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With only days to go until our daunting new adventure began it seemed like a good idea to relax and enjoy while we had the time. Woolly says – Never being one to turn down a bit of R and R I happily complied and there was bound to be tapas! With this in mind we spent our last night at Torrox Costa taking our usual promenade, I had spied the small lighthouse a few days previously and suggested we stretch our paws a little further and head for it, well it was a guaranteed photo opportunity wasn’t it! Having trotted on ahead from the aged humans I arrived at a sign, my heart started to race and I looked under my paws…… lots of glass but nothing to see, I tried jumping on the glass to see if I could break it but no luck, I scampered back to Jo shouting loudly ‘The Romans, the Romans’ Given the amount of tapas he’s eaten I’m surprised it didn’t break under his weight! With his tail twitching and his tusks waving wildly around in his excitement I followed the mammoth to the sign he was eagerly pointing to.
Woolly says – I was standing on top of the Sanzone Necropolis, I couldn’t see it through the dirty panes but it was there. Having originally been used for the storage of fish and guts it became a Necropolis in the 5th century AD, it sadly didn’t have any relationship to my hero Hadrian but Romans are Romans and unable to contain my curiosity I ran down the steep sloping pathway to find myself in front of a fence. No matter which way I tried to see through it I could make out the insides of the tombs but the wires just kept getting in the way! Seeing his levels of frustration I aimed the camera and zoomed in to try and get the best shot possible, his little sigh of satisfaction was wonderful. Woolly says – Knowing I could look at the picture in more detail later I led the way towards our original destination, the lighthouse. Small but perfectly formed and as I waited for Jo to take the picture for my fans I glanced to my right and nearly fell off the wall, nudging Jo sharply in the ribs I gibbered in delight ‘Romans, more Romans’
He was right, next to the lighthouse were the remains of a Roman Villa, built around the 2nd century it was discovered in 1905 by D. Tomas Garcia Ruiz, although not much is left we were more than able to see the layout of several rooms and as Woolly gazed in contentment I thought I would make his evening complete with a meal out. Woolly says – Arrr Chinese, she’s not all bad. With the days moving swiftly we seemed to accomplish lots of things although lots of that involved trying to get the golden ticket to gain residency for the business. Having been woken at a stupid time in the morning I found myself a half hour drive down the coast with no breakfast outside a police station surrounded by hundreds of people. Not being stupid I parked myself in Jo’s bag and let her get on with it. By the end of that morning I wished I had ‘parked’ myself in my bag as well. Apparently everyone has to arrive at the police station at 9am to wait for tickets to hand in the relevant forms, easy you might think until you’re informed that they only give out 60 tickets a day! It was reminiscent of going to the January sales as elbows came out and a stampede began as the door opened, I tried, I really did and having finally reached the front of the queue only to be told that I was 2 tickets too late!
Woolly says – it was mayhem and as I tried to protect Jo from the worst of the pushers it seemed more likely that I would get a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory before getting in there. Having commiserated with Jo on our lack of ticket I suggested breakfast to cheer her up, well I have needs! Knowing that another early morning was now on the cards I agreed with my small friend and after a bad start to the day the rest all went from strength to strength. Woolly says – we went to Ikea (I do like a trip round Ikea as Jo always needs a cuppa by the time she has finished and I get some cake!), we acquired the necessary items, a bank account was sorted and we signed and received the keys for our new apartment (super long hallway, excellent for skateboarding) and all this by lunchtime, talking of lunch…..
With so much achieved we headed to our new bar to be and a celebratory drink or two. Woolly says – …….All I will say is that is got messy, I seem to remember dancing with a nice lady called Lynne and singing about being a combine harvester before waking in dazzling sunlight in our new apartment. Having driven back to Torrox Costa to collect the rest of my things and thanked the wonderful Dale and Lorena for the use of their spare apartment I needed a lie down, it wasn’t to be. Some lovely friends of Grahams had arrived for a visit, Clive, Nikki and little Ryan seemed right on my wave length and were eager to get to the tapas, well it would be shoddy to refuse so leading the way we trotted through the Balcon and into the narrow streets of Nerja my home for the time being. Tapas and chat and a few soft drinks made the evening complete.
It is rather wonderful to be living so close to everything and for our last real day of freedom we had a surprise in store for the mammoth. Woolly says – More tapas? I eagerly jumped into my sports car with Graham at the helm and was stunned to arrive at the local boatyard only a few minutes later. We’ve been here before, what’s surprising about that I queried, patience said Jo, any chance of lunch said I. Friend Dale and the lovely Lorena were waiting for us and as Dale and Graham disappeared off I contented myself with some snacks and listened to the live music. I really wish he wouldn’t try and sing along, bless him. His surprise was still to come, as we walked through the boats a short while later I could see him peering round and wondering what was coming next. Woolly says – A speedboat! I’m going on a speedboat!!!!! Captain Woolly at the helm. As a tractor took us into the sea I settled in at the helm and helped friend Dale with the steering, with Jo and Nikki lounging at the front and the rest of the party behind me we hit the throttle and we were off.
It was worth everything to see his delighted face as we sped along the shore line of Nerja and past the Balcon. Woolly says – I want a speedboat and I want one NOW! It was amazing, awesome, wonderful and I think I need to do this every day. We approached a waterfall flowing into the sea and even I was tempted to try skiing it looked so wonderful to be in the water, but let’s be sensible I do have an allergy! The trip was over in no time but just as I thought my fun was at an end we were called to go and rescue another boat, as I throw the line out it was hilarious to see the Spanish man’s face when he realised he was being saved by a mammoth! Our rescue mission did however mean we were stuck for quite a while waiting to be taken back into the yard but it gave us all an opportunity to relax and sun ourselves before saying our farewells to Clive, Nikki and Ryan before thanking Dale profusely for the wonderful trip.
Woolly says – so it’s all work from here, I’ve planned the menus and made sure there’s something for everyone….. Baked Pistachio’s, Pistachio Curry, Chilli Nuts and of course my favourite Pistachio ice cream, so all we have to do now is collect the keys and I can get the lazy humans knocked into shape. Now that should be an interesting blog!
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Paul Drielsma
non-member comment
looking good guys....
.... glad you are checking things out for my next visit!! :) Best of luck with the new venture.... you are truly an amazing energy. How did you do all this???