I wonder what the poor people are up to?

After over two weeks on the go, spending every day and night soaking up the sights, it was great arriving at Malaga two days ago, knowing that we had five days to just relax on the beach and enjoy a less hectic pace. Malaga is a classy resort city on Spain’s Costa del Sol, which is frequented by lots of wealthy tourists, mainly from Britain and other European countries. Its beaches are numerous and they fill up quickly each day with sun-seeking tourists. Not quite as iconic as Bondi, but not far behind. Yesterday, we joined them for a swim in the warm waters of the Mediterranean, and it was most relaxing.

OMG, Alison is such an attention seeker. We came across a group performing a flamenco on the street and before I could do anything to stop her, Alison had started to stomp her feet and clap in a rhythmic trance. To make matters worse, the crowd kept applauding and urging her on. Note to self; pick your travel companions wisely.

Like most of the cities over here, there is an old city, where buildings can date back centuries, and a more contemporary part. Where we are staying is a two minute walk from the port, but also very close to the old town so our location is close to perfect. The port is home to many luxury cruisers and yachts, and there is clearly no lack of wealthy tourists to the area. We are intending to take a sunset cruise on a catamaran tomorrow, which should be memorable. The weather here is around 27 degrees every day with no clouds and no wind – pretty close to perfect.

Malaga's port area is very modern, and a bit of a tourist mecca.

The private yacht/cruiser/air-craft carrier you can see moored on the right came with its own helicopter, speed boat and yacht that would rival anything in the America's Cup. There must be some serious money in drugs.

Sitting on the beach, it was remarkable that there would not have been more than a handful of people who were wearing hats. In a climate very similar to ours, we simply cannot understand the lack of caution over skin cancer, but then again, the risk of lung cancer also doesn’t appear to be a major concern.

The beaches are very clean and full of sun lovers. They are also full of North Africans trying to sell you all manner of useless stuff. One guy asked me to make an offer on his wife. Obviously, i declined (she was far too old).

A couple of very sexy locals we found on the beach who didn't mind us taking their photo. That's the way it is here.

We are debating whether to take a day-trip to the southern-most tip of Europe, Gibraltar. It is a three-hour bus trip both ways and would be great to see, but do we really need the extra travel when those beaches are so damn relaxing? Rhetorical, of course; you don’t need to post your replies.

I don't actually know what this is, but it shows the mixing of the very old with the ultra modern.

I’m not sure whether I’ve mentioned this in the past, but the Spanish have a total love affair with eating out. I doubt whether they even own a fry pan or saucepan at home. In the cities we’ve visited, the restaurants cover block after block; it would be no exaggeration that even a city of 200,000 people might contain several hundred outdoor restaurants. Melbournians are proud of Lygon Street, which might contain perhaps fifty to one hundred eating places. In Spain, there would be one Lygon Street next to another, next to another, and another…..

We are now half way through our Malaga stay, which means only Seville to go. We went to the local hospital when we first arrived to have my persistent cough looked at and it is on the improve, but certainly not gone. I have no idea what it is, but the Europeans sure do know how to make a super bug. I guess it is starting to dawn on us now that this adventure will be coming to an end soon, although there are still lots more things to see and do, and we intend to make the most of each and every one of them. Now, has anyone seen my Glen 20 bug killer?