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Published: September 25th 2007
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24th September 2007 The drive from Madrid to Nerja took us south through the centre of Spain, via dry, open country with millions of olive trees (no wonder the food is drenched in olive oil), then via spectacular granite hills and mountains.
On the news we had heard that part of the Costa del Sol area had been declared a disaster zone. This was due to a huge downpour of rain and a hail storm which then resulted in some terrible mudslides. As the news report was in Spanish we were not sure of exactly where this had happened. We soon found out! When we made it to the coast we drove through some towns that were covered in mud. There were cars barely visible from the muck and lots of debris in the streets. There were people with buckets and shovels and earth moving equipment scraping it away from bridges and houses. It looked a real mess and we felt sorry for the local people that would obviously spend the next few weeks sorting out their lives again.
Luckily for us Nerja had not been affected too badly. There was some debris about but certainly not as
Lets eat again
lunch time eats at our villa bad as some of the towns we had driven through earlier. The receptionist at our hotel told us that the storm had not lasted more than an hour, but the force of the downpour and the hail was horrifying.
Our accommodation turned out to be a very luxurious three bedroom villa, with a private pool. Originally we were going to stay in an apartment owned by some friends of Al and Melissa’s but that fell through for a variety of reasons. We were not complaining because the villa certainly was a luxurious alternative.
Lorenza and Melissa went to explore the local supermarket, on their return we dined at home and recovered from the five hour drive from Madrid.
25th September 2007 Al cooked up bacon and eggs for breakfast. We then took our first swim in the Mediterranean. The weather was very humid and hot so it was a perfect day for the beach. Compared to an Aussie beach there is no surf, no sand, but the water was so refreshing. On the beach there were lots of very white tourists sunning themselves, some were looking as fried as the bacon we had for breakfast and
I would not want to be them tomorrow morning.
Back at our villa I checked out the progress results in the Rugby World cup and caught up on some emails. At that time Australia was still leading Pool B. Our friend, Florence (from Arles in France) had sent us a message explaining that she had a Spanish sister-in-law. At some stage Florence had asked her if Spain had an equivalent motto to the French “Libertie, Fraternitie, et Egalitie”, her sister-in-law replied “of course we do it is Fiesta, Siesta and etc.” From what we had experienced so far this was spot on!
Who could come to Spain and not see a Flamenco show. We were given the name of a Flamenco bar to visit by the hotel receptionist, who told us that this bar had authentic Flamenco dancing typical of this part of Spain. We had no idea if this was true or not, but for a reasonable cover charge we were treated to a display of very powerful, romantic and sensual dancing. The costumes were spectacular and the music very stirring. Later in the show we all got to take a turn on the dance floor and
I must say that I doubt I will ever excel in Flamenco, although the sparkling Spanish wine I had been drinking did help me put on a performance that I felt happy with (at least until the next mornings hangover anyway).
After the Flamenco we went for a late dinner (late by our standards - 10pm is obviously not late for the Spanish). Paella was the unanimous decision after looking at the menu. We have had paella in Australia, but it was nothing compared to this. Washed down with some Spanish white wine it was a great meal. Viva Fiesta, Siesta and etc.
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