Marbella, Spain: Day 9

Day nine and the lounging shorts that I brought don't fit the same.  And not in a good way. It could be the fact that we've ceased the 8+ mile walks around the city and swapped them for hours of laying by the pool.  Today I woke up even later than the last couple of days.  I blame the black out curtains.  I can't tell when the sun is fully up until Nick gets out of bed. 

Around 12:30pm I headed back to the pool and then ultimately down to the restaurant for lunch since it was that time of the day.  We were extremely disappointed that the menu changed and they no longer offered the salad bar.  We were even more disappointed when our food was overly salty.  It was nearly inedible salty.  My "breakfast" beer was the best part. 

Nick and Sister's mussels were so salty that Sister was washing one off in the juice left over from the olives.  

Not really impressed with the other items on the menu, I got the seafood pasta again.  My dish was also very heavily salted, but I finished it nonetheless. 

Den got the beef sandwich. 

Mom got a shrimp caesar salad. 

To wash down the saltiness Nick and sister both got Affagatos. 

The resort was have a Mom's day so Mom got a free tiramisu. 

After lunch we went for a short walk on the beach and I finally touched the Mediterranean sea. 

As promised, we went on an adventure for dinner to get something good.  We took a mini road trip to Benahavis, Andulucia, Spain for dinner at Los Abanicos. The conclusion has been made that when Den and Sister research where we are going to eat we all really enjoy dinner.  It's the spur of the moment places that we end up feeling unsatisfied.  In Barcelona this was much easier as Yelp worked really well.  For the Marbella area we have to use Trip Advisor. The drive to Benahavis was a little sketchy as we didn't know where we were going and don't 100% trust the GPS.  It was leading us down strange roads that were piled with dumpster trash and were off the main freeway.  We did, however, make it to the restaurant albeit quite late for our reservation.

Some pretty nice views as we drove through the mountains to get to the little village. 

As we came out of the mountains and curvy roads, the city of Benahavis popped out of no where. 

You'll notice that we are still in the car.  I've been in tiny streets of Spain before, but you forget how narrow they are until you are in them again. 

We got a little lost and it felt like we were going to go right into the wall here.  Once we turned the corner we popped out in front of a cafe and thought that we were on a sidewalk.  Turns out that this is normal.  

Peppered pate that came out as an appetizer.

Olive oil bread

The atmosphere of the restaurant alley was pretty surreal.  I felt like we were in Disneyland, except that the entire city was like this. 

Beef capriccio

Shrimp with avocado

Padron peppers with Jambon. 

Den got the honey glaze duck confit.

Mom got the grilled lamb chops.

Nick got the ox tail stew.

Sister and Jerng Jerng got the suckling pig leg.

All of the entrees come a la carte so they give you fries, vegetables, and rice to share. 

Dad and I both got the Chateaubriand. 

Mixed vegetables to share. 

Ye Ma got the grilled fish. 

Who cares about chicharrones when you can have crispy duck skin?

Mid-dinner entertainment. 

Nick got a coffee ice cream dessert. 

Normally I don't get dessert, but strawberry ice cream sounded really good.  I didn't think I could finish the whole dish, but alas, I did. I will have to be carted home in a wheel barrow. 

Mom got the mango sorbet. 

Den got a frozen tiramisu. 

After dinner aperitifs.

On our way back to the car we saw a man in he shop carving out clay figures by hand. 

Tonight was a success.  Though touristy, the small city was very quaint and I would love to go back and hang around the town.  I do think that tomorrow we will be going to Old Town Marbella, which I believe is quite similar. We are also planning on cooking our own seafood lunch in the apartment so that should be pretty picture worthy.  Until then: If it looks, good eat it. -Andrew Zimmern