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Published: March 20th 2008
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Ola Bo & Dud,
‘The time has come the Walrus said to speak of many things’ and we’ve been doing a bit of debating between ourselves about moving on. There is an air of change in Torre del Mar - the paseo has a workforce of its own, completing a new children’s playground, cleaning and sweeping the beach, trimming the trees and flower beds. The chiringuitos (open air bars) are being given a fresh coat of paint and restocked, the sun beds and umbrella’s are coming out of storage - it’s all looking completely different. The camp site is also changing - the staff are now in uniform (well, a t-shirt that says Camping Torre del Mar) and the long stay, over wintering pensionistas (oap’s) are drifting back to the UK.
We just managed to get in a couple of outings with Sheila & Peter before their planned and then delayed departure - they both developed ‘camp cough’ and at one point Peter was very poorly indeed. Howard thought that he might join in the coughing too, but the threat of sleeping in the awning stopped it developing to a full blown affair.
So it was off to Benalmadena
Trees & Flowers
Remember that this is February - the colours are wonderful again - this time to collect the Pork Pies, yes, you’re reading it right, Pork Pies! Derek, a delightful chap, (almost an octogenarian) has friends in Benalmadena and while on a visit to see them they had told him about the Pie Man. This is an English butcher who has made his home in Spain and bakes fresh pies, and tarts each day. The excitement that our trip created shows how sad we all are when it comes to comfort food - our order was so extensive that we had to phone it in 2 days before collection. As you know we’ve been to Benalmadena on several occasions and know the paseo and marina very well, so we were breaking new ground by going into the heart of the town. Howard’s consultation with Derek proved very useful and we found the pie shop in no time at all.
Once the pies were safely packed away in the cool bag we decided to walk down to the sea front as we had driven past a rather interesting looking park. The joy of making new discoveries - the park was alive with chickens, rabbits, parakeets and peacocks, just roaming around. The
only fenced off areas were for a few captive Ibex and Emu’s, oh yes, and the children’s playground. There were fountains and landscaped areas containing interesting trees and flowers - it was one of those experiences where you actually wonder if you can really believe what you are seeing. We had a lovely walk and an exceptionally good value for money menu del dia lunch before delivering the pies back to an eager camp site.
This was a week of delicacies to eat - our German neighbour, Gustav has brought a meat and fish smoker with him on holiday (it’s a metal cabinet about a metre high and 30cm square with an electric element in its base). He buys trout fresh and smokes them in Canadian Maple chips, we had a couple to sample and they were delicious. Gustav then asked Howard if any of our English friends would like some €2.20 each for huge fish. We think he was more than a little gob smacked when we got orders for about 15 fish - he had to do a special smoking just for the English.
On our last outing we decided to follow the coast road from
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He couldn't resist showing off for the camera Nerja to La Herradura. The costal motorway currently under construction is taking the heavy traffic away from the coast and the area has now been declared a Park Natural. The birds, small mammals and flowers are all protected and the coast line is outstandingly beautiful. En route we followed the road to the beach at Maro, or at least we tried to; we knew from the local newspapers that the recent storms had done some damage up and down the coastline, and here the road had been completely washed away. The locals, not to be defeated, had pushed the road closed barriers to one side and made their own rough track around the piles of rubble.
La Herradura was our destination for lunch - we were last here on a drive through visit while we were staying in Salobrena. We both remembered, rather romantically as it turns out, the board walk which went all along the sea front. This too was gone, only the stumps of the foundations remained - another victim of the storm. Off to Salobrena then and another shock, so many buildings, so much change and not all for the better. There has been, and continues
to be so much building in Spain that many of the new apartments and complexes cannot be finished. The new builds are not selling and therefore the workforce cannot be paid and they have to be laid off. It’s causing huge problems and has highlighted many illegal buildings and corrupt officials.
So, the decision has been taken to prepare for departure -we’re going to head for the hills for Easter. Last quiz nite, last market day, last walk on the paseo, last ice cream (banana & chocolate is the best) - we fully understand why people choose to spend winter here. We’ve met some very interesting people and some firm friends - I think there may be a tear in the eye as we depart ...... but, it won’t last for long, travel is so very exciting.
love & hugs & kisses
H & H x
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