For the remainder of my month in Marbella but I continued with the schedule of Spanish classes and golf plus some trips to the beach and fun nights out in with friends from the Spanish school. I also enjoyed some bus trips around the region at the weekends - to Fuengirola, Ojen, Granada, Ronda, Puerto Banus and Malaga.

I went to the Claddagh Irish bar in Marbella with My where we met people from London and from Israel as well as playing pool with some Russians, one of which was a Russian billiards champion (I have no idea what Russian billiards is but he was dangerous on the pool table!). I chatted to one of them, Oleg, for a long time in Spanish - he told me I'm like a dog because I can understand everything but I cannot speak, haha! On the wall on the pub was a poster showing all the club teams that have won All-Ireland Finals in Gaelic football, hurling and camogie, including Lavey

Fuengirola was not a particularly nice place - very touristy with lots of ugly hotel buildings along the beachfront. However, there was a feria (like a fair) happening while I was there and it was great - loads of people of all ages dressed up in traditional Spanish costumes, enjoying the food, drink, dancing, games, etc.

Ojen is a small town up in the mountains above Marbella. It is very pretty - all the buildings are painted white with red tiled roofs and tightly packed around the narrow winding streets. There are stunning views all the way down to the sea. I managed to pick a terrible restaurant for lunch but I enjoyed the feria that was on when I visited.

I had a fantastic weekend in Granada with two girls from my Spanish school - My (from Sweden) and Alexia (from France). My spoke perfect English but not much Spanish and Alexia spoke good Spanish but no English so I spent a lot of time translating between the two, which was good practice for me! We did lots of sightseeing - there are so many beautiful old buildings. Then we had a mad Saturday night out, going to lots of different places and meeting many crazy Spaniards along the way. We had a painfully early start to visit La Alhambra the next day but it was absolutely worth it - it is one of the most mind-bogglingly spectacular places I have ever seen anywhere in the world. A huge complex of Moorish palaces and landscaped gardens with stunning vistas - it is difficult to do it justice in words but take a look at the photos.

Ronda is a beautiful town with great views of the surrounding valleys. I had a busy day running around seeing many of the attractions, such as the bullring, the famous bridges and various other buildings.

On my last night we got dressed up and went out in Puerto Banus.

I had time to explore Malaga before I flew home and I spent most of my time at the castle (Castillo de Gibralfaro and Alcazaba) and the Ernst exhibition at the Picasso Museum.