Month: November 2024

As good as a travelling day gets.

Morning walk

Morning coffee

140 miles and then lunch

Quick hop to the airport. No problems with the hire car. Flight on time. M25 had no hold ups.

But it was very cold. Really appreciate remote heating – 8 hours to get house warm.

Then the tree man came.

Before

After

Before

After

One of the shorter moves – just round the corner for our final few days.

Stunning scenery in Cabo da Gata National Park, and right on our doorstep.

Sunrise

Sunset

Or is it the other way around – who can tell the difference.

San Jose is a strange town (to us). Large, but not many shops or restaurants. And a scary evening last night – wandering around town last night at about 7.00 and not a single restaurant open – and the supermarket had also closed. Luckily a couple of Italians opened about 8.00 otherwise we’d have gone to bed hungry. The stresses of travelling …

And finally another little hamlet about 15 minutes away

And probably home to snow!

It’s been a while, mainly due to there being little to report. We moved on from Granada on Thursday, although not before we were able to make a final trip to the Alhambra – small parts are open to the public for free.

Then on to the coast

The house we’re staying in is

• Amazing, and
• Annoying.

It’s like an art gallery, with wow factors all over the place. But lots of stairs and not especially easy to live in. But hey – who’s complaining!

Terrace is lovely – and it’s mid November 😎.

Nothing to do but enjoy the views and eat!

The next one is a sunrise

The weather warnings for Wednesday were dire, and ultimately pretty accurate. Poor old Andalusia was deluged again, only a couple of weeks after the awful stuff in Valencia.

We were in Granada in a lovely house, high up. Steady rain all day was interspersed with heavy showers, so the day was pretty much a write off. So pleased we had got to the Alhambra the previous day.

Managed a walk first thing (with mac and brolly)

Then

Highlight of the day was a trip to a shopping mall!

And significantly de-stressing. Tyre warning lights came on and rather than worry about it got them checked over.

Dent on the back is not my doing. And it is probably the rubbishiest car we’ve ever hired. Extremely heavy and underpowered – it’s really embarrassing to be overtaken by trucks on a motorway when going up hills (of which there are many round here).

Just one night in Ronda, and now off to Granada.

Easy journey of just over 100 miles, but we were lucky enough to secure tickets to the Alhambra in late afternoon. We were here last year (22 November) so 10 days later in the year. Bit of a different experience because we had already had the wow moments and so could take it in a bit more.

And fewer photos because, guess what, it hasn’t changed much.

2023

2024

2023

2024

See what I mean. We might be a little wiser, but otherwise no change!

Then found our house with a decent view.

And an evening exploration.

Almost certainly confined to barracks tomorrow with very heavy rain forecast all day.

A couple of things about an overnight:

• The driver can have a couple of glasses of wine in the evening
• You get to see a place when the day trippers have left, so a bit of a different feeling in the evening and then the next morning.

Then about 2 1/2 hours to Granada. Excited to have secured some last minute tickets to the Alhambra.

Virtually ground to a complete halt in Malaga, and after 5 nights we’re off. But first an example of a very pleasant evening.

Next stop Ronda. We went last year but just for a day trip, so thought we’d try an overnight.

Great view from the apartment and it’s dead central.

it’s was then an afternoon of peak eating and viewing experiences, getting a touch chilly in the evening but we are 700m above sea level.

No adventures whatsoever. But it’s warm (shirtsleeves at 8.00 in the evening), and very familiar which is lovely.

Morning walk (obviously)

Some sort of diversionary activity in Malaga – might be a museum or wandering around the old town.

Slightly too early for Xmas lights.

Coffee (obviously)

(For sale at $250m apparently).

Lunch on our balcony (obviously)

Rest in the afternoon, including reading and swimming (I’m leading Eileen by 2-0 at the moment).

Walk on the promenade watching the sunset and having a beer (obviously).

Dinner – found a decent restaurant on the local promenade which does garlic prawns to die for.

Another stressful day………..

Just great. Staying in Malaga for a few days

Morning walk

A few pressies on the balcony

Nice view whilst having coffee

Ahem. But it’s the first time I’ve ever been swimming on my birthday

Whilst others sit and watch.

G&T at our favourite marina bar

And a splendid dinner at El Meson de Cervantes. (Reason for giving it a shout out on the blog is because we couldn’t remember its name from last year and had to resort to trawling back through the Monzo account to find it. Keen-eyed readers will spot it’s a selfie as well …)