First Week in Almuñécar and Las Alpujarras Feb.11-17

Backtracking  to when we first arrived in Spain. We flew into Malaga ( pop. 560,000 ) and were met at the airport by Chris & Barbara, who took us to lunch for paella at a beach restaurant in Nerja and delivered to our house in Almuñécar. Great hassle free way to start our stay. They always rent a car for the  2-3 months they are here.

Driving anywhere here is great. The foothills of the mountains come right to the coast and you often can see snow covered peaks in the distance. The drive from Malaga to Almuñécar ( pop. 23,000 ) is about 45 min. In that distance there are probably at least 10 tunnels 200 to 800 meters long thru mountains and the same number of viaducts over gorges.

The first outing we had with Chris & Barbara was to Las Alpujarras, a 70 km. stretch of valleys on the southern flank of the Sierra Nevada mountains.This area is comprised of arid hillsides split by deep ravines alternating with oasis like white villages set beside rapid streams and surrounded by gardens, orchards and woodlands.

It was a fantastic hour and a half drive to the villages of Bubión and Pampaneira. We had lunch, the menu del dia (menu of the day which consists of 3 courses with wine and bread, for ~$12). Chris and Barbara have been to many places in their 10-12 years of coming to Spain and know the best places to eat.

Everywhere you look is a postcard. Most of our fabulous photos are on the broken camera. Elaine and I have both read two books borrowed from Barbara by English writers about their experiences living in the Las Alpujarras, one from the 1920's and the other from the 1980's. Interesting to get a perspective on how remote these places were in the past considering it took us an hour and a half to travel 50 km. on narrow but decent roads.

One of the photos below shows the interior roof of a house in the Alpujarras. The roofs were constructed as flat roofs using a method used by the Berbers of Northern Africa. Many of the people who settled in this region were from Africa. What you see is logs covered by flat rocks and then covered with a mortar of some kind and then just small rocks/gravel to finish it off.

Some random observations from our first week:

We fit right in here!!  Most Spaniards have short legs!! If you see someone tall they are probably from northern Europe.

Stores open from 10:00-12:00 and then 4 :00 or 5:00 until 7:00 or 8:00. The streets are empty from 2:00-4:00. People are home or in the restaurants. Those walking around at this time are probably tourists.

Many of the streets in the old town are steep and narrow and do not have car access. You see small dump trucks no longer than our half ton trucks.

The street we are on is narrow . Our neighbor across the street has regular evening conservation with a neighbor on our side of the street from his roof top terrace.

One evening around 9:00 six horses arrived in the street below us while one of the riders went into the restaurant across the lane to come out with a round of beer for all riders.

Market, Lunch and Tapas

Just having a cafe cortado (espresso with a little milk) on my way to the farmers' market. The market is everyday 10:00 to 2:00, except Sunday.

Everything, including the farmers's market is closed on Sundays except cafes and restaurants. All cafes have beer and liquor. If you order beer you usually get a tapa included - see more below regarding tapas.

All manner of fruits and vegetables, bread, pastries, eggs, fresh meat, cheese, jamon (ham) of every description...sliced, sausage, salami, is for sale at the farmers' market. More about ham, since it is such a big topic all of it's own, another time.

Almost half the market is fish stalls. No vendors with prepared food.

Most days I go to the market myself while Elaine is working from the apartment. Today I bought bananas, garlic, green pepper, leeks, tomatoes, shrimp, calamari , sole,  ginger and jamon.  Making a fish stew for tonight. We usually prepare supper at our apartment.

In Spain most people have their main meal mid- day, we still tend to eat late between 8:00 and 9:00.

Many restaurants have menu del dia (meal of the day) for $10-14 that includes appetizer (soup, salad, other small dish), main course and dessert, and often one drink.

Yesterday we had lunch/dinner with 9 people  including ourselves, Chris and Barbara, and their friend Pam who Barbara has known since her time in Quebec in the 70's, plus two other couples from Oslo, Norway. One couple started coming to this part of Spain in the 80's. We are beginning to appreciate just how many people are here from other European countries..Britain, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia..on a regular basis.

Here tapas are a snack you get with your drink. Today, Sunday, we went out for a coffee then decided to walk for a bit and ended up for a beer and wine at a place we had been to previously with Chris to watch soccer. Along with the drinks, they brought a paella plate and then one of ham. After that we ordered another wine which came with a Spanish omelette (egg and potato) for two, and so another wine plus a cafe for me and so it goes. Two small desserts (tiramisu) came with the wine and when I paid the bill, $16 total..one beer, three wine, one cafe, no charge for food. So we arrived home, feeling fine, with no need for supper!


See photos of some of today's tapas - the paella has mussels, small clams and pork.

David (not Elaine)

Almuñécar and Nerja, Spain

So, I feel I haven't done as much correspondence with everyone as I had hoped.  I could give several reasons for this but mostly it is due to my computer/internet ineptitude. My plan now is to compose most correspondence off-line then upload. Also, I am going to use a blog like we did when we were in Thailand.  I assume rightly or wrongly that you are all extremely interested in what we are up to. :-)

Anyway, this way you can check the blog when and if you want, then send an e-mail reply or comment on the blog, if you wish. Right now we have wi-fi (pronounced wee-fee here) at our apartment where we are for the next 3 weeks and easy access elsewhere close by. Sometimes it is slow in the apartment and the wi-fi is only set up for one device, the laptop but not the i-pad. My intention is to do frequent entries in this period.
I broke our camera when I dropped it on one of the many lovely marble floors here. We can take pictures with the i-pad but can only import one picture at a time so far. I am checking out buying another camera.
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We have seen Flamenco twice so far. Once in a bar with 2 female dancers and one male with taped music with Fran & Rich. The other time with Chris & Barbara at the cultural center here in Almunecar. One male dancer, Antonio Fernández "El Farru", 3 male singers, guitar, percussion and flute.Quite spectacular!!

Next week we are going with C&B to Nerja to see a female flamenco dancer again at a Casa de Cultura. Lots of towns have these centers with music, dance, art exhibits etc. On Saturday we are going there for a Tango show.

Our apartment only has Spanish TV but thru it we listen to a flamenco radio station 24-7.

These three photos below are from the roof terrace of our first house in Almunecar. We have also stayed at Casa Marcella (in Nerja with Fran and Rich) and are now on the 8th floor of an apartment building called Los Gondolas, with sea views (Mediterranean) and mountain views (Sierra de Almijara).

David (not Elaine)