December 8th - 15th 2006
Written by Geoff Forster
A beautiful day again. We've had some welcome overnight rain.
The donkeys, dogs and cats are well. I fed the donkeys and gave them a brushing. Rosie got a few windfall oranges.
We worked all afternoon adding properties to the property section.
It is a buyers market here at the moment and there are some very good properties to be had at excellent prices.
We hope to add more properties at regular intervals from now on.
If you are looking for anything in particular send us an e-mail with your requirements and we'll see if we can find anything for you.
We cooked a turkey curry.
Later we watched 'Annie Hall' starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton.
'Annie Hall' beat 'Star Wars' to the Best Picture Oscar ... I know which I prefer watching.
We're pleased to have been sent some photographs of Benarrabá taken by our friends Paul and Jolette Kench. They show some of the lovely autumn colours we're currently enjoying.
An example of just one of the lovely woodland trails you can walk down.
Thanks to Paul and Jolette Kench who live in Gandia near Valencia.
We hope to see them both sometime in 2007.
A lovely day. Carmen and Cristóbal have invited us over for comida. A paella de marisco that Cristóbal is cooking. I love paella especially made with seafood. Jane's not too keen on seafood so it should be fun watching ...
This is Cristóbal and his beautiful paella.
The paella was wonderful. Prawns, muscles, cuttlefish, octopus plus lots of other delights from the depths. Jane did well and ate most of her large helping.
This is Sebastián, Carmen's father. He came up with a bowl, got a helping and took it down to his wife Maria.
We enjoyed our meal. An excellent paella followed by freshly picked oranges from an orange grove down by the Rio Genal.
They kindly gave us a bagful. Wonderful neighbours we're very lucky.
Back across the street I listened to Newcastle United beat Blackburn Rovers 1-3. A good away win which lifts us clear of the bottom three.
There's an art exhibition on in Gaucín. There are lots of artists in the village and a dozen or more of them are exhibiting pieces.
Here's Jane outside the Atelier Gallery in Gaucín.
Inside we were greeted by Stephanie Thompson. We've met Stephanie a number of times. We love her work. She uses water colours and paints cottage garden type plants, irises, poppies etc. Plants that we used to grow in our garden in England.
We got permission to photograph the exhibits. We'll put the bulk of the photographs on a Gaucín website we're developing.
This is one of Stephanie's pieces. We have to photograph at an angle because we were just snapping with flash. If I'd known it was going to be quiet, I'd have brought a tripod for longer exposures without flash
There were some lovely sculptures. This one was excellent. It is by Bayard Osborn.
This is Jennifer Waterhouse. She's lived in Gaucín for over twenty years. One of the first artists to become resident in the village. Stephanie told us she used to be known as 'Jenny the painter'. Which is lovely.
She can certainly paint. This was quite a large canvas and was vibrant and confident.
The gallery used to be an old butchers shop. The hooks in the ceiling were for hanging, hams and sausages etc to slowly cure.
Here's Jane.
We enjoyed the exhibition. There were some really good pieces. We enjoyed chatting with Stephanie and Jenny. Thanks to Alison Joelson who coordinated the exposición.
We headed back to Benarrabá and called into Café Bar Guayacán for a coffee. We sat with Flora and Bernardo.
We watched 'The Sum of all Fears' starring Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. A tense thriller about a nuclear war nearly being started by a neo-nazi group with an Israeli nuke.
We're up early .. 06:45h. We're off to Gibraltar to do our Christmas shopping.
We left at 07:45h. This is part of the village, Genalguacil opposite and the pre dawn sky.
We had three separate sightings of Common Buzzards. All on poles by the roadside. Two flew off as we stopped. One stayed a little longer but this silhouette is the best we could do in the light.
It flew off as soon as I opened the car door.
We stopped in Estación de San Roque for a coffee. Bar Rocio. A busy place for a Sunday and the the time of day. Lots of Spaniards were eating pork lard tostadas and watching dubbed Battle Star Galactica on a plasma TV.
We got to Gibraltar, the sun was up but still not very high in the sky.
We drove over the border and parked in Morrisons' car park.
There was a small boot fair taking place. Nothing very exciting.
In Morrisons we were really disappointed and annoyed that there wasn't much we wanted.
Customer Services said that deliveries had been delayed due to the recent Spanish Bank Holidays. A lame excuse as these holidays are the same every year and empty shelves in a supermarket a fortnight before Christmas smacks of managerial incompetence.
So no tins of Celebrations, Quality Street. No Christmas puddings, frozen sausage rolls, not even fresh bacon and sausages. We came out with six mince pies from our Christmas list. We did get plenty of spices for our curries and T-bags. Turkeys were expensive. Small chicken sized birds were £14, a twenty pound bird was £35. We'll be having Benarrabá pork this year.
We filled up with unleaded 95 petrol which is a little cheaper than in Spain 58p/litre which is 82centimos/litre. In Spain petrol is 95centimos/litre 67p/litre.
Jane wanted to cheer herself up by taking me to the Rastro Domingo in San Luis de Sabinillas.
This is a huge mixed market with lots of second hand stalls as well as new and food stands.
This strange looking chap entertained the crowds. I guess you had to be there ...
The legs are real so he walks around. There's a chap doubled up in the backpack. Very clever.
We had a good chat with this couple who run book stalls at most of the main markets up and down the coast. I bought 'The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha' by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra which I've wanted to read for a long time.
We drove back towards the mountains. This is Gaucín. It was a lovely afternoon.
The Rio Genal was flowing quickly. There was more water in the river than we've seen for a couple of years. Good news.
The Sierra de Crestellina from near the Rio Genal
In Benarrabá we had a coffee in Café Bar Guayacán before driving home.
Later we watched 'Cyber Tracker' a sci-fi movie about a futuristic police state with cyborg executioners, very like 'Logan's Run'.
Then we watched 'Cube Zero' a prequel to 'The Cube' and 'The Cube 2 Hypercube'. Where people are trapped inside a huge 3-D cube with lots of inter connecting rooms. Some of the rooms have traps which slice and dice anyone entering the room. Quite gory but we quite liked the first one so we watched it.
A cloudier day than yesterday but very mild and dry.
We cleaned out the donkeys little stable and put down fresh sawdust.
We also brought down two more bales of straw for them.
I walked to the bank at around 14:00h. I took a couple of photographs of Benarrabá and the Genal valley to the North of the village.
We went out for a walk at 18:00h.
We called in to see Seraphim to order some firewood. He's delivering it on Saturday.
We then went to Café Bar Guayacán to see Yolanda. We had a coffee, then came home to cook an Andalucian potato and chick pea stew.
We watched three movies.
'The Man with One Red Shoe' starring Tom Hanks and Lori Singer. A spy spoof comedy.
'Jack and Sarah'. A romantic comedy / tearjerker, about a man who loses his wife in childbirth and has to bring up the baby himself. Fortunately he's loaded and not living in a council flat ... so he hires a nanny and falls in love with her. Starring Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Cherie Lunghi, Imogen Stubbs and a pre Gandalf Ian McKellen. Just when you need a Cyborg Executioner to take out the entire cast ...
'The third film and easily the best 'The Grifters' starring Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening. Produced by Martin Scorsese. Huston (mother) and Bening (girlfriend) vie for Cusack's affections. All three are con artists. Worth watching.
An overcast day, 100% cloud cover but at different levels so it wasn't completely monochrome.
Clouds were spilling over the Sierra Bermeja like a waterfall. To the South the sun was lighting up the higher clouds with a white glow.
I fed the donkeys in the morning before starting to do some work on the website.
I added two more properties to our new property for sale section. Both in Ronda with divergent price tags.
The first is a one bedroom apartment in the old town.
(Property Link removed in a website rewrite in 2008)
The second is a large cortijo with over half a million square metres of land.
(Property Link removed in a website rewrite in 2008)
We went for a walk with the dogs into the campo.
Genalguacil. The Sweet Chestnuts on the higher slopes have now lost most of their leaves.
The Border Collies were enjoying themselves.
The deciduous trees on the lower slopes near Benarrabá are looking vibrant.
Jane likes the little seat in front of the tree. I wish I'd been able to get the whole tree in but it wasn't possible. The next strong wind should blow off the leaves until next year.
November and December is a good time to be in Andalucía. It was very mild, we just had t-shirts and light fleeces on. It was a lovely walk.
Back in Benarrabá, Jane watched a true movie about a man who snatched a baby for his wife.
Later we watched Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Followed by the rather unconvincing twee Midsomer Murders.
We're up early. We're going to Ronda to do some Christmas shopping.
It's a beautiful sunny day.
We parked at the eastern end of the town in our usual place.
The view towards the Sierra de Libar and the Sierra de Grazalema.
We went for a coffee in Bar Valencia only to find they don't do coffee, which is most unusual in Spain. Perhaps their machine is broken. We were sent across the road to Bar El Cante. We've been in Bar El Cante before. It's a small atmospheric bar, nothing fancy, the lady behind the counter always has a smile for her customers, one of my favourites.
We split up to buy presents for each other. I knew what I was going to buy Jane, but couldn't find it I'll have to buy it in Carrefours.
This is the Iglesia de Santa Cecilia. We've been passed it many times but the doors have always been closed. Today they were open so I went inside.
The ornate altar in La Iglesia de Santa Cecilia Ronda.
There were around a dozen people around a large nativity scene that had been set up. Larger than anything I'd seen before. A model of Bethlehem not just the stables. It must have been 3.5x2.5m in size and was beautifully done. Some of the characters moved.
The traditional nativity scene. Popular in Spain. Quite often people will have a nativity scene in their house. Dami usually has a good one in his bar in Benarrabá.
In Calle Espinel the main shopping street in Ronda, the Christmas decorations were up.
We'll return one night to photograph them.
A bit of aimless wandering and I ended up on the Puente Nuevo.
I watched a few Crag Martins flying between the arches.
Part of the old town. Behind the arches there are shops selling pottery, needlepoint work and tourist tat.
The view looking West from the Puente Nuevo.
I met Jane in Cafe Bar Capri. Miguel the owner knows us as we often call in there when in town. He was born in Alpandeire and loves the Genal villages, as we do.
Looking up passed the Plaza de Toros to the Convento de la Mercedes.
We walked back up to the car.
We stopped to watch some Goldfinches, Serins and a Blue Rock Thrush.
A male Blue Rock Thrush.
Here's a photograph taken from the same place as the first on the page. The mists have been burnt off. A beautiful view.
We decided to visit El Gastor. A pueblo we seem to have passed by on our travels.
We've seen it from a distance and visited all of the towns and villages around, but El Gastor has until today been omitted.
We headed out of Ronda onto the Sevilla road. We stopped just after the turn off for El Gastor to watch some Griffon Vultures and Ravens circling a crag.
Across in the other direction is Zahara de la Sierra and the embalse (reservoir).
We drove North for a few minutes before we arrived in El Gastor.
We parked near the bus stop at the entrance to the pueblo.
This is the view North to Olvera.
Olvera is one of the bigger towns in the area.
We walked passed the school and the standard village all weather sports field. Up some steps towards a pine wood that skirts around the top side of the village. Very pleasant so far.
We needed a coffee so we stopped in Bar Los Cazadores.
We walked down towards the centre of the village.
The streets are typical of the mountain villages in the area.
Everyone that we saw said "Hola" to us and were very friendly.
This little dog watched us walk passed.
The Ayuntamiento has certainly made an effort with the flowers in the village, which always makes a huge difference to the ambience of the pueblo, for not a lot of money.
There is a small indoor market and the Post Office at what seemed to be the village centre.
A bronze statue of a Spanish guitar was in the plazoleta. Celebrating a famous flamenco artist from the pueblo. We'd seen the same bronze but in miniature, in the window of a tourist shop in Ronda a little earlier in the day.
The Christmas decorations were up. As we walked towards the church.
A grand facade a lovely looking church. One of the best we've seen in a small pueblo.
This particular area of Andalucia boasts some fantastic iglesias. The churches in Olvera and Algodonales are very striking. Zahara de la Sierra has two beautiful churches. The small modern church in the neighbouring pueblo of Montecorto also a very pleasing structure.
The Ayuntamiento of El Gastor stands next to the church in a pretty plazoleta.
We sat on a bench for a few minutes enjoying the hustle and bustle in this part of the village.
We walked back to the car by a different route. Throughout the pueblo a lot of the houses had pots of Pelagoniums on their walls. Too many for it to be something individual house owners had done. A great idea by the Ayuntamiento?
Back up near the car we looked across the rolling hillsides to the North of El Gastor.
This old lady in widow's black was feeding her chickens. The sun was shining in Olvera but not much was hitting El Gastor. This is the only minus I can think of. El Gastor is nestled in the hillside and the Winter sun isn't high enough to warm the village all day.
Overall yet another lovely village in this special part of the world.
I'll create an 'El Gastor' page with more photographs for our Places to Visit section when time permits.
We drove back towards Ronda and turned off towards Montejaque.
Just before Montejaque there is a magnificent limestone outcrop.
We stopped near here to take some photographs.
We took this photograph of a Stonechat. Either a female or a male in its first winter plumage.
Back in the car we drove to Montejaque and then on towards Benaoján.
We stopped to take this of Montejaque.
We drove through Cortes de la Frontera and into the Alcornocales forest.
We saw cows, goats, one of the donkeys and some horses.
We hadn't seen any deer in recent trips but we saw four today. Unfortunately they were on Jane's side of the car. So by the time we'd stopped and reversed a little they'd gone. They had been very close to the road and I got a good look at them before they melted into the trees.
We drove through El Colmenar and up towards Gaucín.
The sun was streaming through the clouds.
I took this of Jimena de la Frontera bathed in light.
Back in Benarrabá, I listened to Newcastle United lose 1-0 at Chelsea. We went down fighting. A brave performance from an injury depleted squad. We deserved a point. Unfortunately we picked up yet more injuries. We play Watford at home on Saturday, we may have to field our youth team.
Later I watched 'The Player' starring Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi. An unusual film about a Hollywood executive who murders a film writer. Lots of cameo roles by many big stars. An entertaining film.
We're up early. Another beautiful mild day.
I spent most of the day working. Sorting yesterday's photographs out.
It took a few hours to create the blog as there were so many photographs we wanted to include.
The dogs, cats and donkeys are well. They got quick walks and were fed and watered.
I watched 'Radioland Murders' starring Brian Benben, Mary Stuart Masterson, Ned Beatty, George Burns and Scott Michael Campbell. A madcap farce set in a '30's radio station. The film runs at an incredible pace and takes some watching. Jane couldn't believe I was watching it ... she gave it a minus rating. At times it was very hard going, however there were some really funny parts.
Later Jane watched 'It Waits' A creature in the woods type horror film. Not very good.
After yesterday's photo fest we're having a break and there's a guest photographer today.
Joaquín Román lives in Chiclana but has family in Benarrabá. Our neighbour and friend Juan is his cousin.
Joaquín is in the process of buying a house in the village. We look forward to meeting him.
The first few photographs were taken in Llano del Republicano, which is a beautiful plain near Villaluenga del Rosario.
The sunset was shot from Cortijo la Picota. This is the house where Joaquín's uncle and aunt live. It is n the Valle de Guadiaro. (There's a trail which starts from the junction of the Benarrabá road)
A couple of photographs for insect lovers.
There are scorpions in some areas of Spain.
Fortunately not near us.
A great 'Macro' shot of this spider.
Another beautiful day in Andalucía! We're having an excellent spell of mild sunny days.
Yesterday we got a text message saying we were going to get a broadband modem delivered by a courier for Telefonica. We waited in all day. They deliver until 20:00h. so we had to be close to the house up until then. Nada ... "mañana" said the girl on their 'Help Line'.
So today we're stuck in again waiting for the delivery.
I took the opportunity to put a couple of coats of really high quality flexible paint on the back of the house. I also got on the roof and painted the mortar between the pot tiles along the ridges. It looks good.
We waited in until 20:00h. No sign of Zeleris Distribución ...
Bored and a little stir crazy we went for a walk around the village. There are a lot more Christmas lights in the village this year. Father Christmas is becoming more visible. Hopefully the Three Kings tradition won't be eroded.
In Bar Andrés Sánchez there's a Christmas tree and lights.
An early Christmas present. This lovely puppy has gone to a good home. This girl is a real animal lover.
The Star of Bethlehem is a popular symbol. This one is outside the Ayuntamiento.
We went to Pub Bar Dami. The bar was well decorated.
This is Dami with Alphonso. Alphonso is visiting the village and has family ties. He now lives in Germany. He visits our websites regularly to look at the photographs of the people and the area.
Our friends Ibrahim, Juan and Francisco. Juan and Francisco are close neighbours.
Ibrahim is Moroccan and has invited me to go there with him. His village is somewhere in the South of Morocco. He's said that I can stay with his family in his house. I'm looking forward to it.
Jane enjoying a San Miguel.
Everyone was having a good time.
We got home at 03:00h.
Walked the dogs and fed the donkeys ... by torchlight.
I love your photograph of the tree against the grey sky taken near Montejaque.
Do you sell prints?