1 Sep
Birthday Trip to Wales
We’ve just returned from a wonderful few days in Wales.
Rosie and Steven (Sharon’s brother) live in Ceredigion, west Wales and we agreed to visit and share the celebrations for Steven’s b/day the day before Sharon’s ‘significant’ b/day.
We arrived on Sunday and enjoyed a quiet evening with drinks and a lovely dinner prepared by Rosie. On Monday, Steven’s birthday, the weather was not so good, so we spent the morning with a long breakfast and opening Steven’s cards and presents. We risked a trip out early afternoon and had coffee in The Hive, in beautiful Aberaeron. It was still a bit drizzly, but Aberaeron is just lovely.
We’d made a last -minute booking to go to The Falcondale for dinner on Monday (Steven’s b/day) and they were simply wonderful when dealing with Sharon’s allergies and intolerances. Although the food was tasty, it didn’t come exactly as expected. Sharon’s Cod Loin was to be accompanied by Vegetable Linguine and she’d expected either linguine with vegetables OR a mixture of spiralised vegetables. However, she got a few thin strips (julienne) of vegetable over flavoured with saffron. She found everything other than the fish unpleasant. I ordered a Seafood Chowder, but I got a very tasty fish pie filling. There were no potatoes in the sauce but lots of fish. I think they would be better taking out a piece of each fish and adding a small mound of rice and renaming the dish. The others had burgers. Nevertheless, we had a great time and the atmosphere was very pleasant.
Tuesday was a much better day and we drove down the coast to Aberporth, but we couldn’t park – so we drove back up to Llangrannog, where we had a wonderful time. We parked in the Free Park and Ride car park and walked down the road and into the village. The tide was out and although the beach was busy, we were able to walk out around the rocks and to the shoreline. We then walked up, past The Pentre Arms to see the statue there. Some great views from here! We drove out again that evening for a lovely meal at Y Seler, a trendy harbourside pub/restaurant in Aberaeron. I cannot remember now what we ate, but I know that I had mussels. Lovely.
On Wednesday we had a stroll around the village and visited the old red roofed cottage there, which was interesting. We had a coffee at Llanrhystud, at a really nice cafe on the main road bend.
Then, we visited Aberystwyth and spent some time walking down alongside the quayside and past the Lifeboat Station to the end of the pier.
I really need to write this stuff up as I go along, just as I used to do.
5 Feb
Eating out
Jim and Yvette are in 916 for a while just now, with their daughter Jes. They spent a few days showing her around and then popped off to Gibraltar so that Jes could do some sporty stuff with James. SUP (stand up paddle boarding) and flying were mentioned. Then Jes flew off to join her husband in Fuerteventura.
We met all three of them one evening for some drinks and then finished off at Sizzlers.
We’ve been careful where we go out to eat because of Sharon’s allergies and intolerances, but we have managed quite successfully to find places where we could eat:
I would normally avoid a 2-cuisine place such as this like the plague (it’s Indian-Mexican) but my daughter suggested to me that it was as good as, if not better than The Kashmir in Bradford. Brave words! However, she is quite correct; the Indian food is superb and although I’m not a massive fan of Mexican, it’s tasty and Sharon loves it.
We’ve been here to eat a few times now. The food it traditionally Spanish and although they do have shellfish on the menu, as long as we avoid deep-fried foods, we are ok (Sharon is allergic to shellfish – and avoids fried foods because of being unsure whether shellfish is cooked in the same oil – it happens!). Favourites here are Higaditos al jerez, Albondigas and Ensalada mixta.
We came across this place one day when everywhere else in Benalmádena Pueblo seemed to be closed. It’s a bit niche, inasmuch as they serve organic foods pretty much exclusively. Sharon had a (huge) chicken, spinach and cheese quiche that she said was nice but a bit ‘wet’ – a problem you can get with spinach. I had a more traditional ham and cheese bocadillo AND we shared a really tasty chicken, cheese and basil empanadilla.
This Lebanese restaurant is right next door to Sizzlers and can always be relied upon to serve good traditional food. For me, the flavours could be slightly more powerful (I sometimes think that it’s under seasoned) but they are interesting and consistent.
This small Italian restaurant is situated just behind the train station in Los Boliches. We’ve had pizzas from there before, both to take-away and to eat outside when it’s been warm This time we ate inside and it was just as good. It looks small, but can seat thirty – so perhaps it’s not THAT small. The pizzas are really good AND they serve Estrella Damm on draught, one of the very few that do so in this area.
We have only been here twice; the first time was many years ago with Joanne and Mike for lunch. They don’t provide type of lunch Sharon and I prefer (lighter, more Spanish) and we rarely walk this far towards Fuengirola on an evening. However, having had a couple of drinks with Jim and Yvette in the war bar we all wandered out towards the port, where this place is situated. Two of us had the menu del dia, which presented a wide choice of dishes and two of us chose dishes from the extensive a’la carte.
All of it was delicious and even with drinks and a bottle of wine cost (just) less the €20 each.
This café (a franchised chain) recently replaced the Santander Bank in Los Boliches and seems to be doing a roaring trade. So, we thought we’d try it.
Sadly – it isn’t for me (or ‘us’). When I asked for ‘un cortado’, I was given a witheringly derisive look and asked if I’d ‘seen the coffee menu’. Well, this is Spain where coffee is generally ‘solo’ (just coffee, similar to espresso but not as bitter), ‘cortado’ (a solo, or double solo with just a little hot milk) or ‘con leche’ (a coffee with hot milk – the amount of milk varies by establishment, or individual specification). So, no I hadn’t seen the coffee menu.
The coffee menu had a whole range of coffee and chocolate on it, all with names that no two countries (or cafes) seem to agree upon. The nearest I could get to the cortado I wanted was a small but very milky ‘flat white’. Sharon’s was larger but still very un-Spanish (to me). They say:
Nuestro torrefactor selecciona los mejores cafés del mundo para elaborar nuestro blend exclusivo Guatemala Antigua, Honduras Marcada Brasil Cerrado, Colombia supremo, Etiopia Sidamo.
From the Tejeringo website
Which would be good if I could taste the coffee.
Like this cortado from the war bar …
2 Feb
Gibraltar
Last week we drove down to Gibraltar, so we could attend the ‘secret’ birthday party that Michelle had arranged for James. As we set off the heavens opened and it started to pour down. Luckily, it eased off after Calahonda and stayed fine until we got to Estepona, where we had arranged to meet Alan for coffee. Alan is in the process of selling his apartment there and completing on one he is purchasing – he should complete before we return to the UK.
It started to rain again as we got closer to Gibraltar but we managed to arrive at the border without incident. Both custom officers’ (Spanish and English) looked bedraggled and after a cursory look at our documents, we were waved through. We drove through to Morrisons, as arranged and got there with just the one usual mishap, one wrong turning.
It had been an easy drive as none of the traffic lights were working, we didn’t really care why as it made our progress easier.
However, we soon found out why the lights were out. There was a power cut and Michelle, Carol and her friend Chris were stuck in a lift and unable to meet us! We took shelter from the rain in Morrisons but could not get a cup of tea or use the toilet because of the power cut. Eventually the girls were set free (by firemen), the power came on and they came to meet us and to take us to the apartment we would share with Carol and Chris, which was just across the car park. Luckily, everyone gets three hours parking in Morrisons.
We went out later for tapas, somewhere along Reclamation Road. The food was nice, but the canopy leaked so that Carol and I had to be very careful where we sat, so we didn’t get wet as the drip, drip, drip of rain came through the seams. We stayed in and ate snacks that evening as the weather didn’t improve much and we’d eaten fairly late afternoon.
The next day was James’ birthday and we met him with his wider family for coffee (and anis!) at Corks in Irish Town. Afterwards Sharon and I wandered around for a while and then met everyone again in All’s Well (Casemates Square) where Sharon and I (and separately, Carol and Chris) shared a large portion of chill nachos. We spent the evening at Figaros on Market Lane, where Michelle had booked a surprise party for James. There was an open bar (pay for spirits) and a constant stream of tapas to enjoy. The food was good and although we didn’t circulate much (we didn’t really know most people) we had a pleasant evening. Chris had been married to an old friend of mine from Sheepridge, before he sadly passed away. David Warren.
The weather improved in time for our trip back to Torreblanca and since then it’s been quite nice most days. It’s been coolish in the morning and warmish in the afternoons and invariably chilly of an evening.
We took the train to Torremolinos one morning and after wandering around for a while, had breakfast in a small bar somewhere off the beaten track (I can’t find it on Google Maps). We then set off on a nice walk to Los Alamos, from where we caught the train back. Another day, we caught the train to Torremuelle and walked down to, and then along the coast (as closely as possible), all the way to Benalmádena. This was a lovely walk, along parts of the coast we’d never explored. We have scootered from Benalmádena to Torreblanca before but that was alongside of the road, whereas this walk was, wherever possible, much closer to the sea. It is quite a nice area as you get closer to Benalmádena.
22 Jan
2023 Begins
We’ve not done an awful lot this first few weeks of our visit to Spain. David and Gail have been out for a week, so we’ve seen them a few times and another friend also came out for a week too. We’ve seen him a few times as well. He had much more stressful things to deal with out here, but we’ve tried to give him what support we could.
We stopped in Malaga the night we arrived, as it was eight o’clock when we landed, we thought it would be a good idea to stay over in the city and to see the Christmas Light show there (which as always, was wonderful). So, we caught the train from the airport to Malaga, before wondering around for what seemed like ages looking for the Ibis Budget Hotel, which is ‘actually’ just around the corner from the station (but there is a more visible Ibis standard hotel which we first called at – before having to retrace our steps).
The local trains remain ‘sort-of’ free until the end of April. There’s a plan for them to remain free for the remainder of the year, but they will be released in four-month segments. First of all, we have to pay €10 and then once we make 16 trips, we get the money back. But, because the initial ticket is for the entire region, a ‘trip’ might be to anywhere along the line. So, it’s ideal for taking the train to ‘A’, walking along to ‘B’ or ‘C’ and then catching it back. Simply doing that a couple of times saves the €10, even if it isn’t given back.
And this year, the local Fuengirola Buses are now free. For us up here in Torreblanca, they are also more frequent than before and now run all day (no siesta, unlike the previous timetable).
Spain still requires face masks to be worn on all forms of public transport and this is rigidly enforced on the buses, mostly adhered to on the trains and hardly needed at all on taxis – although we ask each time we do use a taxi. On the trains, the passengers mostly wear their masks and any that don’t are usually Millennials or teenagers. I’ve seen a wide variety of wearing styles too: ‘upside down’ (I’m not sure what they think the stiff wire is for), ‘inside out’ and, most frequently ‘under the nose’ (which is about as useful for stopping the spread of airborne contaminants as a condom worn on one’s testicles is for stopping pregnancy).
The ‘under the nose’ wearers often end up as ‘on the chin’ types if they talk too much.
The weather has been good for January, mostly mid-teens to early twenties from late morning to late afternoon, and most evenings we’ve managed to keep warm by closing doors and lighting candles. We haven’t had to use our heaters yet. Some days have been extremely windy, but our little terrace is quite sheltered, so the wind hasn’t bothered us too much. And, it’s always bright. That’s the real bonus for me, brightness!
22 Nov
Home for jabs and more dentist
After Tony had left, I set about cleaning the apartment, doing some laundry and generally just pottering about. The Bodega I had liked had closed (I think, for refurbishment – we’ll see. They don’t update their FB often) so I called at Mason Salvador for my pre-Cribbage lunch. They were promoting their tapa (??) as part of an annual ‘Ruta de Tapa’ (La Cazuela de la Abuela). To me, the dish seemed to be something they could produce with the least effort. Spanish potatoes (always available EVERYWHERE), with a little added stock and thickened with pieces of bread. Average.
David arrived on Saturday evening – He was delayed at Malaga airport because the queue for immigration took an hour to get through the one gate open (two officers, one for EU citizens and one for the multiple plane-loads of Brits who had just arrived). I had bought a nice piece of Salmon and we had that with rice and vegetables for tea.
Sunday – We parked in the feria ground and walked up beyond the Olivenet offices to a café where we had a lovely sandwich and coffee. We then walked into Fuengirola and back. That evening, we met Graham and Sue in Los Boliches, had a couple of beers and then ate at Sizzlers, where we always get a really good welcome.
The weather over Sunday and Monday was superb, with temperatures almost reaching summertime levels.
Monday – We didn’t do an awful lot today and David cooked chicken kebabs for tea (with the left-over rice from Saturday).
Tuesday – As we’d enjoyed our trip to El Torcal last week (link) I thought it would be nice to take David up there and let him experience it too. As it happens, it was a little cooler than last week, reaching 12oC at once stage – and it rained. We’d taken a picnic, but despite driving back via Antequera, the rain didn’t abate until we found a roadside carpark, where we could eat lunch in the car.
By the time we reached Malaga the rain had stopped completely and the temperature had risen to 25oC.
We met Graham and Sue in Los Boliches again and after a couple of drinks in La Bodeguita Iberica bar, we all ate at Bar Cosmopolita. I chose badly, thinking I was ordering a veal escalope. Everyone else’s food looked delicious. We finished up with Carajillos con anis at Bar Guerra (as we often do).
Wednesday – We took the opportunity offered by an overcast day to catch a train into Malaga. We explored the Metro station at Malaga-Maria-Zambrano and brought leaflets back to read and learn more about it. Then we walked up and over to The Salamanca Market, which David hadn’t seen before.
We had a sandwich lunch in Bar Eva and caught another train back to Plaza Mayor. The purpose of this trip was to see if it was:
- A) possible to get to IKEA on foot from here (it is) and
- B) to see how long it takes. It’s a 12-minute brisk walk, but if you are wanting to catch a particular train after shopping at IKEA give yourself at least 15 minutes, possibly 20! … and …
- C) have a 50c Ikea Hot Dog (see pic. above)
We walked down to Finlandia for a drink in the small bar there that evening and then over by the bull to Torreblanca for a drink in the Calypso bar. The sky that evening was amazing. Then we caught the bus back for tea at home. I cooked boulangere potatoes and vegetables while David prepared a beautiful steak, with onions and mushrooms – spoiled, that’s what we are.
Thursday – I woke up with the same knee trouble I’d brought to Spain. It had been getting better, but the pain came back with a vengeance overnight. It’s likely that two visits to El Torcal and extra walking down to Los Boliches via Finlandia were the reason, but hey – I can’t rest all the time. David did stuff on his own most of the day and I went by bus that evening, to meet him there.
Friday – Cleaning day, as we are flying home on Saturday. As it was wet and miserable, we went up to 916 in the car so that David could put some things away in his locker. We then parked on the paseo and went for a coffee at Bar Guerra before I drove back and put the car to bed (in the garage, battery removed) and David walked back up. I had an appointment for my hair cutting at 18:00pm, so David walked down to meet me after that and we had a beer while our take-away pizza was prepared and we took that home via Uber to eat in front of the T.V.
Saturday – We caught the bus to Los Boliches, bought sandwiches at Granier and then caught the train to the airport, where, apart from a couple of longish queues, everything went smoothly. The train from Manchester was delayed by twenty minutes but arrived in Huddersfield just about five minutes late. So, all in all, an easy journey.
I’d been there for over ten weeks. Having landed in Spain the day the Queen died, I have come home to a new King, a new Prime Minister and a country in economic turmoil. I also have my flu-jab booked for Tuesday this week and my Covid booster is booked for Saturday. I have two visits to my local denist to endure too. Roll on January.
16 Nov
Tony visits
I’ll be coming home soon, so I’d better catch up with some more recent memories, before they are gone forever.
Tony arrived on bonfire night, Saturday. He had been working at The Victoria Theatre the night before and hadn’t finished there until 02:00am. As his flight was early morning (06:00am ‘ish’ from Leeds-Bradford) he didn’t bother sleeping and was consequently tired when I met him at the airport. Nevertheless, he wanted to stay up and fight his way through to bedtime, so after a sandwich lunch (on the unexpectedly hot and sunny patio) we took a walk down to Torreblanca and on to the port and back. We had a couple of pints of Guinness at Fibbers and caught the first bus back up the hill. I made a chilli con carne of sorts for tea.
Sunday – We didn’t do much during the day as Tony had cut his foot during yesterday’s walk. However, we agreed to meet Sue and Graham on their walk down through Finlandia that evening. We stopped at the fairly new Planksters bar for a drink half way and then made our way into Los Boliches. We found to our dismay, that El Rio’s tapas bar had changed hands and so Sue did not have the menu del dia she had hoped for. However, the new bar (La Bodequita) does offer a selection of tapas and racione dishes – which we didn’t fancy at that time. We therefore set off exploring some of the other bars and restaurants on Calle Francisco Cano.
We had a drink at the Latino Bar, another at The Drunken Duck and then stopped at a fairly new Italian restaurant where we all ordered fish dishes. Rather than disappoint, the chef came out and explained that he’d had a run on fish and that as he closed on Mondays, he couldn’t fulfil each order. He explained what he could do and we all agreed and had a really good meal Thank you chef. We then went to Bar Guerra for brandies. Uber home.
Monday – We decided to go to Malaga for breakfast, but our departure was delayed because there was a partial strike on the train route. We ate at the same bar that I visited last week. We had a good wander around the port, the beaches and the parks and then went and ate at a bar outside the main market, before jumping on a VERY full train home. I cooked burgers for us that evening, with salad.
Tuesday – Tony, Sue, Graham and I travelled in two cars to El Torcal on Tuesday. Neither Sue & Graham’s hire car nor our Corsa would cope with the twists and turns of the ascent if full of passengers. The journey is just over an hour. I’d described El Torcal to everyone as being similar to Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire (Sharon and I had been here in January), but more rugged and so it is. We had a coffee there before setting off on the 3k yellow-route trek, which took us approx. 2 hours. It’s a lovely place to visit and just admire the fabulous wind and weather shaped rock formations.
We took a very winding route back to the A7 just north of Malaga and got back home in time to wash, change and go down to Los Boliches for dinner at Bar Cosmopolitan.
Wednesday – We were tired today and my thighs were stiff and painful (as were Sue’s apparently) So we didn’t get up to much and stayed in to watch Mission Impossible 3. I cooked Chicken escalopes and dauphinoise potatoes for tea, with broccoli and carrots.
Thursday – Tony’s last day here with me. We caught the train to Fuengirola and had B/fast at Café Costa del Sol. We walked all the way down along the front to Carvajal and back then to War Bar where we met Sue and Graham and had lunch. (€12 for 3 x cana, 1 x 0% and 7 tapas!!!) Tony got off to the airport on time but then found that his flight was delayed and then when he arrived back in the UK, his train had been cancelled. A nightmare journey!
David arrives on Saturday.
31 Oct
Painting the building
The weather has continued to cool down this week and although some of the days have been ridiculously hot for late October, many days and most evenings are now much cooler.
Contractors have begun to repaint the outside of our apartment block this week. This involves jet washing all of the paintwork and scraping off loose mortar.
The only warning I had, was a closely typed A4 message taped to the main entrance on Monday night. This meant that on Tuesday morning, before setting off to my Spanish class, I had to clear the patio of ‘everything’. All the patio furniture, as well as decorations and hangings from all of the walls, had to be removed and as a result our living room looks a little cramped now. The concertina fly-screen on the main door had to be fully opened and then covered in grey-tape to stop any errant spray from the jet-wash (and paint). All other fly-screens were removed, except in one case, where I had to cover it with black plastic bags as it is not removable. Luckily, most of day one’s noisy and wet work (Tuesday) seemed to be at the back of the building, but my area would be next, on Wednesday.
As soon as I saw all of the equipment arriving on my patio I made a hasty departure and headed by train, into Malaga for breakfast. We’d come across a little café the other week near to what we always think of as the city market (Mercado de Atarazanas). Their sandwiches looked delightful, so I headed for that. I had a mollete con jamon y tomate with a glass of cortado and both were delicious. €3! Where else can you buy a sit-down sandwich and coffee for £2.60?
I planned on being ‘out’ for most of the day, so took my own advice and tried (successfully) to lose myself in the backstreets of Malaga. It is such a busy, vibrant city but just a small part of it is frequented by day-tourists. I think that hitherto, I’ve seen most of what the city centre offers, so decided to just head off in a new direction. Which was nice, as I came across another market I’d not seen before – the Salamanca Market. This was just as busy as Mercado de Atarazanas, yet some way north of the usual bustle. I explored this neighbourhood a little before returning to the train station and back to Los Boliches for a late lunch. Patas Bravas and a 0% beer. €7. So, breakfast and lunch cost me less than £10 and the train is (by now) free. Mustn’t grumble.
I’d agreed to take Graham and Sue to the Botanical Gardens on Thursday because I’d read somewhere that late October was the time to visit and see all the trees changing colour. Well, that’s a bit of a stretch! Most of the trees are tropical or sub-tropical evergreens and the only colour changing was due to dust collecting on the leaves. I’d go again, but would probably choose a springtime visit rather than an autumn one. We did have a lovely walk around though and there are a wide variety of sub-tropical plantings. We enjoyed a picnic that we had packed ready to eat at one of the many picnic areas there – which was nice. I should note here that there are toilets aplenty here, so if you’re afraid of straying too far from one, you won’t. €9.90 entry for three old gimmers.
Apart from all that, I haven’t been up to much. I went to my cribbage class on Friday and walked down the front for a pint of Guinness on Saturday evening and had a tapas lunch at The Bodega El Tapeo Andaluz on Sunday – but I have eaten at home Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Dentist again next week.
23 Oct
October
The weather cooled slightly after coming back from Granada. Most days have been sunny, but more and more as time goes by, they are becoming cloudy or overcast. The daytime temperatures haven’t dropped much below 20o and can often be in the mid-twenties, but the nights are getting cooler now. It’s still dark here at 08:00am.
Sharon flew home on Tuesday last week, as we’ve run out of cat-sitters.
That Tuesday was the day we’d both planned to fly back but we had to make a quick decision regarding my tooth (and whether to have an implant or not) way back in September. We had to re-book my flight and so I’m now here until 19th November. My friend Tony is popping out for a few days on the 5th. I’m still not sure about the implant, but as the tooth extraction site hadn’t been healing well, it was a good job we had extended my time here as I had to re-visit the dentist for a check-up. It’s healing slowly now, after having had an errant sliver of bone removed from my gum.
Before she left, we both watched the Feria fireworks from the end of our shared garden. As always, these were excellent. We never did manage to get to the Feria itself though, which is a shame, it seems to have been an enormous success this year. It was fairly cool on the first Sunday morning I was here alone, so I decided to take a drive into La Cala de Mijas, for a coffee. It was still overcast when I got there and parking was easier than it’s ever been. I took a short stroll and heard band-music, so I followed the sound and witnessed what must have been the end of a Feria there in La Cala.
Since Sharon left, I’ve eaten out a few times, mostly with David and Gail:
We went to Sizzlers one night, on the Square in Los Boliches. The food was, as always, delightful. I had Chicken Jalcrazy and they had Chicken Bhuna and Chicken Ra Ra. We shared chapatis and pilau rice. I’ve never tasted any of Sizzlers’ Mexican offerings, but Sharon has, and she has found them similarly delightful.
We went on Friday evening to Bodega El TAPEO Andaluz on the front, opposite the Peseta Monument. Sharon and I had often passed this place, but it always seemed too busy to call in. However, it’s October now and they were not as busy. David, Gail and I shared ½ raciones of Ensalada de Tomate, Patatas Bravas, Albondigas, Croquetas de Jamon, Huevos Revueltos and Secreto Iberico. Everything was delicious. I also stopped there for a tapa lunch this week, on my way to Cribbage and had some a superb Higaditos al Jerez, and an Ensalada Rusa with some freshly made (somewhere further down the road) delicious hot bread.
During the visit David and I made to Benalmádena (see) back in April, we came across a bar on one of the back streets. We had a delicious roadside lunch there, so decided to try it again one evening, with Gail this time. And we did. We shared calamari to start and then had fabulous fish dishes. Mine was Sea Bream (Besugo). It looked and tasted superb.
We had a disappointing lunch outside the market in Malaga one day, service was poor and the food was second rate. Nothing worth noting here – they get one more chance!
On the evening before David and Gail flew back home, we visited Bistro Michel. You HAVE to book, it’s only small and ALWAYS busy. We shared Croquetas Caseras con Ali-Oli (two each). For main course Gail had the salmon, David had the sole – see pic for size!
I had Carrillada (pig cheeks cooked in sweet sherry) from the special menu. This dish also contained some tasty apricots, changing the taste slightly – in a good way.
That’s it. Graham and Sue arrive next week.
13 Oct
Granada
It’s taken some time to put together my recollections of our visit to Granada. I’m not entirely sure why, but I guess it’s because none of us were quite as thrilled with it as we’d expected to be. Granada is a huge city and the areas we’d come specifically to explore/experience were so very busy with tourists.
I know – hypocritical or what!
We’d set off for Granada on the Monday morning, all via train: Torreblanca – Malaga Maria Zambrano then Malaga Maria Zambrano – Granada. Easy peasy!
Our apartment (Tuguest apartamentos turística) was conveniently close to many tourist attractions but a 20-minute, busy walk from the station. We placed our bags at a ‘bag-drop’ nearby (there are loads – I’ve no idea which we used) because we had four hours to spend exploring before we could get into the apartment. Then we found a place for brunch. We thought that the waiters were surly and inattentive (we’re not used to that over here – they are sometimes one or the other, but rarely both). Gran Cafe Bib-Rambla.
We took the time now to find a Tourist Office and to pick up maps etc.
The apartment was delightfully situated on the second floor (#3 here) of a property on Calle Sancti Spititus, above a restaurant/café and overlooking Calle Reyes Católicos, which becomes taxi/bus only just outside. Exploration to the right, as we left the apartment took us down towards the Plaza de Santa Ana, where we found Stop #3 of the City Tour Bus (Plaza Nueva). We decided to try this later but kept on walking, checking out the shops and bars that line the Carrera del Darro (Darro is the name of the tiny river that runs alongside).
I should say here that the daytime temperatures during our stay in Granada were between 30oC and 32oC.
The tour bus (€10) took us on a trip that can only be described as ‘mixed’. I’m sure that if we’d taken the 2-day option and planned our stops (to explore more widely) we’d have been better served, but we did the entire route (about 80 mins) in one go and it was an uncomfortable trip. They squeezed every last person possible on to the two coaches and the road surfaces are not the best. Quite a bit of the tour is around the arse-end of Granada, so as I say it was ‘mixed’.
We had tickets to visit the Palaces in the Alhambra on the Tuesday and after breakfast at a café just up the lane behind us, we caught a bus to take us up the hill. The information for exactly where the entrance to the Alhambra estate was a little vague and so we ended up walking quite a way to find it from where we got off the bus.
We then had the stress of exchanging the online booking for real printed out tickets. Despite being a group of four, just one person (Sharon) was allowed to go to the ticket desk to accomplish this feat. Not only was proof of purchase required, but original documentation of I.D. That’s easy enough for Sharon and me, we have TIEs, David and Gail simply needed to show their passports (all this despite having previously submitted the information online). However, the wallet sized copies they had with them (which are accepted everywhere else, and on occasion by the police) were not deemed proof enough. David had a credit card, which was accepted (!!) but Gail was left stranded without proof for a while. The gate officials would not let David go to the window to remind Sharon that she had copies of Gail’s passport on her phone and we had to resort to shouting across the tarmac to get her attention. Nevertheless, Sharon did somehow manage to convince the ticket clerk that Gail was an upright citizen that simply wanted to enter and explore the site, rather than blow it up. Stressful?
This palaver was required every time we queued to enter somewhere not deemed to be free (show ticket and proof of I.D.). And there were plenty of queues.
The Nasrid Palace was beautiful and spoiled only by the crush of people around us. It was cooler inside than out but navigating the various tour groups and trying to ‘see’ things wasn’t easy. Tour Groups were a real pain; constantly stopping at viewpoints to listen to the wo/man with the umbrella! And, we were still agitated by the struggle to retrieve our tickets at the entrance. All in all, the palace architecture was beautiful and it well worth a visit.
We also visited the Alcazaba and admired the views from the top, but it wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as the Nasrid Palace. We all thought that the Alcazaba in Malaga was just as pretty (although not as big) as the Nasrid Palace, and much less stressful to visit.
We had some nice food here and there but the cold food (above) served in the bodega on our first night was first class. La Tabernilla del Darro
LINKS
https://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra
https://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/info/nasridpalaces/alhambranasridpalaces.asp
For those of you that might be following the saga of my tooth extraction – my hole/wound wasn’t healing properly and as a result, I am staying on here for a while longer. Such is life. More later.
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