Earlier on in the summer, we had secretly plotted with my sister-in-law Camilla to meet them on their arrival at Malaga airport to help my brother Neil celebrate his 50th birthday at the end of November!! We rented an apartment in the same block as them, which was just a five minute walk from the city centre.
It was a lovely weekend, lots of walking, sight seeing, drinking and eating, reminiscing and chatting. Malaga is a beautiful city with olde worlde cobbled narrow streets, a Jewish quarter full of Arabic and Moorish type bars and cafes, topped with an old fort and castle, and yet peppered with modern vibrant restaurants and a full music scene beside a modern marina. We had not been to Malaga before, just skirted around it, so another city ticked off our list!
To fly from Benicassim to Malaga was either an 8 hour (via Madrid) or 12 hour journey (via Paris!), so we drove down, stopping overnight at a golf complex on the way down after travelling along the coast road.
On the way back, we took the route inland and drove above the Sierra Navada range of mountains, driving north of Grenada; we had sun on one side of the road, and glistening snow capped mountains on the other. We stopped overnight at a small village called Totana, our room was in a small hotel that was once an old monastery, the ornately decorated church is still in use (it is in the middle of the hotel buildings) and the gardens are still maintained as they would have been by the monks. There was a walk above the monastery to a hilltop statue, the climb up was brisk as it was cold and windy that day but the views from the top were worth it.
We also visited a small hilltop town nearby called Aledo, it has a beautiful church with foundations full of fossils which confirms that centuries ago, the area was underwater.
Visit to Madrid for Arthur’s 65th Birthday
A week later we flew to Madrid to join David’s brother Arthur and our sister-in-law Tess for a few days in Madrid, another city we had yet to visit.
Our apartment block was right opposite the Royal Palace and its gardens, with amazing views over the fountains and ornamental structured shrubs. We watched the changing of the Guards whilst we were there, a fabulous hour long procession of smart horses, dressed military riders and other military paraphernalia. We saw the Christmas decorations in full glory, and again, explored what we thought was a large part of the city, until one evening a taxi driver took us on a very interesting detour along the city’s ring road and we realised we had only seen a rather small area!
We were based right in the centre of the city and explored all the cultural places that tourists do as well as visiting lots of bars and restaurants! One day and evening was purely filled with eating and drinking, to help Arthur celebrate his 65th birthday and his retirement from work. I’m certain it’s a night he doesn’t remember!!!
One night we attended an intimate flamenco show, no more than 30 people in the underground cellar, it was an exhilarating 1.5 hours of music, dance and foot stomping.
Choosing lunch in the food market.
Madrid’s Cathedral was huge and very colourful.
A few weeks later Arthur and Tess visited us at Benicassim, stayed overnight whilst we showed them the sights of the Torre along the seafront and a few local bars.
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