Our Holiday to Spain, Days 9, 10 & 11
Sunday 30th April 2006
We got up fairly early and headed straight to Estepona marina for the Sunday market. We wandered around for an hour before heading back home. We set up the BBQ and had some lunch then went for a walk down to the beach. Ian had a paddle in the sea as we wandered along the beach until we came to the bar at the beach front, so we stopped there and led on some loungers enjoying the sun, Ian reading his book and me playing on my Gameboy Advance.
The beautiful beach which is about 5-10 minutes walk from our villa
Me on the beach, with Ian's shoes as he was paddling!
We headed back to the house when the sun started to set and flashed up the BBQ for another BBQ dinner! We sat outside to eat in candlelight which was lovely. Once again we headed upstairs to sit on the balcony in candlelight chatting before bed.
Monday 1st May 2006
We got up and headed towards Ronda. Nearby in Acinipo “La Sanguijuela” we had read of an organic vineyard that we hoped to visit. The vineyard was owned by Friedrich Schatz. When we arrived were greeted by a huge dog who just looked at us and waited for some attention. We soon realised no one was home and we were just about to leave when a car drove in. As the owners drove in, the dog realised he was supposed to be a guard dog and barked half-heartedly at us! Great guard dog ;)
We soon realised that it was a Spanish bank holiday (being on holiday you never really think about these things!) but the guy was very friendly, spoke perfect English and although he told us he doesn’t do vineyard tours, he was very happy to give us a tour. It was very interesting to hear how he had experimented with varieties of grapes to find those that suited the land best, and to see that he had large solar panels on his land to give him all the energy he needed to produce the wine at the vineyard. His wine was very expensive at 27€ a bottle, so Ian got one of each type of red wine.
The vineyard
We had planned to head back to Ronda for the day, but the guy had recommended some other places nearby to visit, so we decided to find those instead. He told us about some roman ruins to visit, however when we arrived, because of the Bank Holiday it was all locked up. So we carried on to the little town he told us about called Setenil de las Bodegas. The town was built on a mountainside and as we wandered down through the town, many of the houses had been built against the side of the mountain, and even under the rock faces.
The town that has been built under, above and around the mountainside
We had lunch in the town which was lovely but took forever to arrive, before heading back up and home for a light dinner before we started packing.
Tuesday 2nd May 2006
We got up and spent the morning packing what was left and clearing the house up. We left for Malaga via Estepona so we could get a few things from Carrefour to take home with us.
After a very scary drive round the centre of Malaga we finally found an underground car park. We wandered into the old town, stopping for a drink.
One of the many buildings in Malaga
The boobie door that we found on our wandering! People looked at us a little strangely when we started taking photos as I was giggling away ;)
We bought a joint ticket for the Alcazaba (an old Moslem fort) and the Gibralfaro (an old castle) which was about 30 minutes walk up the hill from the Alcazaba. We wandered around the Alcazaba which was very beautiful.
The ancient theatre outside the Alcazaba
Ian and myself wandering around the Alcazaba
More views of the Alcazaba
The view of the Malaga Marina
Ian found it hillarious that the wind kept blowing my skirt up and messing up my hair!
We then powerwalked the 25-30 minute walk to the top of the hill to the Gibralfaro. We made the walk in just under 15 minutes which was very good going! We explored the castle until we felt it was about time we headed back down to the old town, which we wandered through on our way back to the car.
The views of Malaga from up in the Gibralfaro
Once we are at the car, we repacked our bags to include everything we had bought in Carrefour and got changed for the journey home. We drove back to Malaga airport and waited for our flight back which was scheduled for around 11pm.