Month: February 2023

We woke up early and Dave decided (in his wisdom) to MOVE The Van (even though I said that we were OK until 6pm for our €23) – but he was insistent… He emptied the waste for free and then we roamed the streets and luckily found a place next to The Zoo on the Park4Night APP.

We drove in and were charged €5 by a parking “guerilla” (as everybody calls them on Park4Night) but it was flat land and Dave was happy…

It’s been RUBBISH in Europe on a Sunday for the last four weeks (as there’s never much going on and most things are closed…) so we were delighted to see that the “Hop-On Hop-Off” Sightseeing Bus Tour was operational & we bought our tickets (with 10% off as we’d used the same company in Seville and still had our tickets !!!).

It was a little mini-bus with no roof or sides and it went up all these tiny, narrow side-streets & was complete with audio-guide so we learnt some history re Cordoba… (see first piccie of us with our red plastic earphones plugged into the bus…)

We then had tapas in a little square and it was just SO “Spanish” 🇪🇸 (outside, warm, in the sunshine, some guy playing his guitar, families, etc.) – see (half-eaten) Russian Salad and Chorizo In Red Wine below…

Then we bibbed off on the bikes and took a few “classic photos” of Cordoba on & around the Roman Bridge with the city in the background and where – according to the lady on the bus tour audio guide – “East meets West”. There’s also one of me sitting in front of the “Monument to the Beauty of Cordoban Women” created by José Manuel Belmonte in 2003… and then we went down by the river (again) and had cocktails… 🍹

Dave ALWAYS has a Pina Colada but as there was no “Pornstar Martini” (my standard go-to), I skimmed the ingredients of the remaining offerings then ordered a Cava Sangria which SAID it was rum, cava, passion fruit soda; however when it arrived, it tasted of CINNAMON !!! (Check out the photos – you’ll see why…) I HATE cinnamon 😐…

Unimpressed, we went to ANOTHER bar for ANOTHER cocktail & ordered 2 x “Sex On The Beach” but it was sickly sweet due to the added ingredient of blueberry puree…

Thus we have decided that Cordoba can’t serve a decent cocktail to save it’s @rse !!!

Let’s hope Pink Beach can do better this season with our new cocktail & tapas chef !!! 🤞

• Location: 37° 52′ 51.42″ N 4° 46′ 49.01″ W

• Location: 37° 52′ 33.98″ N 4° 46′ 37.77″ W

So we said farewell to the family (& Nerja) and made the 211KM journey to Cordoba stopping to make some lunch in The Van on the way (as we were a little hungover…)

We WERE aiming for this “Autocaravanas De Cordoba” place – which is basically like a French aire (i.e. has water & electricity but usually you’re pretty rammed in); however on the way I read some reviews & it was €23 for 24 hours PLUS €2 for 100 litres of water PLUS €2 per hour for electricity – WHICH IS SIMPLY ABYSMAL – most proper camp sites don’t charge anything like that much INCLUDING water & electricity – so we decided to go elsewhere… (Except NOT a proper camp site as there weren’t any close enough to the city…)

Dave has this APP (!!!) on his phone called Park4Night & we found this street outside a park which was pretty close to the sights then we got the bikes out & headed off to town – a couple of kms away…

Cordoba is famous for it’s CATHOLIC cathedral which is inside what was originally a MOSQUE… We’d decided NOT to do the tour that day as it was late in the day but got a snap of me sat outside on the wall with the Arabic door behind me – an unusual backdrop for a Catholic place of worship…

We then went to the “Roman Bridge” (which was the only way to cross Cordoba for centuries) and where there were 3 different buskers – a (very loud) accordion player and 2 guitarists playing Spanish music… Also – in the middle of the bridge – one of the many statues of Archangel San Rafael who is the “Guardian of Cordoba”…

We took a photie of the “Bridge Gate” at the end of the bridge and then ended up at a bar – & had a couple of drinks – adjacent to the river because it is the equivalent of their “esplanade” and the evening sun lasts the longest there…

BUT when we got back, Dave decided that we WOULD go to the €23 for 24 hours place as we would feel safer (and I have to be honest – when we “wild-camp” I always expect some thugs to bang on the door in the middle of night and rob us 😱 not that they ever do !!!)

And that was fine but do you know what ? We watched half of a film then settled down to go to sleep and there was 🎵 MUSIC 🎵 !!! It was like a free concert in the park – and if we weren’t so hungover from 12 nights in Nerja with no rest from alcohol – I’m SURE that we would have gone along & joined in – it was really good music !!!

So we wandered down to the beach and took a few snaps & (interesting ?) fact of this post is – there seems to be VERY LITTLE TIDES as there’s actually a house built into the rock on this little bay (see photo 4 below) and I kept saying to Dave that nobody could possibly live in the house as it was 6 feet from the sea but apparently there is (piccie 3 is taken from outside the house) !!!

Then we caught up with Sue, Paul & some new friends (Dave & Jane who’ve been coming to Nerja for 42 YEARS !!!) & had some lunch overlooking the sea and then we had a wander around the shops & Dave got a couple of T-shirts but I still didn’t find a leather jacket 😔

In the evening we went to “La Cueva” – the “on-site” pub – The Cave Bar @ El Capistrano – but (for once) I concentrated on ALL the family & friends that we’d met and didn’t take any photos…. (and it was a bloody lovely evening)…

• Location: 36° 44′ 40.39″ N 3° 52′ 31.79″ W

• Location: 36° 44′ 42.57″ N 3° 52′ 29.85″ W

OK – so after Marcus had made playing Padel look so easy, I (foolishly) asked Kevin if Dave & I could have a try – and (luckily ?) his normal Thursday match had been cancelled so he said “Of Course !!!” 

So Dave & I rocked up 15 minutes early to watch peeps playing & try to gauge the rules & then when Helen & Kevin turned up at 11am, we had a go… Let’s just say that (bar ONE game when magically I paired with Kevin) – generally you could set your bets on the losing team being the one that I was on !!!

BUT – having said that that – it was really good fun – a short bat (bigger than a tennis table bat and with holes in) but with tennis rules (pretty much bar the bouncing off the walls !!!) and I reckon I’d get better if I practiced…

Afterwards Helen & Kevin took us to a cafe-bar literally ON the beach in Torrox – which is the next town along – fab food (I had a salmon & cream cheese salad & it was AMAZING – see 1st piccie), gorgeously warm on the beach (like a proper summer holiday 😎) and it was just lovely… (as ever – took a few photies…)

Then Kevin was due at “Rocky’s” (where we’d had Sunday lunch with Marcus then played pool) to play his usual pool match but they were short so Paul (his bro) also had to play…

Apparently “WE” weren’t odds-on to win BUT It was SO CLOSE – it got to a tie-break and WE WAS ROBBED !!! 

And we had a LOT of wine while we were cheering them on & at least I got a piccie of the 3 brothers then one of the 3 sister-in-laws but then I can’t remember going to bed… 😐

• Location: 36° 43′ 52.24″ N 3° 56′ 43.44″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 55.69″ N 3° 52′ 4.85″ W

Nothing much to report for Tuesday – Dave & I wandered into Nerja & had a coffee in the main square, walked down to the beach & then The Balcon & listened to an excellent guitarist (see only piccie for Tuesday) then I had a little re-visit to the church & a meander around the shops followed by an early-evening swift one at La Cueva followed by dinner at Paul & Sue’s.

Wednesday – Nerja is famous for it’s caves which were discovered on the 12th of January 1959 by a group of young locals who were on a late-night walk searching for bats so – after being in Nerja TWICE before & not visiting – we decided to give it a go…

We were very impressed with the setup – excellent free car park with toilets, nice courtyard with ticket office & restaurant plus scan the QR code on the wall for a free audio guide…

€15 entrance fee was SO worth it – and once inside – it was awesome…

I was convinced it was going to be damp & cold underground so wore a cami, a top, a jumper AND my €7 bargain teal winter coat that I’d picked up at the Almunecar market a week last Friday – and I was BOILING 🥵

It was dry as a bone down there – and warm – I’m SURE they had the central heating on !!!

Anyway they claim that the largest stalactite in the world is down there – but when I tried to qualify it on Google – there were some discrepancies…  I think maybe because it’s not freestanding – it’s a huge column about 32-33 metres high but it feels pretty massive when you’re standing by the side of it !!!

Experts believe that the cave was inhabited 25,000 years ago, although ongoing studies suggest there may have been humans there as early as 40,000 years ago.  And they have discovered 589 “rock paintings” down there which (due to conservation issues) they cannot exhibit to the public but which they describe as “the first artistic representation known to humanity”…. And they were (apparently) mainly of goats and horses – see the representation on the second piccie below…

We took a few photos going round but we also (due to me) bought the “official” photo on the way out – which shows my bargain €7 coat !!!

We then had lunch in the restaurant and there were little birdies flying around which Dave (naughtily as was spotted by the waitress) kept trying to feed them. They were very tame & I managed to catch a couple of photies – first one with birdie approaching and the second actually taking the bread out of Dave’s fingers !!!

In the evening we “do as the Romans (well British ex-pats ) do – which is – as it is a Wednesday – go to “Hostal Allegre – The Barrel Bar”…

Caught with a couple of peeps we’ve met before – plus made some new friends – and then ended up chatting with the Swedish & Finish owners Yarn & Cecilia. They have a VERY successful bar/tapas establishment plus 6 rooms so we found ourselves talking shop !!!

What was hilarious was that Cecilia’s uncle (Anders Burman) is the found of the Metronome record label and when she was 12, she was asked to be “coat girl” at a party that ABBA attended 😳 – and (even though they were at the height of their fame) when ASKED BY ABBA if she wanted their autograph – she replied “No, it’s fine” 😳 😂 😂 😂 !!!

(See piccies of Dave & I with Kevin & Helen, then Yarn & Cecilia then ME with Yarn & Cecilia !!!)

• Location: 36° 44′ 40.27″ N 3° 52′ 31.67″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 43.27″ N 3° 50′ 42.58″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 16.95″ N 3° 52′ 26.24″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 55.62″ N 3° 52′ 4.71″ W

Kevin & Helen are hooked on a game called “Padel” (which seems to be really big in Spain) and which is defined by Mr Google as:-

“Padel (Spanish: pádel) is a Mexican racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Scoring is the same as normal tennis, and the balls used are similar but with a little less pressure.”

They play a couple of times a week & were playing Monday morning so I asked if Marcus could have a try…

And he took to it like a duck to water 🐣 !!!  See piccie below…

Then Kevin needed to let Helen’s horse “Quieto” out so we went to the stables and had a little stroke of all the horses there… 🐴

Luckily Kevin’s car converts to a 7-seater so we all piled in and he drove us to a lovely little restaurant in Velez-Malaga – which was filled with Spaniards on their (late) lunch break.  There was a “Menu Del Dia” which had a choice of each of the 3 courses AND included a drink of your choice 🍷- all for the bargain price of €11 !!!

I had this interesting little starter of stewed peas with a fried egg 🍳on the top, followed by chicken fillet & chips, polished off with profiteroles and washed down with a glass of vino blanco 😋

Marcus (bless him) pushed himself out of his comfort zone and ended up with some dishwater soup with bits of chicken in followed by garlic 🧄 goat 🐐!!!  I had a try and it was nice – but there wasn’t too much meat and it was all on the bone…

We didn’t leave the restaurant until nearly 5pm then it was time for Marcus to get packed up, bid the family farewell and we trundled off in The Van to Malaga Airport ✈️ to drop him for his flight…

• Location: 36° 45′ 30.65″ N 3° 52′ 11.31″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 55.4″ N 3° 54′ 4.79″ W

• Location: 36° 46′ 19.27″ N 4° 5′ 59.09″ W

• Location: 36° 45′ 30.65″ N 3° 52′ 11.31″ W