The one with Cork and Malaga

Friday was a weird day for us.  It felt like a travel day, and I definitely felt like I was really to be home, but our flight didn't leave until 8 PM.  So we had the whole day to fill.  First, we slept in, which was awesome!  After having to get up "early" for all the day trips, some extra sleep was SOOOOO NICE! Then, we decided to pay for one of the those hop-on, hop-off buses to see the city of Cork and kill some time.  It was neat to hear some of the history, but also difficult to picture.  Cork has a really long history dating back to at least the 1100s, but most of the city has been built on the ruins of the past or doesn't even exist anymore.  For example, much of the city was very reminiscent of Venice in its early existence, being marshland and navigated by small boats through the canals.  This is not at all what you see today because the marshlands were all drained centuries ago.  

The parts that are still around tend to be more modern, like the old Ford factory.  Henry Ford was an immigrant from Ireland, in case you didn't know, so he established a factory in Cork and, to this day, still gives the mayor of Cork the first Ford car sold in the city each year.  Speaking of cars, another interesting thing we learned is how license plates work in Ireland.  The first two numbers represent the year the car was manufactured.  Then there is one or two letters to represent the county it was first sold in.  The last numbers represent how many cars had been sold before it.  For example, 08-D-45 would be a 2008 car sold in Dublin that was the 45th car sold in Dublin that year.  And the license plate stays with that car forever.  So now if you go to Ireland, you will know how the license plates work :)

Finally we flew from Cork to Malaga, where we arrived in the middle of the night.  We headed back into Semana Santa madness, but we were still kind of surprised by the number of people out and about at 1 AM in the morning.  We got a good night sleep and rose early to hit up the beach before the final leg of our journey back to Zafra.  It was GORGEOUS!  After all the cold and snow, it was fan-freaking-tastic to feel the sun on my skin and shed my winter coat.  That scarf I am wearing in the picture, I didn't even need it.  I can't wait to go back to the beach.  We have some fun beach trips planned for May, so maybe it will even be warm enough to hang out in my bathing suit.  Here's hoping!  It was a great close to a great trip.  I saw so much and worked my way under the two month  mark.  Less than 2 months until I head back to the United States!! So much to do, so little time!!