Spain, ole!
Hello all,
I know, I know, I know… it’s been months since the last blog - I have been incredibly slack! I blame Facebook. Naughty Facebook. Bad Facebook. Okay, now I have that out of my system - on with the blog!
Over winter our friends Deirdre and Nils invited us to come stay with them at an apartment right on the beach in southern Spain. Because we’re not stupid, we said “yes”. I mean, sun, sand, sea in the middle of winter? Can’t be anything wrong with that! So we packed our bags (unfortunately forgetting Terry who was supposed to come with us - d-d-d-d-d-donkey dick!) and headed to Malaga in a big shiny bird (also known as an airplane).
Symon and I are pretty gentle tourists - we don’t like to cram too much into our holidays, often preferring to take long exploratory walks (”that little street looks interesting, let’s go down there!”), sit out in local bars and cafes, and to see no more than one major tourist site a day, preferably in a leisurely fashion. It’s probably because we’ve now lived in Europe for several years and we tend to think that we can always revisit places without too much trouble - either that or we’re inherently lazy! At any rate, Spain was slated to be a relaxing holiday and luckily Deirdre and Nils felt the same way. Perhaps even more luckily we also had superb weather - apart from the first day there was nothing but blue skies and low 20’s every day.
View from the terrace during the day and at sunset
Symon relaxing in the sun and hat-a-rama!
We were staying on the beach about 20 minutes drive from Malaga, so we decided to do a day trip into the city. Like most big cities, the outskirts were pretty depressing, but the centre was quite lovely with little winding streets and very Spanish architecture. I really wanted to steal an orange from one of the trees but apparently that is forbidden. We tried to find a typically Spanish and un-touristy place for lunch, but I’m not quite sure how successful we were - or even how good the food was since pretty much everything we ordered was “terminado”. Hungry and thwarted was not a good combination! After lunch we climbed up to the ancient fortress (avoiding the crowd of “young men” who thought it was funny to wet the steep stone slope and watch people slip and fall) to see the view of the bullring and Mediterranean. Leaving Malaga we were inspired to spend more time on the beach!
Malaga bullring
Jumping for joy on the beach!
Because good food is something that’s very dear to all of us, Nils organised a dinner reservation at a Michelin starred restaurant in nearby Marbella called Skina. This tiny restaurant is nestled in an extremely narrow street in the heart of the old town, and perhaps had enough seating to accommodate at most 12 couples. As you know I quite like my food (perhaps a little too much) so I was looking forward to the experience of something a little experimental and special. Besides, ideas for presentation never go astray. The choice was easy - we went for the tasting menu which consisted of lots of lovely bites of special and interesting items. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story. At the end of the meal Deirdre and I were each given a complimentary book on the history of the restaurant (and recipes!) as a distraction while the men were surreptitiously given the bill. I must admit I was a little taken aback at this very old fashioned handling of the bill - it reminded me of times when women were given special menus with no prices on them.
Entrees - egg and prawns
Mains - lamb and lobster
Dessert - quince and strawberry balls with chocolate mousse.
The next day we headed up into the mountains to visit the high city of Ronda. Famous for its aqueduct, bullring and oxtail stew it was a perfect destination. The trip up was a little hairy driving extremely narrow roads with trucks passing but we made it! Ronda was spectacular - well worth the visit for both the amazing views and the delicious oxtail stew. We really just couldn’t get over the scenery and took about a billion photos between us. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration, but only ever so slight.
Symon and Deirdre at the bottom, and view from the top
More Ronda
Over our last few days, the weather continued to shine so we spent a great deal of time wandering along the beach, sitting in the sun and eating loads of seafood! It was a marvellously relaxing holiday - perfect for the middle of winter.
Lunch and clambering over rocks at the beach
Until next time,
All our love,
Sue and Symon