April 1st - 15th 2006
Written by Geoff Forster
Margaret and Peter left for the airport. We'd enjoyed their company during the week. They had some lovely weather, a perfect week with sunshine every day. They visited Ronda, Ubrique, Los Alcornocales, Gibraltar, Sabinillas, Genalguacil and Jubrique as well as doing lots of walks. They may come back to visit the Alhambra in Granada with us and to go to Tangiers in Morocco.
It's Sally our Border Collies birthday. April 1st seems appropriate. She is a silly dog.
Here she is having a birthday snooze.
We sat in the 'Entrada' listening to the birds.
Here I am with 'Motty'.
I then took the laptop up there and we listened to a injury ridden Newcastle United cruise to an easy victory over full strength Tottenham Hotspurs. If Owen had been playing we'd have got into double figures.
Jane has been buying DVD's from eBay.
We watched "Love Actually" starring Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth ...
An all star British cast, it was quite funny in places and of course Jane cried at the end ...
Another lovely day, there is some high cloud but it isn't stopping the sun getting through.
I'm going to paint the back of the house. We've arranged to have scaffolding put up in May/June during a spell when the apartment is vacant so that I can paint the front of the house.
I can climb on to the roof to paint the back so I'll make a start on that today.
Jane is cleaning and washing. Exciting stuff ...
I can't update the blog because our internet connection is down.
Iberbanda is really poor. We pay for a faster connection than dial up but rarely get it.
I got a coat of pintura plastica on the back wall.
Jane planted a lot of seeds. Hopefully they'll all germinate and we'll have a good display in the pots around the house.
We changed and walked to the Restaurante Kábilas for a drink. I put a pair of shorts on for the first time this year.
We sat on the terrace for a while and then walked to Café Bar Guayacán.
we had a few beers and Flora gave us some of her wonderful tapas. The tapas in Guayacán varies a lot, which is wonderful. Today we had spicy sausages, belly pork and chorizo cooked in wine.
Here's Flora and Jane.
We had a lovely afternoon in Café Bar Guayacán.
We sat with Salvador. He invited us to see his finca tomorrow.
At one point three caballeros stopped outside for a drink.
This is Francisco Barroso.
We walked home it was a beautiful evening.
Still no internet connection.
I'm updating the blog at 01:00h, the connection has just come back on.
It is overcast today, grey skies from horizon to horizon.
A white sun is trying to break through from behind the clouds.
We arranged to meet Salvador to visit his finca.
I need to finish the painting in case it rains tomorrow.
The local weather says 60% chance of rain.
I was walking down to cancel with Salvador when I met him walking up. We'll go another day when the skies are blue.
The Iberbanda connection is working today. It went again last night, I had just uploaded the photo's for the blog but not for benarraba.com This morning I've uploaded more photo's to the Caballos (Horse) gallery.
Galería De los Caballos
Last months website stats show that an average of 536 visitors a day came to the site.
That is 71 more visitors a day than last month.
A record 671 visitors on March 21st.
I'm going to change into my painting clothes and get back on to the roof. I should have it finished today.
We had a good evening in and watched a DVD kindly brought out for us by Margaret and Peter.
Another lovely day.
We sat in the sun for an hour or two.
Then we walked down to Bar Barroso. Jane had two palomitas, which are a tapas of smoked salmon and soft cheese in a warm bread roll.
We then went to Bar Andrés Sánchez where I had a large bowl of Salmorejo de carne. This is Andrés, everyone calls him Alberto because there are two other Andrés in the bar. He cooks the hot tapas.
We walked up passed a house which is being restored by an jazz drummer from Kent, Mark. He comes every winter to do a bit more work on a lovely old house. He is trying to restore it in a sympathetic way, keeping as many of the original features as he can. We rarely see him here as the house is uninhabitable until the roof is restored. Today he was here and he showed us around. There is still a lot of work to do, but the place feels a lot more solid than the first time we were inside.
The Chestnut beams are almost ready to have a floor laid, the roof is to come off and put back on using as many of the original timbers as possible.
We walked up to Café Bar Guayacán for a coffee. Which Yolanda kindly bought for us.
The internet connection isn't working again. Hopefully they are adding more capacity and it isn't just broken ...
A cooler day than of late. More cloud around but as yet no rain.
We still have no internet connection.
Apologies to blog readers who visit daily.
We got back online around 14:00h. I managed to get a little work done.
We cooked a chicken curry with lentils and potato then watched TV.
It started to rain around 22:00h
A grey day. It rained on and off all night. It's good for the campo (countryside).
We're busy cleaning the apartment.
We have special guests for one night.
Rob and Alice are flying into Gibraltar tonight from the USA via London.
We're picking them up, they are staying with us tonight. Tomorrow we're giving them a guided tour of Ronda and the surrounding area.
I've been out for the bread and to go to the bank.
We're setting off to Gibraltar at around 17:00h.
We waited until 18:00h before setting off. We can check on the internet (if we know the flight number) when the flight takes off, it was a little late.
The drive to Gibraltar was great. Lots of new wild flowers in the hedgerows. We saw the first Bee Eaters of the year at San Pablo de Buceite. We also saw a couple of Common Buzzards. The White Storks at Estación de San Roque must have eggs in their nests as each nest has an adult sitting on it.
This is Gibraltar through the car windscreen!
We had a Big Mac each in La Linea! 3.20€ buy one get one free!
We crossed the border into Gibraltar and went onto the roof of the airport to see Rob and Alice get off their plane.
They'd sent us a photo but Rob said he'd wear an orange shirt.
The Rock from Gibraltar Airport Roof.
We met Rob and Alice. They'd had a long but safe journey.
We crossed the border into Spain.
It was still light for most of the journey. We pointed out lots of villages, birds etc. It was dark as we headed into the mountains, so they have a pleasant surprise awaiting them tomorrow morning when they look out of their bedroom window.
We went for a walk around the village, we called into Bar Andrés Sánchez for some delicious tapas.
Next we walked up to Café Bar Guayacán. Flora's tapas is well known in South Carolina! Rob had seen photo's of tapas on the blog and bravely joined me in trying a pigs trotter! Jane and Alice gave it a miss.
Rob and Alice had had a very long journey so they will sleep well tonight before we set off for an adventure in Andalucía with them tomorrow.
We left the apartment at 09:00h. We had breakfast in the Restaurante Kábilas. (Breakfast is available here 7 days a week).
We set off for Ronda just before 10:00h.
We parked in Ronda and walked down into the town.
We had cafe in the Hotel Macias a favourite place.
A new mirador (viewing point) has opened up next to the puente nuevo.
This offers great views of the gorge. Which as you can see is still very green.
We watched Chough's and a pair of Lesser Kestrels in the gorge.
The skies were grey although a sunny afternoon was forecast.
We walked around passed the Palacio (Casa) de Mondragon and down along the castle walls. We walked passed the minaret tower down through the Philip V arch and onto the puente viejo.
We then walked down to this Ermita.
This is the Puente Viejo from below.
The skies were clearing ... it was getting warmer.
Jane and I had been down here once before on our first ever visit to Ronda.
These are the Arabic baths based on a Roman design.
We walked back up to the Puente Viejo then up through the gardens.
Here are Alice and Rob in front of the famous Puente Nuevo in Ronda.
We were just about to leave the gardens when Rob spotted something moving on the gorge wall. (The black dot in front of the big yellow arrow ...)
It was a young cat trying to catch birds in the prickly pear cactus on the steep sides of the gorge.
"Go and rescue it Geoff" said animal lover Jane. I nearly fell over the side laughing.
It seemed perfectly happy to me. We left in case disaster struck whilst Jane was watching.
We walked around the Plaza Socorro then up the Calle Espinel and looked in a few shops.
We had a wonderful lunch in the restaurante Doña Pepe. Which we can recommend.
Rob and Alice bought walking poles and a cap.
We then went back to the car and drove to Setenil de las Bodegas.
Rob wanted to see the houses built using the gorge as a roof and walls.
We stopped at the top of the road and looked down on the pueblo.
A colony of twelve or more Lesser Kestrels were flying above the town.
We drove to back to the Sevilla road and then took the turn into the Guadiaro valley through Benaoján and onto Cortes de la Frontera.
We drove through the beautiful Los Alcornocales and up through Gaucín. We'd had a great day. Rob and Alice are great people we got on really well with them. (We love Alice's soft southern States accent)
We said a tearful farewell to Rob and Alice. We wish them luck and good weather for the rest of their holiday.
We know we'll probably never see them again, but we do both hope that we will. You never know ...
We went to Café Bar Guayacán and then Bar Barroso for some excellent tapas, which included Tortilla Bacalao a delicious deep fat fried ball of egg, flour. onion, garlic and salted cod. Next we went to Bar Andrés Sánchez and finally to Pepa's Disco Bar Embrujo ...
A fantastic warm sunny day.
I feel surprisingly good ... must have been the Fanta limon I switched on to at around 02:00h. !
Jane's washing and cleaning ready for our next guests Roger and Jacquie who arrive late this evening.
I've received an e-mail from Verónica Núñez the girlfriend of Andrés Sánchez. Verónica lives in Lima, Peru.
She's kindly sent some photographs of herself, Andrés and Andrés (Alberto) from a recent visit to Peru.
This is a photograph taken at Jetty Cisneros (Miraflores) : Miraflores is a Limean district that is near to the coast, by the Pacific Ocean.
Andrés in Machu Picchu: Behind him is part of the Inca fortress. It is a very popular tourist area and is approx 2,800 m above sea level.
This is the view of the parade ground of the Cuzco (Cuzco is an area where the ruins of Machu Picchu are found, it is a known worldwide; it was the capital of the Inca Empire before the arrival of the Spaniards).
Here are Verónica, Andrés and Alberto in the tower of one of the beautiful churches in the center of the Cuzco (there are a total of 11) In front of the houses there are gardens. Cuzco is 3,250 m above sea level.
Thanks to Verónica for the photographs. Now we know why Andrés likes visiting Peru.
We're thinking about 'Chip' and Barbara in the USA today. It is their 'Big Day' they are getting married.
Best wishes to them both for a happy future together.
They are spending their honeymoon in the apartment arriving next Saturday.
We sat on the sun terrace soaking up the sunshine. The views are incredible.
From time to time we thought about Rob and Alice who left Benarrabá this morning on a six hour walk to Gaucín. The route they take is exposed and mainly south facing slopes. We hope that they took our advice and took plenty of water with them.
Roger and Jacquie arrived safely a little after 21:00h.
They seemed very pleased with the apartment and the village.
A cloudy start but the sun is now strong enough to get through and it was a a very pleasant day.
We didn't do a lot really.
I listened to the Tyne - Tees derby which Newcastle United won 1-2.
We watched TV and had a late night.
A lovely day it is beautiful. Birds are singing, the sky is blue.
A telephone call at around 10:00h. from Rob and Alice. They are in Jimena de la Frontera and Rob's knee has reacted to the walking and they want us to meet them. They have to get to Castillo de Castellar.
We'll take them out for a drive.
We drove to Jimena de la Frontera. I asked a road sweeper the way to the Hostel Anon. An old boy offered to show us so he hopped in the back.
Just as well Jimena is a labyrinth to strangers. He took us there, I paid him enough to get him a packet of cigs and a beer.
Alice was waiting for us. We walked up to the Hostel Anon. Rob was limping badly. He'd just about made it yesterday. We got their cases loaded and drove to the pretty Castillo de Castellar. They checked in.
They were given keys to a 'casa rural'. It was basic to say the least. If you see the words Casa Rural expect Spartan conditions!
Rob and Alice said the Hotel near Gaucín had been good but Jimena and here were below standard.
This was taken looking down from the castle to the reservoir.
We drove to Castellar for lunch in the excellent value for money Restaurante El Soto. A lot of Spanish workers have the menu of the day here. At 7 euros / £5 it is good value for a three course meal including drinks, bread and salad!
Next we drove to PC City at Los Barrios. I need a External Hard Drive, the notebooks hard drive is full of photo's!
We then drove to San Luis de Sabinillas, our favourite beach for a paddle in the Mediterranean. Americans call paddling, wading. We explained that they didn't have to go in that far.
They also eat with their forks upside down. At first the fork is in the left hand while cutting with the knife then they swap hands to put the food to their mouths with the right hand. A complex process. We did point out that the English spend a lot of time chasing peas around their plates as you aren't allowed to use your fork as a shovel.
We had a good laugh with and at each others little quirks.
Here are Rob and Alice Eddy on the beach in Sabinillas by the Mediterranean Sea. The sky and sea really are that blue!
A rose between two thorns. We did get our wish to hear Alice's soft southern accent again.
Two roses.
We walked along to Duquesa and walked around the marina.
It was hot in the sunshine, a lovely afternoon.
We drove up through the orange groves wafts of perfume from the orange blossom filled the car.
We said another farewell to Rob and Alice Eddy. We may see them again ...?
Here are King Rob and Queen Alice in their castle.
Jane and I drove back calling into the nursery at San Pablo de Buceite to buy plants. We also called into the Super Genal in Algatocín before driving down to beautiful Benarrabá.
We're staying in tonight watching the second part of 'Ghostboat' starring David Jason. Which was rubbish.
A cloudy start to the day but it was a lovely afternoon and evening.
Roger and Jacquie our guests this week went to Gibraltar yesterday They said it was very busy but had enjoyed their day, especially going up the rock to see the apes.
Gibraltar
They did the Ruta Azul (Blue walk) at lunchtime, it takes around an hour so is a good warm up. They plan to go to the Rio tomorrow.
They have driven across to Genalguacil to see the village and the street art this afternoon. Artists are invited each year to the village, they are given food, lodgings and materials and they leave their works of art (mainly sculptures) to the village. Genalguacil is well worth visiting for a few hours.
Genalguacil
Jane and I went for a walk. We called in to see Yolanda in Café Bar Guayacán, the fiesta on Saturday night had gone well.
We asked her about Easter Sunday and she told us about a strange tradition.
On Easter saturday night the young people of the village go to the church and steal the statue of baby Jesus, which they put in a sack. They then go around the village stealing flower pots, chickens, goats, tomato plants ie anything not nailed down.
They put their 'booty' in a special pen that has been built in the plaza.
On Easter Sunday there is a procession. The men of the village in one, the women in another and the children with their little statue.
They all converge at some point and their is a sale/auction of the stolen goods, the proceeds going to the church.
We then went for a walk in the late afternoon sunshine.
This is Lathyrus Tingitanus, Southern Vetchling. The Spanish call it Alverjana de tanger. It looks like a Sweet pea. It is just starting to flower.
This year is already good for wild flowers. This Vetchling is going to cover the campo in a purple haze.
Jane took this of a strange looking extra long horse / mule.
In the lower parts of Benarrabá are some wonderful old buildings, yet to be reformed. They are full of character.
These two ladies are sisters. They go for an evening 'paseo' (stroll) every night. I think their names are Rosalie and Isabel.
We called into Bar Barroso for tapas. Then to Bar Andrés Sánchez.
This is 'carne mechada rellena de chorizo' roasted pork stuffed with sausage. It had just come out of the oven. It smelled beautiful. It is served cold ...
Fortunately for our stomachs ... here's some that was prepared earlier, served to us by Andrés Sánchez senior. It was as good as it looks.
The tapas served in the bars of Benarrabá is excellent.
We met Roger And Jacquie just as we were leaving. We were easily persuaded to go back in for a quick beer with them. They had some tapas. They had thought that they'd be cooking meals in the apartment, but the tapas is so cheap and good that they are eating out. We had a good chat about their holiday so far and our life out here. 01:00h and we headed home ... a good afternoon stroll!
A late start!
I worked on the website for a while.
We took the dogs out for a two hour walk into the campo.
It was lovely and warm, some cloud cover but mainly sunshine.
We were amazed by the all the flowers that were out.
We'd never seen this one before.
We think this is a Convolvulus.
Jane took the next two.
I took this one. It nearly works ... an ants eye view of Benarrabá.
Here's Jake cooling down in the Arroyo.
We got home around 15:00h.
Jane went to get her hair trimmed.
I worked on the website and completed a page for Villamartin which we visited in February.
A quiet night in. I'm watching the FA Cup replay, Jane's writing letters.
A beautiful sunny day.
We decided to go to the coast shopping.
We called in to the Post Office in Gaucín to post some letters. It was closed. I suddenly remembered from last year that the Spanish have a Bank Holiday on the Thursday and not Easter Monday.
We took a chance that the Super Genal would be open and got some vegetables for the weekend. They are open tomorrow until 13:00h.
We're off for a walk around the village.
This is Philadelphus. Mock Orange. It is just beginning to flower. There are several large bushes around the village that fill the evening air with a wonderful fragrance. This is a single variety, they tend to have a stronger scent than the doubles.
We walked to the school to photograph the new mural. Artists Onno and Marion Henke drew the outline and the children coloured it in.
It is very good.
Onno and Marion run a painting holiday course.
Painting Holidays
Marion is a professional artist, this is her gallery web site.
It is well worth visiting.
We walked down into the pueblo.
We passed our friend Salvador's house. He called to us from the balcony, where he was watering flowers. He gave us a Busy Lizzie cutting.
He also invited us into his house for a beer and some tapas. Chorizo made in the village by Andrés Ramos. Excellent!
This is Salvador's niece, Marina. We were very impressed by her painting. Watch out Marion you have competition!
Here's Salvador's parents with Marina.
While we were enjoying our beer and tapas, Suli a friend who comes from the village but now lives in Galicía called in to see Salvador. Suli reads the blog and enjoys seeing the photographs of the people and the village. Now we've got a photograph of her!
We said thank you to Salvador and his parents for their hospitality.
We walked around the corner to Pub Bar Dami.
This is Mike, who is a lawyer in Madrid. He is from Benarrabá and returns for holidays.
This is Ángela. The new baby of Silvestre and Mariángelis from tienda Andrietta.
Here's Jane in the sun outside Bar Barroso where we had more tapas.
She's wearing a lily given to her by Salvador.
This is the mother of Andrés Sánchez.
She's a lovely lady.
We walked up to Café Bar Guayacán.
This is pork pieces in an almond sauce. More of Flora's fantastic tapas.
Here's Flora making Tortilla Bacalao.
We went upstairs to shoot pool. I used to be pretty good, I managed to beat all the Spanish lads despite some very strange rules.
Watch out for these two hustlers! Ana and Toñi.
Do not mess with us ...
Back downstairs (unbeaten!) we sat with Andrés and his wife Loli.
We bought our house from Andrés sister.
Andrés is a school teacher in Málaga.
Like many other people in the village this weekend, they love to come to the tranquility of Benarrabá.
Here's Flora with the finished Tortilla Bacalao. It was wonderful.
This is Hibea. A large squid? It is sliced and deep fat fried. I like it, Jane's not keen .. no surprise there then!
We got home around 01:00h. These afternoon strolls are getting very tiring. A great day and night in the village with lots of people here for the Easter weekend.
More photos of the day and people to follow on www.benarraba.com
A pleasant day for the Good Friday procession.
We walked along to the plaza at around 12:00h.
We watched the procession leave the Ermita in the plaza and got in front of it to photograph it from the balcony of Café Bar Guayacán.
More photo's to follow on www.benarraba.com when time permits.
Guests Roger and Jacquie came back from a good day out in Ronda.
They'd had some great food and seen lots of Easter parades.
They invited us out for a drink on their last night in Benarrabá.
We went to Bar Barroso for some tapas. We had Jane's favourite, palomitas. This is smoked salmon and soft cheese in a freshly baked bread roll.
We then went to Bar Andrés Sánchez.
We've been lucky yet again to have yet more great people staying in the apartment. We had a couple of good nights out with Jacquie and Roger. Roger is from Yorkshire where they both now live and Jacquie is originally from Hartlepool. We reminisced about holidays at Seaton Carew.
This is Jacquie and Roger. We finally got a photo!
It had started to rain earlier, just a few drops. We tool a chance and went out without our umbrellas.
The skies were looking threatening.
We got home just before the unexpected thunderstorm. Lightning lit up the skies above the Genal valley. Long rolls of thunder like the drumbeats of the Gods echoed around ... the dogs hid under the table. It poured down.
A misty, cloudy start to the day.
We said farewell to Roger and Jacquie. We hope they'll come back to stay with us. They love Spain so perhaps they will.
The skies have cleared and it is a lovely sunny afternoon.
We've cleaned the apartment.
We're waiting for 'Chip' and Barbara to arrive. They are traveling from the USA to spend their honeymoon in the apartment. Our first honeymoon couple.
Rob and Alice leave Spain today for England. They are in London for Easter Sunday, then fly back to South Carolina.
We hope they have a safe journey and that they enjoyed the remainder of their holiday. Rob ... did Alice carry you to Tarifa?
Our new guests Chip and Barbara arrived after a long journey from the USA. They loved the apartment and village. They are looking forward to their honeymoon in Benarrabá.
They went to Café Bar Guayacán to see Flora who is now famous for her hospitality and tapas worldwide!
We also called into Café Bar Guayacán.
Yolanda's sister is here for Easter. Here's Yolanda with her nephews Juan and Jesus and niece Natalia.
Here's Flora she gave us these bowls of chicken paella to try.
As usual they were as good as you can get.
We walked along to the plaza.
This is Marisabel, Irene, xxx and Jane.
Marisabel kindly took this photograph of us.
This lady looked really good with her traditional dress.
We went to the Restaurante Kábilas, Bar Andrés Sánchez and Bar Barroso.
The village was alive with people enjoying the Easter holidays.
We went home and moved our flower pots to stop the children stealing our much prized Fuchsias and Miscanthus.
We saw Chip and Barbara they had been out exploring the village and sampling Flora's tapas. They had seen the photo's of tapas on the website and now have the opportunity of sampling it for themselves.
Again more and bigger photo's of the people of Benarrabá on www.benarraba.com.