Costa del Sol

---

From Barcelona we flew to Malaga on the Costa del Sol and boarded a bus for the beach resort of Nerja, about 1.5 hours north east from Malaga. We had decided in Barcelona that we needed a week on the beach and Nerja had sounded like the sort of place we wanted, and we weren't disappointed. It was a lovely town, large enough to have plenty of restaurants, cafes, bars and shops to keep us busy, but small enough to be quiet and peaceful. We found a lovely, cheap 2-star hotel with friendly, if slightly vague, reception staff (after staying there for a week we would walk in and they wouldn't recognise us and they only had 20 rooms), and settled in for a relaxing week.

We happened to be in Nerja for their annual festival which livened things up a bit. There were fireworks on two nights, and also every morning at 10am which must have been to make sure everybody was awake, a parade one night, and a fair that ran all week with rides and games. We also managed to see an English language movie while we were there. It was Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and was shown at the local cultural centre - a very pleasant change from trying to watch movies in Spanish.

There wasn´t a whole lot that was Spanish about Nerja - it was full of British and Irish, lots of them ex-pats, so there were lots of English & Irish bars, all the menus were in English and most of the waitresses and shop owners were very English. There was no shortage of bacon, eggs and chips with every meal. In fact, it was just like being in England except the sun was shining and it was far more affordable. So although it was not your typical authentic Spanish experience, for us it was a perfect break from travelling and just what we were looking for. The beaches were nice by European standards with shingle rather than the rocks we had encountered previously. The weather was great, sunny and around 25 or 26 degrees every day, and everything, accomodation, food and drinks, were very cheap. Our daily routine consisted of going for coffee, beach, lunch, siesta and then head out for dinner and a stroll along the Balcony de Europe (a palm shaded promenade that juts out into the Mediterranean). We can see why the Brits love it so much and many of them end up buying investment properties or moving there completely.

We had originally planned on staying in Nerja for one week but since we were tired from our travels (no, we don't expect any sympathy) and liked Nerja so much, we ended up staying an extra week, moving into an apartment for the 2nd week, before heading further down the Costa del Sol to Marbella, another beach resort where we stayed for 3 nights. Marbella was slightly more upmarket than Nerja, but still relatively cheap and very pleasant. We didn't do much apart from lie on the beach which was very pleasant and relaxing.

---

Photos

Nerja - The Balcony of Europe
Early morning before the tourists arrive

Nerja - View from the Balcony of Europe
I wish Guy would get a new t-shirt - he's wearing that one in every photo

Looking up at the Balcony of Europe from one of the beaches.
The glass area is a restaurant where we ate one night.

The beach at Nerja
It doens't look much but it was peaceful and relaxing and we spent 12 days there ( a different t-shirt - very good).

The church at Nerja
No, we didn't go inside. We were having a break from churches.

Fair at Nerja
At night there was a fair with fireworks each night.

Marbella
It was cool and grey the day we got there but the next two days were warm and sunny.

Streets in the old town of Marbella
There's that t-shirt again