traveling with some children.
• OVERBOOKED...some folks get irritable when planes are overbooked, some like it and volunteer to give up their flight for a free one later on.  Whichever camp you fall into, remember the ticket agent isn't the one who overbooked, don't take it out on them.  Be Polite.
• OVERSIZED, stop packing oversized bags as carry on.  Yes, you think you're being clever saving money by not checking your bag; but YOU are responsible for delaying the plane, irritating your fellow travelers and the crew, AND YOU are responsible for raising ticket prices and the charge on bags.  Why........because a heavy plane needs more fuel, so when you pack oversized bags you're making the problem you think you're avoided worse.  You know before hand it's not going to fit under your seat, that it doesn't even come close to fitting into the sizer at the gate.

I repeat, you are not the only traveler, you are not flying a personal plane.  

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Cafe Coyote

Welcome to Cafe Coyote in Olde Town San Diego, located at 2461 San Diego Avenue.  The restaurant is family owned and has received best Mexican Food awards in 2005-2006-2008-2009-2010-2011- and 2012.  There inside areas, sorta outside areas, definitely outside areas, smaller rooms and the various bar areas.  It's HUGE.

There's lots of art work both in and out.

It's open for Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We shared one meal for breakfast that was fantastic....and still, neither hubby or I were able to eat our full half portion.  Prices are very reasonable.  The staff is friendly, and the atmosphere casual.

More painted murals on the walls.

The inside inside bar area.  Look at the bar folks, they boast 100 different Tequila's.  Though we sample any, since we were there for breakfast, lol.  In the evenings they have life music.

This is the sorta in sorta outside area.  Open air dining, but with a roof.  Heaters available for the evenings help make people enjoy both in and out.  Fresh hand made Tortilla's.  Not only can you watch them being made from your table, you walk up from the sidewalk in front and order one to go.

Cafe Coyote has something for everyone, from small groups to large, from adults to children.  It's located on a busy corner in Old Town San Diego, where the city first began.  Lots of local color in this area.  The area gets 6,000,000 visitors annually, double what the popular and very well know San Diego Zoo and Sea World get.   The restaurant is popular with locals and tourists. 

I highly recommend this restaurant and hope to return on another trip to San Diego.  Will plan to try it out for dinner next time round. 

Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.

Olde Town Bluffton, South Carolina

 The Heyward House, Visitor Center, in Olde Town Bluffton.  This house is one of only 15 buildings that survived being burned in 1863 by The Union.  But, let's back up a bit.  Bluffton is an easy day trip for anyone visiting Hilton Head Island.  It's about 8 miles one way, around 15 minutes depending on traffic.  Bluffton is situated on the May River, has bluffs over looking Glenn Cove, Heyward Cove, Huger Cove, and Verdier Cove.  You get the picture of lots of water.  Bluffton was once a summer place for the rich and famous.  Though plantations were vast holdings of land and typically worked by slaves, the land owners apparently still needed to "get away".  The area, the low country wasn't the nicest or easiest place to live with rats, mosquito's, alligators and the like.  The very weather and swampy conditions that could make a white plantation owner wealthy were also the very conditions that were hard on his family.  Yellow fever was a constant threat in the low country.  Wealthy families "summered" elsewhere while their plantation overseers and slaves worked the land back on the plantation.  Bluffton provided cooler breezes being on higher ground,  protection from the mosquitoes, rats, and alligators, and transportation for goods with the water ways. 

 Because the rich land owners gathered here many political discussions took place.  Now we all know South Carolina is where the Civil War began, but Bluffton, not Charleston is probably where the talk of secession took hold first.  Discussions about secession took place as early as 1844.  When war did in fact break out, and Hilton Head Island and Beaufort were occupied by The Union families vacated Bluffton.  Bluffton was utilized by Confederate Pickets as a base to spy on Union activities. 

 The house was originally built as a summer house for John Cole and is the 4th oldest structure remaining southern Beaufort County.  Guided tours of the house are available, as well as free maps of a olde town walking tour.  This old elaborate mirror is signed by a Union Soldier from New York.  Though it's hard to read, it gives the date of July 12, 1863.  I can't make out the name, and sadly I don't remember it, but you can read it's Company E 6th NY.

 Much in the house is in fact original.  Beautiful quilts.

 A game that looks similar to checkers.

 A singer sewing machine.  This one is much smaller then an old treadle machine I have.

 A beautiful wedding dress.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but when you stand next to it, you realize how much smaller women/people were in those days.

 This 2nd Singer predates the treadle.  It's in fabulous condition and you see the carry case even.  Can you imagine the skill it took to crank the wheel with one hand while using the other hand to feed the fabric through the machine? 

 I don't recall seeing Slave Tiles before this tour; but our tour guide said we probably had but they might not have been discussed, or labeled.  Tiles were hand made by slaves and unique to that property.  While on a tour in Savannah, we saw an entire building made from bricks from slave tiles.  These bricks are very expensive and highly sought after.

 A slave dwelling remains on property.  Records indicate this slave dwelling was probably built before the main house and used while the slaves built the main house.  While not the smallest of similar dwellings I've seen on tours in The South, you wonder how many people lived in this one small room.

The name Heyward, has a huge presence in South Carolina.  You see streets with the name, we've toured plantations where Heywards lived, and other large family homes.  Prominent family members graves are scattered about The Hilton Head, Charleston, Beaufort area.  As you travel around the low country "rich" takes on a how different picture.  The wealthy plantation owners owned so much, houses and land here there and everywhere it seems. 

Thomas Heyward was a signer of The Declaration
as well as The Articles of The Confederacy.