On to Gibraltar

I had arranged bus travel with the organizers, £30 return (approx. $ 60 CDN), for travel between Malaga and Gibraltar.  Pickup was at Malaga airport, so I just had to reverse my travel from a couple days past.

At the airport, I met others gathering for the bus, including GM Gata Kamsky and his fiance WGM Vera Nebolsina.  I also became acquainted with Peter Korning and his wife Pella, from Stockholm. Peter had recently retired and has been playing in some of the better known tournaments in Europe .
In recent months, he had played in the London Classic Open, World Senior Championship, Ville de Menton, and the World Open in Washington.  I think he was also going to play the Reykjavik Open in March.

The Rock in the distance

Bus travel took about 2 hours to the border and then we had a half-hour delay as the  few of the passports received extra scrutiny.   I got off at the frontier (just over the border) as I was heading to old town Gibraltar, a few others got off as they were staying in La Linea, while the rest were going to the host hotel, the Caleta.  I jumped on the # 5 Gibraltar bus which took me to the Casemates bus stop (about 5 minutes),  From there it was about a 5 minute walk to the 'flat', where I met my AirBnB host.

After unpacking, I decided that I should take advantage of the kitchen and get some groceries. I found Ransom's nearby.  After some more wandering I decided to relax and get ready for the tournament which would start the next morning,