September 24th, Wednesday

Juergen and I are up early, we are going to play golf at the course he joined, naturally the Marbella Club Resort (same organization where Blair, Diane, Christy and I paid a small fortune for lunch). He plays well, I play poorly and tho it is close, I lose and buy him a pretty fab lunch at the club house. Great course, you would never get tired of playing it. No dumb holes, lots of trouble, great elevation changes, beautiful scenery.

Back at their magnificent place, we relax a bit and prepare to go out for dinner. We are going to the cute little town of Benahavis, the namesake of the area we are in. It’s a truly beautiful area and of the many restaurants available, we settle on one and eat outside on the terrace. Great food, great service, a little annoying with the Russians smoking cigars at the table next to us.

September 25th, Thursday

We told Juergen and Alyson about a ferry that runs from Estepona to Marbella every hour or so. We decide to give it a try, walk around old Marbella a bit, have lunch and return.

Estepona is actually a bit closer to their place than Marbella and it is interesting itself – mostly because of the opulent wealth of the people there. At the marina the display of cars and boats and people is astounding.

The ferry is actually a bit of a tour catamaran and it is quite pleasant, a short ride (45 minutes?) to Marbella. The weather is perfect, the scenery lovely and we are able to sit outside on the shady side of the boat which faces the mountains.

We walk around beautiful old town Marbella and settle on a nice spot for lunch. It’s beautiful of course and great with a busker singing and playing guitar.

Soon enough it’s time to go, we walk back to the ferry, take it back to Estepona and then to Juergen and Alyson’s where we relax before dinner. Juergen and I watch a bit of the Ryder Cup previews.

That night we go to a very nice restaurant near Estepona (they’re all nice restaurants around here). Lovely meal of course. Drive back to the mansion, where we hit the hay early. Christy and I have arranged a 3 AM Uber to take us to the airport to catch our early flight to Zurich.

September 26th, Friday

Up at 3 AM, the Uber is right on time. Fond farewells to Juergen and Alyson, great hosts as always.

• Flight to Zurich
• Couple hours layover with breakfast and coffees
• Flight to Pearson
• Uber to condo, too much stuff to lug on subway/UPS
• short nap at the condo, kids are both working
• Grab a coffee, then head north in Christy’s car to home
• Christy has to drive the last half hour, I can’t make it, falling asleep at the wheel

Great to be home