We arrived back from Spain in the wee small hours this morning, and today has been very slow - and horridly cold and damp, just to welcome us back. And it gets dark at 4pm... Boo Hoo!
As you might gather we had a marvellous holiday - yet again, a hedonistic exercise of doing very little at all, but doing it to excess (as is our wont).
Beach bar by day in
30C temperatures, cocktails at sunset, siesta, then out till very late indeed in the fleshpots of gay Torremolinos (the
La Nogilera complex). Bliss.
We originally planned to stay just seven days in one of the apartments we regularly book, but as this unfortunately coincided with both British half-term and Spanish bank holidays (the Catholics have a two-day religious celebration for both the
Day of the Dead - which we mark by Hallowe'en - and All Saints' Day), Madame Acarti and I decided to extend our stay by three days to ensure we got cheaper flights. Our friend Baby Steve's boyfriend Alex who joined us for the first time in Spain works in a school so had to get home, and indeed it cost them an arm and a leg to fly back...
The beach bar we frequent most often in Benalmadena is the
Palm 5 (a Dutch bar which, given our love of Amsterdam, may not be entirely surprising), and we have become quite good friends with the owners, manager and staff there. So much so that the owner Adre took the four of us up the mountains on a day trip, to a pretty little pueblo called Mijas. On the way back he took a diversion up some very precipitous roads to the top of the highest mountain in the area, the Cerro del Moro - which caused a lot of screaming from the back seat as Alex is terrified of heights...
Beautiful views, apparently, but at the particular moment of our visit it was shrouded in cloud.
Back on the ground, Adre's wife Monica managed to get us a room for the three extra days in a Dutch aparthotel in the neighbouring resort of La Carihuela, a quaint little place (and almost completely lacking in Brits, which is a blessing sometimes).
As our transfer to the hotel
De Klikspaan was Saturday, we ended up in one of the most raucous Dutch parties imaginable - not only was this a Hallowe'en dressing-up do, but also the owner Henk's closing party for the season, with loads of free drink and snacks. He was off touring the Americas, and we basically had the place to ourselves for the next three nights! As you might imagine, the hangover after a Dutch party is something else, but the benefit of peace, quiet and a beautiful balcony right on the seafront more than made up for it.
We almost cried yesterday evening as we sat watching our last beautiful sunset at 7pm before setting off for the dreadful EasyJet journey to come. But we won't dwell on that.
Instead, here's one of the more fabulous pieces of Spanish entertainment we brought back with us - Senors et Senoritas, Gloria Trevi!