Friday we took the bus up the hill from Torrox Costa, the beach area where we stay, to Torrox Pueblo, the old Spanish City on a hill overlooking the sea. Torrox Pueblo is more like the Spain you would imagine with narrow winding streets, whitewashed houses built into the hillsides, and old guys sitting in the square visiting for hours. We first went to the office of a woman that was recommended to us for booking tours. We booked a tour for Wednesday, June 8th to go to Grenada and visit the Alhambra and the city. The Alhambra was the palace of the Moorish, (Muslim), rulers of Spain. They ruled this part of Spain from 711 to 1492.
We also booked a tour of Cordoba for June 18 and 19. The night of June 18th famous Flamenco dancers from all over Spain come and hold concerts on the streets for most of the night. They are free and said to represent the best of Flamenco. We also, booked tentative tours to Ronda, a hill town, Seville, and Morocco.
These we will go on if they get enough people, so every week they will check to see if there is enough for one of these tours. While in Torrox Pueblo we stopped into an out of the way Tapas Bar for lunch. The owners were a family. Mother did a lot of the cooking and the son was the front man. He practiced his English on us. We had six wonderful Tapas and some vino and cerveza. He said he had been to Mexico, but didn't like it as it seemed everyone was out for money. He said in Spain no one expects tips, so it surprised him that everyone had their hand out. When I told him my name, I pronounced it the way they do in Mexico, Hoe-L. He said in Spain to pronounce it Jo-el as the first pronunciation is taken as a F-bomb in Spain.
The following few pictures were taken in Torrox Pueblo.
Saturday we took the bus to Nerja, a city about 5 1/2 miles up the coast from us. It is a larger place and more active than Torrox. We noticed at least four or five separate beaches which were all beautiful. We enjoyed the Balcony of Europe, a beautiful area which has panoramic views of the sea. We enjoyed lunch at a place that overlooked the sea, then topped it off with pastries at a German bakery. Later after walking around we had gelato. The neighborhood we walked through to get to our bus was called Central Historico with the buildings dated to 1487. After we returned Joel had a swim, both in the pool, then in Mediterranean. The sea looks warm, but it still wakes you up when you first go in. The beaches both in Torrox and Nerja allow topless, but those that choose this option seem to be those that are going to cause no excitement. The following pictures are from our trip to Nerja.
One of the many narrow streets. Beautiful shorelines.
Trying my hand at a little special photography.
Sidewalk cafes around many corners.
As we live in Mexico most of the year it is hard not to make comparisons as they share a common language. Beside the difference in pronouncing my name, they very rarely use the "s" sound so instead of greeting someone with "buenas dias", here it sounds more like "buen dia". In Torrox the water from the tap is drinkable, the roads all paved and well maintained, sidewalks in good repair and the place is spotless. In Torrox and Nerja most of the expatriates are German or English. The only Americans we have met are the managers of our bungalow. We have met one Canadian couple, one Rumanian, one English couple a Danish woman, and two Irish couples. Although there are more Germans than others, they seem not to mingle with non-Germans. As I said before, the Spanish don't expect tips and are surprised when given one. There seems to be little crime here and the police are unobtrusive and almost unseen. The busses here are are awesome and seem to be top of the line. Gas averages around $7.50 a gallon or $2.00 a liter, more than double of Mexico. We are enjoying our stay here, but we miss ourfamily in Washington and our Mazatlan home and friends even though the society is not as efficient, the people of Mazatlan make up for all the inefficiencies.
We will probably update after our trip to Grenada on Wednesday. We are in good health and good spirits.
BuenOS Dias. (one of those funny feminine words with a masculine article. John always says buen dia, too, or sometimes, just buen. While I am waiting for our 338 photos from Mexico City and Tequisquiapan to upload, I had the fun of reading of your adventures and so far it sounds nigh about perfect! Good-o. I have to say, too, I know now why so many consider Mexico City one of their favorite cities. Wowee!! People will be wading through them on Facebook. (yawning, no doubt) It is taking forever to load; I am only on 13 out of 338 and it has been going for an hour.Dang. Grenada should be stellar. I am picking Phyllis up tomorrow so will hear of her adventures and tell her to follow your blog, Hugs and smooches.
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