London, Storms, and Flamenco Blog Entry 4

Andalucía, España

Hola a todos!! 😊

Our trip to England:

Valentine’s Day this year, was an adventure!  Up early, we took the Light Rail from our place to the airport and thanks to “Easy Jet” were off to see our friends, Jeremy and Jo, in London. 

A huge thank you to Jo for taxiing us from and to Gatwick. 

A quick walk along the canal with Jeremy to stretch our legs and chat a bit…

...and we were off, via Uber, to Jo’s parents, Lynn and Brian, for an incredible Valentine’s feast. 

Fine food and company ensured for a wonderful time and a little insight into some British tradition! 

The following day, a great sleep and a full-on breakfast put an end to any “jetlach” as they say here in Spain. 

Indeed, try as they might, London’s winter rain and overcast skies did not deter  us from taking in a great play.

Come Thursday, a little sun had us off to one of the many lakes in the local forest....

....ending up at a wonderful pub by the canal… where an evening of prosecco, beer, food, and games kept us there pretty late.  Despite all that alcohol, there really was only one hiccup.

This was going to be our treat.  But our £50 Notes, it seems, weren’t up to snuff…

...no longer legal tender, they said…not in pubs, not anywhere! 

Thanks to VISA, any embarrassment was avoided.  “Gracias” to Jeremy and the Bank of England for later looking after the replacement of the vagrant bills. 

We had a wonderful trip and thank you to all who made it so.

Surprise,surprise!!!

Here in Fuengirola, we generally sleep with the window open…you know, the waves and everything. 

Although there is a rhythm to the night outside our place (like the municipal cleaning services usually busying themselves for 10 minutes along the beach at about 2 a.m.),..

....a little patience usually gets us through those little glitches should you wake up. 

But last Sunday, all was different!  It was no dream either!

We awoke to billowing curtains and lightning bolts so powerful that...

....over a churned-up Mediterranean Sea, the sky seemed to be playing “Now I’m Day; Now I’m Night”. 

And then, the rains came. 

Torrential downpours, lasting the better part of two days, turned streets into rivers, and rivers, well…. into unbridled powerhouses, that lifting pavement, inundating underground parking lots, and eroding our beaches. 

It was, so say the residents, the first storm of this magnitude to hit Andalucía since the 80’s.  

Dust Storm

Taken from space, this beautiful image of dust moving up from the Sahara Desert and across Spain and Portugal is, I admit, quite captivating.

Practically though, the arrival of this dust plume, collided perfectly with our huge storm. 

The result: The plume was pulled down to earth, covering simply everything with a yellowish, sometimes reddish mud.

In Spain, this little weather bomb is called “La Calima”, and is quite something to behold...oh,but the clean-up afterwards. 😒😒😒

Changing a tire

Any joke about a tire change would, I’m sure, have fallen “flat” that day. 

There we were, heading out to discover Fuengirola’s very own local castle in our newly rented car.  The sun was shining and all appeared to be as it should. 

That is, until after parking.  I stepped out and by chance, discovered the rear tire to be half flat. 

"Ay, caramba!" as Bart Simpson would say.

I’m happy to report that all the equipment required for a tire change was present and accounted for. 

Grrrr!

Our first hike:

With the return of the beautiful weather, we decided to attempt our first “country walk” (hike in the local hills). 

Starting from the Mijas Pueblo itself, ...

.

..we climbed up to reach the "El Calvario Shrine", following the iron cross markers.

Good luck had us arriving to find the doors wide open… a real treat because…,well here’s why.

Once back outside, Linda whispered to me, no not sweet things, ....

                                                

......but rather that the Shrine only opens four times, each Friday of Lent….

....and yes, this was Thursday. 

Seconds later, out he came and while he was locking up, I said to our host:

“Gracias!  Hoy, tuvimos suerte, verdad? Gracias!” (I guess we had a little luck today, right? Thank you!). 

He agreed heartily, smiled and left. 

Once past the shrine, we took a path to Mission Cross, and then on to a marble quarry.

The Sierras here are made principally of limestone and marble, both of which have been mined for at least a millennium.

In fact, this particular quarry dates back to Roman times…. only closing in 1976. 

What a great little hike! 

Back in Mijas Pueblo, a beer and ham sandwich (fresh warm bread is to be had everywhere) were our reward,...

.....as we sat perched on one of the many overhangs that make Mijas, one of Andalucía’s special Pueblos blancas (white villages) that continue to retain their picturesque charm.   

Lorraine and Bill

In fact, we took Bill and Lorraine, our friends from Nerja, out to explore both Fuengirola and Mijas. 

Their visit, a “two-dayer”, was fast and full of fun, with lots of adventure, and of course, food and wine. 

Next to Andalusian cats, buros are their favorite animal. 

Here’s to our getting together before they leave for India at the end of the month.

Fusion Flamenco

Flamenco was born here in Andalucía. Today though, it is most appreciated when fused with other forms of music. 

To our good fortune, we were recently able to attend a “Flamenco Fusion Concert” at “La Casa de la Cultura” here in Fuengirola…. such a treat. 

The music was magnificent and the flamenco dancing, well, mesmerizing. 

There is one curious parallel here, though.  

Just as Country Music has its roots and is heard more in the American South and Southwest, Flamenco’s birthplace and heartland is Spain's South and Southwest, Andalucía. 

And as is the case with a lot of traditional music, pure Flamenco, like pure country, is about as rare as a “spirit bear” in British Columbia.  Why? 

Well, today’s Spain “just ain’t Hemingway's Spain” anymore, and so, Flamenco, like modern Country Music, has been searching to remain relevant...and so, is ever evolving. 

And yet,...

.....despite all the current trends, like "Country", Flamenco still remains unmistakeably true to its genre, and beautiful.

 

Interesting facts about Spain and Andalusia.

1)    Like Canada, Spain is a constitutional monarchy.

2)   Spain has Europe’s third-largest land mass and a population of 47 million, sixth largest in Europe. 

3)   Here in Andalusia, there are more than 70 bull rings, the one in Mijas Pueblo being the oldest and oddest.

4)   Malaga, just 22 minutes from here, is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso.

5)   Andalusia produces 75% of Spain’s olives.

6)   Spain has gone through a real rough spot and currently has the fourth largest number of empty homes in the world.  A total of 3,444,000 residential properties are sitting unoccupied in the country (14%).  Only Malta, Greece, and Mexico (they must all be visiting Trump) have more empty houses. 

7)   A fact: The United Nations projects that Spain will be the world’s oldest country by 2050 – with 40 % of the population aged over 60.

8)   A solution: To counter the problem, Spain has just appointed a “sex tsar” with the task of reversing the huge dip in the actual birth rate, a mere 1.3, the lowest in the developed world.  Sweden, a country with a similar problem, is proposing liberating workers for a few hours a week so that “couples can take advantage of the new-found freedom to procreate.” 

   Will Spain do the same? 

Until next time when Linda and I will be venturing deeper into the Andalusian hillside as well as making a trip to Seville. 

Thanks for reading along.

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Life beyond Fuengirola Blog Entry 3

Andalucía, España

Hola a todos!! 😊

Linda and I are still enjoying a rented car.  Last week-end, we ventured up the coast to Nerja, about an hour and a half north of here.  All painted in white, this town has become the coastal destination for the discerning traveler. 

In fact, Rick Steves, the travel guru, recently picked Nerja, with its historical charm and beauty, as his favourite coastal Andalusian town. Our Ottawa friends, Lorraine and Bill, have been spending large parts of their winters here for the past decade.  Pretty, charming and tranquil, Nerja continues to captivate them to a point where purchasing a hillside property overlooking the Mediterranean was, for a time, a serious consideration.  And why not!

But, I do digress.  Our stay with Lorraine and Bill in Nerja was one full of little adventures and discoveries. 

From the cold glass of cerveza on a hidden terrace, hanging out over the Mediterranean...

....to a walk down the town’s “piece de resistance”, the “Balcón de Europa”, we loved it all.

The “Balcón” is a high outcrop, stretching out into the sea.   

Sauntering down it gives you a sense of how royalty might have felt, meandering over its marble balcony,...

.....glancing appreciatively from left to right and....

.....admiring the vantage point for vistas and pictures.

And of course, if you’re lucky,....

....you’ll also catch a glimpse of one or two of the guards of the promontory,.....

....Nerja’s famous cats.

Back in the car, Bill, our very competent and friendly navigator, was soon guiding us up a narrow road way to....

.....Frigiliana, their favourite white mountain village. 

Its maze of cobbled streets, all lined with meticulously maintained whitewashed houses were certainly a contrast that day...

.

...to the blue skies, the red slate roofs, the colourful plant pots and of course,

....the bright contrasting-coloured front doors.  

And the vistas of the surrounding countryside and.....

.......the coast below all made you understand why ...

....Lorraine and Bill consider Frigiliana to be one of the most beautiful villages in Andalusia and...

....for which it, indeed, has won awards.

The following morning, after a hearty breakfast, we drove up Andalucía’s historic coast to explore one of a chain of “Torres” or towers. 

Out of the car, we bounded up the trail (as fast as old farts do that) on our path to “La Torre del Maro” where.....

.... we first discovered wild plants and shrubs whose names ring familiar in any kitchen back home.  Lorraine and Bill, so knowledgeable about all things Spanish, put names to the faces. 

But for one, I had never seen lavender, thyme, and rosemary in real life.  All I had to do was crush the flowers between my fingers to release a scent that brought me back to our kitchen in Canada.  It was heavenly.

As for the “Torre”, the history of the watchtowers on the coast of Southern Spain tells of both an eventful and troubled past. 

Bill and Lorraine explained that for centuries, these Roman and Moorish posts had been used along the Southern Mediterranean, to warn against pirates and then (much later),...

..... any lurking enemy French or British warships.

Signals were passed between these watchtowers, using smoke by day and fires at night….

..... and as demonstrated by their longevity, they proved to be a very effective defensive tool. 

A day well begun!

Many beautiful and interesting sites were at our beck and call and we did a great job taking in as many of those hide-away spots that only long-time enthusiasts like Loraine and Bill could know.....

For example: Where does one go to find wild mountain goats? A winding narrow road and a look....300 feet below.

But all that work made for four hungry men and women.

For lunch, Lorraine had made a reservation earlier that morning, all in Spanish, at a beautiful beach-side restaurant in the small town of “La Herradura” or "The Horse Shoe". 

It was Sunday, so, of course, our sea-side meal was going to be Paella.  What a lovely way to spend part of the afternoon. 

Time went by so quickly and soon it was back to Nerja and then Fuengirola.  We will see Lorraine and Bill soon and are looking forward to hosting them here.

As for our car, well, sadly, days slipped by and in the end, it was time to give it up.

But hey, we could slip in one last quick trip!!!  Our landlords had spoken to us about a hillside town called Mijas,...

....surprisingly just 8 kilometres up the mountain behind our place here in Fuengirola and curiously, on the way to the airport to return the car. 

When we arrived, a Sarah Palen-esque thought came to mind when, just few steps from our parked car,...

....I looked out over the beautiful Mediterranean, only to see, not Russia, but the beautiful outline of both Gibraltar and Africa. 

What a discovery!  I can see "Africa" from here!

This thoroughly enchanting village, nestled in the mountainside 428 meters above sea level, with its population of just 7,500 has, somehow through the centuries, managed to retain much of its "white village" charm, ....

......with cobbled, narrow streets and staircases, dazzling whitewashed walls,...

......secret nooks and crannies, and, of course,....

....as we can see here to our right,....

.....breathtakingly beautiful vistas,... 😊

I was in love. 

So charming, .....

.....so full of possibilities, and so close, this...

.......little hillside town will certainly be a standard go-to place for us, over the months to come. 

And now on to Malaga, to return our rental and a light-rail trip (23 minutes) home. 

And oh yes...

.....as we admire one of Fuengirola's many green parrots, may I say that in the interim, we have learned of a small glitch in our plans. 

Our projected stay of 92 days in Europe is slightly illegal.  In fact, we're overextended by two days (90 being the limit) so, our next adventure is to scoot off to London for a few days, (England is not in the Schengen Zone).  Thanks to the incredibly cheap fares available from airlines such as Easy Jet and Monarch, it’s no burden at all and we'll get to see Jeremy and Jo.  Ready or not, here we come!

More to come! 

Hasta la vista!  😊