Salobrena – Twernt half good

Thursday 1st January 2015

 

Following another of Jill’s magnificent feasts and a steady pattern of trying to exhaust the plentiful supplies of all things alcoholic, we saw in the Spanish New Year and then the UK New Year – with our apologies to Holly, our daughter in Hamilton, Ontario and Mimsi in Vancouver, BC as we weren’t capable of staying around to bring in the Canadian New Year at -6 hours for Hamilton and -9 hours for Vancouver.

By 2:00am, only 2 of the four of us remained (no names, no pack drill) – drinking, Skyping, chatting about nothing in particular (big clue there as to which 2 remained!) and listening to the sounds of local fireworks welcoming in 2015 with the obnoxious Graham Norton providing background entertainment on TV.

At 1:00am Spanish time (UK midnight) more fireworks were heard from around us than we had heard at midnight locally – No comment.

I was later told (another clue there!) that at 2:00am Spanish time another burst of celebration fireworks cascaded around the area from multiple locations.

I still can’t figure that one out! I don’t know of any countries that are -1 hour UK time!!??

The fireworks weren’t of the usual visual magnificance, instead they were, ‘to a man’, rockets terminating with enormous BOOMS. What appeared to be more sustained displays could be heard from the west, probably Almunecar.

Shakey and Tilley (especially Tilley) were scared S&£%less, much reassurance and cuddles were the order of the day night.

The next morning, with 2 ladies nursing Spanish hangovers (‘Splangovers’), we set off to visit Frigiliana, an Andalucian white-washed village/town some 7kms in the hills behind Nerja.

This is our kind of tourist spot…….

Steps between properties in Frigiliana

A view across some of the white-washed houses in Frigiliana – our impression was that these properties are re-painted every year. There are a few tourist shops and even more coffee bars/restaurants.

Another view of properties in Frigiliana

Stretching up the hillside

Martin, checking out the view, from a bar in Frigiliana, that reaches down to the Med near Nerja

After whiling away the morning in Frigiliana we drove down to Nerja, a larger tourist town than Almunecar, with some great views from ‘Balcon de Europa’,which is at the centre of the old town.

Although this name pre-dates a visit made by King Alfonso XII in 1885, it is said that he called this ‘the balcony of Europe’ and it is his statue that now stands next to one of the railings on the ‘balcony’.

The balcony is more like a very wide promenade that leads to the narrower end where the viewing balcony exists. Worth a look-see.

The view through one of the arches on the ‘balcony of Europe’

Jill, Martin, Alf and Amanda

What’s it all about Alfie – is it just for the moment we live, well, actually, yes. Count 4 ‘in the moment’ and one that’s not

January 1st 2015 and they’re sunbathing – picture taken from Balcon de Europa that proves two things – 1) Spain is a better place to be than England on January 1st and 2) Some people eat too much, myself included after this Christmas!

A street in Nerja

A chap forcing the pace as he heads back to the car park whilst his wallet is still intact

Friday 2nd January 2015

 

Friday was about sorting out the Leisure Battery problem at Twernt.

Martin helped by driving us to Motril and then dropping us off at Twernt whilst we fixed the new battery in place.

Amanda walked the hounds along their favourite haunt – the beach – and, completing battery duties quite quickly, I had only the camera to amuse me (my PC being at the villa).

I started amusing myself whilst sat outside Twernt…..and then wandered around the campsite…..

Entrance to the facilities block at Camping Playa Granada

Black ‘waste not want not’ place in the corner of the yard – adjacent to the ladies toilet – they can definitely get ‘whiffy’ here!

Laundry area

Inside the hombres palace

and again

Fresh water supply in one of the avenues

The restaurant/bar seating area by the roadside

Entrance to the restaurant/bar

Entrance from the road

 

Saturday 3rd December 2015

 

Our last full day at the villa (grown man sobs!).

We spent the day planning numerous stops up the east coast and now plan to reach France by early March and be back in the UK for the end of March.

We then intend to implement changes based on our experiences to date plus whatever we feel after experiencing the next two months in Spain. If no changes are planned then we will probably swing by Italy before spending more time in France and we would then return to the UK later than end-March. We shall see.

Planning took quite some time but we now have a mix of Aires and Wilding stopovers planned including another one month stopover as we feel that we will need to catch up with internet stuff at some point.

Overall, the internet service throughout Portugal and Spain has not been good enough for our needs – it’s OK for the casual user but once put under ‘load’ it has ground to almost a halt in most places. Exceptions have been Camping Bella Vista, Manilva and here at this villa, but who knows what deterioration could exist given time and incremental usage. Not good for the business re-start that we are planning.

I did check-out getting a Spanish data sim card for our MiFi but the data/GB to cost ratio is asinine when compared to what we have come to know and love from ‘3’ when in the UK. It would cost over 6 times the UK cost for the same data/GB usage should we opt to MiFi in Spain – there may well be a better deal available if you have a permanent address in Spain.

This is another reason to get the hell out of Dodge and into France where our UK ‘3’ contract will once again be usable.

A few pictures of our last day here…..

I discarded all of our campsite bibles and relied on ESP to find the stopovers needed – and you thought I was sunbathing – Man hard at work……..

Martin, Jill and Amanda on the lower terrace (in the servants quarters!)

I should not have mentioned servants quarters – Jill & Martin did all of the cooking! But then it is her forte – a formidable cook.

A last glance over towards Twernt – parked close to the ships

Zoom on the ships and you can just about make out the Palms on the promenade to the front of Camping Playa Granada – twixt the ‘red’ apartment blocks and the ‘grey’ apartment blocks to the left – in front of the middle ship. The Playa Granada resort is on the right

….and a final Saturday evening picture down to Salobrena with the Playa Granada resort now to the left

….and a final view down the hill from the villa

Zoom to the setting sun on the hotel

…and to the west as the sun sets

The only star to be seen as the sun sets – the planet Venus …..

Whoa, i can get a picture of Venus! In full screen you can see the green halo around Venus that’s generated by it’s atmosphere……….that’s enough………unless you want to see………no, that was enough! Goodnight Salobrena, Twernt half good!

Finally, not sure when I will be able to post again but will be back here as soon as we have EHU and ‘Whiffy’!

Here’s a link to why reverse polarity is a bad thing for batteries – http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/72650/Can-a-Battery-be-Reverse-Charged

Ciao now for at least 3-4 days!