Our picnic spot

Trip to Fuengirola

We wanted to visit the castle in Fuengirola and found a modest little beach side restaurant where I ordered sardines for lunch - these were threaded on a skewer, propped against some burning embers on an old row boat filled with sand down on the beach! Novel but didn't detract from the delicious flavour - enhanced it I guess! They have some interesting customs out here - been out with new-found friends a couple of times for dinner and once the bill is paid we get treated to a round of drinks on the house - I like it!!
The views from Fuengirola were not particularly spectacular inland facing but the backdrop to Malaga in the distance was the snow capped Sierra Nevada.

Trip back home

Saturday 20 Dec - another beautiful day: blue sunny skies and deliciously warm - what a contrast to last Saturday when I was in Brighton with Jon battling with Christmas shoppers and brollies in unrelenting rain and icy temperatures! Wintry weather aside, I had a fantastic time during my week back in England. It was a very full week, starting with a couple of days staying with my Dad and catching up with a cousin over coffee, bit of Christmas shopping and supper with Amanda where I snatched the opportunity to enjoy roast turkey and all the trimmings! Thursday evening was the local girls night out (why break the habit of 15+ years just because we're now in Spain?!) - always good fun and such great company - plus another chance for roast turkey! It was the perfect opportunity to catch up with friends - one of whom I stayed with overnight and who had also picked me up from the station on my arrival and taken me home to collect my car. How blessed I feel with so many dear friends who all seem so willing to give me a bed for the night and ferry me back and forth as needed. I'm finally beginning to realise how many wonderful friends I do have in my life. Friday morning I was off to Horsham to meet Sam for coffee - how excited I was! Not seen him for so long and I got such a big welcome hug from him. It was just a quick coffee break for Sam between work commitments but I was seeing him again at the weekend and so I was soon off again to spend the afternoon with a dear schoolfriend. Then I was heading off to Brighton to spend the weekend with Jon and Sam and the girls. Nothing in the world can take the place of time spent with our dear sons. Sat night I was with Jon and Jen - it was a delight to know we were going to have a quiet night in (contrary to earlier plans that we may be clubbing!) just chilling out with nothing to do other than enjoy supper, some vino and catch up with them both. Jon dropped me off at Sam and Sarah's Saturday afternoon - their Christmas tree was an absolute picture - so beautifully decorated and sitting so effectively in the bay window. A very cosy evening - bottle of bubbly, the most delicious Chinese meal I've ever tasted - then they suggested I might like to watch a DVD with them 'The Notebook' - such a poignant film - an RW highly recommended watch but have the box of tissues to hand! Sam and I even managed to get to church Sunday morning which was a lovely surprise as I hadn't expected to be able to make it this visit ! Then I was treated to a delicious Sunday roast before reluctant farewells when I headed back to catch up with a few more friends before landing up Sunday evening at Gill and Mike's for the night ready for my return to Spain Monday morning. It had been a very full fun-filled week that simply flew by, though tinged with great sadness on learning of the devastation in the lives of 2 very dear friends of ours. They will be much in our thoughts particularly during the Christmas period.
A quick wash of the car Monday morning before putting it back under wraps and off to the airport. It was wonderful to see Michael waiting in Arrivals on my return - we missed each other so much - we'll be going back together next time!

We've slipped back comfortably into our routine of workouts and Spanish lessons with lots of homework - there are so many flash cards stuck up around the apartment now the Christmas cards are vying for wall space!

Headlines in our local paper yesterday: "A cold and rainy autumn in Malaga". The wintry weather seems to be the topic of conversation between locals and foreign residents alike. Seems this is the coldest winter ever experienced in this part of Spain. All I can say is, if this is as bad as it gets it's fine by us! The sun is still lovely and warm though when the wind is up it is certainly chilly and the nights are definitely cool. We've had 3 days of rain since we arrived. I'm amazed to discover it can actually be better than this!
The pics above are sunrise from our terrace the morning I was leaving for Engand and sunset behind the apartment one evening (a rather hectic sunset!)

Few more pics of Murcia

Exploring Murcia

Friday we were up and off early exploring Murcia - the cathedral where Jonah and Raquel were to be married the next day - what a magnificent place for a wedding. We found workmen at the bull ring so managed to take advantage of the open doors and have a peek inside.
The atmosphere of the bullfight was almost tangible as we stood looking out to the huge arena. There were numerous churches, lots of fascinating little side streets and so many street musicians we were serenaded non-stop as we wandered around.
The day ended with a visit to yet another club - Michael and I had decided on a quiet supper and early night before our return journey Saturday. The youngsters had arranged a pre-wedding party for the couple - however early night not to be. We received a message from Jon that parents were coming along later so we absolutely had to go to - proved to be a wonderful opportunity to meet some of Jon's work colleagues and to practise some of our Spanish as Raquel's Spanish friends were there. Not the early night we had planned but we wouldn't have missed it for the world.
We breakfasted the following morning with Jon and Jen before we said our goodbyes - Jon and Jen to get ready for the wedding and us to head back to Mijas. I shall miss them - we've had a great couple of days together and though I'm not looking forward to the weather back home, I am definitely looking forward so very much to spending lots more time with our boys and their girls.

Off to Murcia

The journey of around 4 hours from Mijas took us through very changeable scenery - dramatic snow capped mountain ranges and over vast flat plains. At one point the scenery so resembled the 'wild west' we half expected Clint Eastwood to come riding out on horseback! No wonder some westerns have actually been filmed in that area. As we drove at the higher altitudes through the mountain ranges we realised the gaps between us and the snow capped mountain tops were closing! The roadsides became thickly carpeted with snow. It was absolutely freezing when we left the car for our coffee stop which seemed quite bizarre having left such a warm climate just 2 hours previously.
On our return journey Saturday we actually drove through a blizzard - snow swirling around on the road and very poor visibility! We were rather glad to reach the blue skies of Mijas.

We found Murcia, which sits on the river Segura, to be a vibrant city, much larger than we expected with so much to see - including some fascinating (though rather beyond my pocket: "thank goodness" says Michael!) boutiques down the many side streets.
We soon caught up with Jon and Jen when we arrived and spent hours catching up and enjoying our supper in a tapas bar - a very popular one judging by the number of customers and a very lively one! The staff seemed to spend any spare moments they had between serving customers, tossing plates and glasses back and forth to each other to see who would drop the first one and then there were the competitions to see who could hold the wine bottle up the highest and still manage to pour the wine into the glass below - which produced roars and cheers from everyone! As we made to leave we were offered free shots - whatever it was it certainly warmed all the way down! Finally leaving around midnight expecting to return to our hotel Jon received a message from the groom-to-be inviting us all to join him with friends and family at a nightclub - it was finally 3.30 a.m. when we finally got to bed - but it had been a super evening.

Unwinding

I've made one discovery - time flies here too! I've always found that on holiday the perception of time is so very different from when at home - 2 weeks on holiday always seems so much longer than 2 weeks at home. But, again, the days and weeks are flying by and it's almost 4 weeks since we left home. Perhaps it's something to do with routines which merge one day into another!

We are working very hard on our Spanish and our teacher is the very best in our books! She has a lovely sense of humour and the lessons are well structured. Very much a 'building blocks' style - though by the time we get home after an hour's lesson and go through our notes it all seems to look like a pile of rubble! However, by the time we get to our next lesson we've put the blocks back together again ready fro the next lot! It's great fun and I find it very exciting learning a new language - we shall certainly need it when we get to the village in January!

We went up to the house in El Higueral on Saturday to meet Lynn and Peter before they left. It's so sad it didn't work out for them - it is such a lovely home in such a beautiful area. I had forgotten how stunning and dramatic the scenery is once you leave the congested Mijas Costa and Malaga area behind, where there really is very little open space to be seen anymore. We've settled very comfortably in this little corner of Mijas Costa and I had begun to wonder how enthusiastic I still was about moving inland where it's definitely a few degrees colder in the winter, where we'd be surrounded by folks speaking a language we didn't understand (at least not much yet!), to a fairly large house in place of this modern easy-care apartment - but there's no doubt - as we drove back I felt so elated and excited at the prospect of living there - we can't wait! As much as we love it here this isn't what we came for.

Jon and Jen are coming over to Spain Wednesday for a wedding in Murcia and we're driving over to spend a couple of days with them which we're all really looking forward to.

We've found a local club which we can join and use the gym and pool - we're thinking about it. We rather like our walks up and down these hills in the fresh air and sunshine then workouts on the terrace - we certainly need them. I've managed to resist so far the yummy looking sugar thick do'nuts whenever we have a coffee out but not sure how much longer I can hold out!! We've found the local market where we get our fresh fruit and veg - and my favourite stall of pick 'n mix sweeties!! Dear, oh dear .....

I'm busy designing our Christmas card for this year - which does seem very peculiar in this warm sunny climate! We watch English TV and see all the usual ads that are shown on the lead up to Christmas which feels really weird - they conjure up all the associations one has at this time every year with all the preparations going on - which aren't for us this year! Does seem very odd. Yet in some way rather lovely that we're not caught up with any of the commercialism but can really focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Shall miss the boys though - but that will never change.

Before leaving home I felt confident I would find a church in this area as there are so many English here. I was however aware that I would probably struggle to find anything once we moved to El Higueral, just outside Iznajar. Last eve I returned to the local evangelical church that I'd discovered around the corner last week - they're certainly a lively bunch! Imagine my delight when chatting to someone after the service to discover that they not only knew of Iznajar (no-one I speak to has ever heard of it!) but told me one of the church members lives in the area and runs a refuge centre there! It seems she's also just started up a small bible study/worship group there! Our dear Lord's amazing provision yet again.

These are certainly very exciting times .................

Lake Vinuela and Marbella

Settling into first base: Mijas Costa

Will we ever be able to face another winter in England I wonder? Each morning, since our arrival 10 days ago, we have woken to clear blue skies and sunshine - the day starts with breakfast on the terrace where we have a beautiful view across to the sea. It would be so easy to sit with a book in the sunshine all day but there's so much to discover and things to get to grips with. We've explored the local shops and already established our favourite for the cheapest vino and wonderfully fresh and tasty fruit and veg. We're back to our 3 x weekly workouts and trying our best to eat wisely - oooooh, but that is a challenge round here! We were in little outdoor cafe by the marina in Marbella last week and ordered a very healthy chicken sandwich, plus the obligatory glass of vino. Sadly however, I then let myself down rather badly when I discovered there was homemade chocolate brownie on the menu - a huge portion served with 2 dollops of ice cream - they did, however, provide 2 spoons so M had no choice but to help me out! It was the best choc brownie I've ever tasted - shame about the 2 spoons!
We had a hiccup couple of days ago when we found a totally flat car battery and had to call out the breakdown guys - thankfully we did manage to get hold of an English speaking operator but the fun came when the mechanic arrived in the correct road but didn't seem to be able to locate our address - it is a particularly long road that winds around everywhere! Not sure who was chasing who around for a while - Michael or the mechanic in his little yellow van but they eventually met up and managed to get by without speaking each other's language and in no time we were mobile again - another little challenge highlighting our inability to speak the language! But we haven't wasted any time there and have found a teacher and have Spanish lessons twice a week - with lots of homework and walls plastered with flash cards (glad I packed the blutak!).
Yesterday, we drove out to Lake Vinuela, an area surrounded by mountains, and picnicked under the shade of the eucalyptus trees before taking a walk down to the waters edge and some distance around the lake. A really beautiful area with some pretty scary steep roads with very sharp hairpin bends - I was relieved to be the passenger in our own right hand side drive car - meant Michael was on the sheer drop side! Much to my delight I found an evangelical church just up the road and went to the afternoon service today - where I received such a warm welcome and look forward to making some friends there. So all in all, we are having the time of our lives and feel so very lucky to be blessed with this wonderful opportunity and the promise of what the following weeks and months hold for us.