Armageddon?

After the civil guard malarkey, we were keen to keep a low profile.

We drove down to the seafront (the paseo maritimo), parked up the van and observed the eerie, Armageddon-like sky.

 

Beautiful scenes – I’mma print this one out for my travel room, me thinks! (no filter!)

Now, Tony is not quite as steady on his feet as he once was. I know this, but I felt it was important that, having walked on the Baltic Sea, we dip our fingers in the sea and touch the sands of Africa. It’s become clear during this trip that uneven ground is Anf’s nemesis and, once he’d planted one foot in the sand, he was kind of stuck. He just don’t have the strength in his other leg.

“Push me.”, he says.

We had a similar situation in Hamina. I think it might end the same way…

I wait. He insists. “Push me!”

Ok… I push him.

He falls.

Yup. This is what happened in Finland…

Kneeling in the sand, the old man looks up at me, helplessly, in between looks of shock and horror he shouts “why did you push me?!”.

And he jokes to others about what he has to put up with. Lordy.

 

Our Tone needs some recovery time (and so do I!) so we plonk down in a café I was familiar with to grab cake and debrief on the run-in with the law (and the run-in with the sand).

I’d contacted an old friend to let him know I was in town and he came and joined us for coffee, explaining that the weird hue and daunting atmosphere is due to the sand being blown into the sky from way down in Subsaharan Africa. It doesn’t happen often but this phenomenon featured in the news back in the UK and across Spain too, and we were so very fortunate to experience it so close to the desert at its extreme (there were reports that it would be harmful to those with breathing problems as the sand particles are inhaled - thankfully Tone rereported no problems).

My friend drove us up to a viewpoint in the old town where we could see Melilla by night, via the newly constructed beach. He explained to us that the town is building into the sea where it can to reclaim land. A funny concept – can I just go and help myself too?

We dropped back into the centre of town, grabbed a tapas or two at the Cerveceria (one of my favourite spots), enjoying a little caña (beer), some gambas and pinchitos (prawns and kebabs) before my buddy had to bid us farewell for the night. He’d try and catch up with us tomorrow around work.

We’d been to the tourist office earlier in the day (after the first set of tapas!) and had established there were no public toilets open overnight in Melilla, so we decided it would be best if we book a hotel. We checked in to the hotel where my dad stayed when he came to visit me all those years ago. I remember meeting him there. Nostalgia strikes again. <3

It was beddy byes time for us and the next day we’d talk about where we’d go next (options being mainland Spain, or staying put!).

P.S. Today's theme tune options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6120QOlsfU or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCadcBR95oU