The last couple of days have blurred into one big lazy hazy crazy, did I mention lazy, day of summer. We've been rolling into the breakfast buffet area around 10:00 am with the rest of the senior citizens. Besides one very young couple who I assume are on their honeymoon, we are the crazy kids of the breakfast crowd. I was sitting by the pool yesterday watching the sun bathing crowd. I imagined I was a biologist observing lounging old wrinkled manatee and walruses. It's a coping mechanism I use in order to not get too grossed out. The manatee are beautiful creatures!
One morning we set off to purchase some clothing as souvenirs. A men's clothing store with a beautiful window display had been catching my eye and the advertised sales finally pulled me into the store. After trying on many things, I finally settled on 2 nice long sleeved button down shirts and a super comfortable pair of stretchy light colored denim pants. Michael, the young franchisee owner is a one man show. www.emblems.es He helps with fitting, refolding and restocking, does the display window, inventory and runs the till. He has no employees and so when he does take a rare week off, he closes the store down. Michael actually comes from Genoa in Northern Italy. He's an Italian boy with an English name, living and working in Southern Spain. He explained that Northern Italy is too cold for him and that the Costa del Sol suited him better. When he does go on a holiday, he goes to Cancun Mexico. I thought that was interesting. He said that he always meets friendly Canadians in Mexico and has made a lot of Canadian friends. Our conversation turned to sports. He claimed to actually play ice hockey in Italy but that his skating skills weren't good enough to get him to higher levels of competition. He looked like the very athletic type and so I wasn't surprised when he told me that he had been introduced to field hockey by a soccer coach and that he went on to play this sport at a very high level in Italy. It took every bit of restraint that I could muster not to tell him that my ice hockey friends always considered field hockey to be a game for the girls.
Today, we made the one hour trip to the Malaga train station with another private driver. It does cost more than taking the bus but the convenience, comfort and good conversation make it worth it. Antonio, the driver, is actually from Venezuela. He moved his family to Spain four years ago and has been working for this company for two years. It has been very difficult living in Venezuela for quite a few years. According to Antonio, many Venezuelans who have family in other parts of the world, are choosing to leave their homeland. Antonio had a big decision to make a few years ago. He also has family in Toronto and could have been sponsored to take his family there. In the end he made the choice to move to Spain instead.
Balcon de Europa
Pretty street in Nerja
Posing on the Balcon de Europa with my new clothes
The Old Fisherman
Looking up towards the Balcony of Europe
A huge freshly made pan of paella waiting to be served
This is Tito. In 1959, he and four other teenage boys discovered the Nerja Caves and became local celebrities. For over 30 years he has been feeding people delicious paella, cooked and served right on Burriana Beach. His restaurant is a 20 minute walk from the Balcony of Europe on what is my favorite beach in Nerja.
The fire is well fed with old wooden pallets
Tito (a.k.a. Ayo, a Spanish term of endearment similar to "grandfather") begins a new batch of paella, beginning with the chicken. I love the rustic look of everything and how it takes 2 or 3 guys to lift the huge pan away from the fire.
Very delicious paella. In case you are not familiar, that black thing on the table is called an "ashtray"
Tito's restaurant has around 100 tables set up and gets very busy at certain times of the year.
Our last night in Nerja, standing at the end of the Balcony of Europe, looking back towards the hotel on the left
Posing with King Alfonso XII
The 3 hour train ride from Malaga to Madrid was very interesting. I was amazed by how much the terrain changed. Along the coast, the landscape is very rugged and dry. As you go north large fields and different types of agriculture begin to show themselves. These flat lands are much greener. I'm reminded of the vocal exercise which I always associate with "The Flintstones". (The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain)
I cannot speak to Spain in its entirety, but what I've observed in Andalusia, when it comes to their attitudes towards smoking really surprised me. I estimate that they are 10-15 years behind where we are in terms of clamping down on smoking in public. Smoking inside restaurants is not permitted, however, if there are tables out on the street or patio, expect to get blasted by smoke. There were even ashtrays on the table on the patios of our hotel rooms. It was an odd thing to see, as though I'd forgotten what ashtrays looked like.
Watching the situation with the Covid-19 virus unfold as we traveled was somewhat concerning. I kept up with the news as we traveled and was happy to not be in Italy this year. I wasn't overly concerned about the situation in Spain since it did not seem to be any worse than what was going on in Canada. The thought of somehow being stranded in Spain or being quarantined in a foreign country did give me a little anxiety. On a positive note, I had very clean hands most of the trip due to the constant washing and sanitizing. Before driving home this morning, we stopped at Costco. I was really surprised to see how many people were stocking up on toilet paper and bottled water. People are really freaking out. I blame the media for the hysteria. The cart checker at Costco jokingly asked us where our toilet paper was. We told him we were going to chance it and we all laughed. Perhaps after experiencing Spain for 3 weeks, I'll just buy a bidet and say the heck with toilet paper from now on. Looking ahead, I seriously hope that Covid-19 becomes an insignificant blip in time and is forgotten by the history books.
All in all, our visit to Andalusia was a very positive experience. The people were warm and inviting. The food and drink culture went beyond my expectations. On top of all that, I feel like I learned so much. Thank you Andalusia!
I haven't spoken this much French in a very long time. It's funny that I had to come to Spain to do it. The reason for this is that we have been crossing paths with a lot of Quebecois in this region. Sometimes they will be struggling with something or trying to ask us something in English and when we answer in French they just light up. Different groups of Quebecois have told Ann and I that we speak French very well. I think they are very kind and really exaggerating but I will say that in comparison to my trying to communicate in Spanish, French seems to flow rather easily.
Breakfast
I admire this pigeon. He lives by his own rules. He laughs in the face of pigeon prevention spikes.
Walking bridge between the Nerja caves and the town of Maro, overlooking the main highway.
From Maro looking over towards Nerja
Walking bridge with pretty Maro in the background
The view from Maro looking towards a distant guard tower
Pretty home in Maro
More pretty buildings in Maro
Flowering cacti near the caves with Maro in the distance
Down we go into the cave entrance. We spent about an hour in caves, accompanied by and English speaking guide. The caves were much more impressive than I imagined they would be. My photos don't even come close to showing how vast and beautiful they are. We were not allowed flash photography and so my photos are terrible.
