SATURDAY 19th/ FEBRUARY 2017.
We were up sharp this morning and got ourselves
ready for our day out on our travels to see our dear friend Joyce, from
Chester, up in ‘Alhaurin el Grande, in the mountains behind Marbella/Mijas; she
is ‘ House Sitting’ her friends grand villa which is situated outside the bustling
town on the side of a hill overlooking the valley below.
We were very lucky as we chose the perfect
day for the drive up the winding road behind Marbella, it was warm & sunny
with a clear blue sky & no breeze, a spectacular day to see the area at its
best, the drive is uphill nearly all the way, in parts 1/5! – we stopped at a
very large & busy ‘ Venta’ outside the town for our morning coffee &
tostada, we also had fresh Orange juice and I ended up having the excellent ‘
Bacon & Fried Eggs ‘ – with three cloves of sliced garlic cooked in the
juices! Joyce came and found us and we followed her back to the villa through ‘
Alhaurin el Grande’ – our favourite town in the region, it’s always full of
people , all the bars are packed and the choice of restaurants is terrific. One
other thing about the area is that the prices in the bars & restaurants are
very cheap, lots of ‘ Menu del Dias ‘ from 7/12 euros, our breakfast cost just 8.50!
The villa is set in the most spectacular grounds &
gardens, it has in fact got 7 different areas, see the pictures above, we sat
outside and had a very nice bottle of chilled ‘ Cava’ as we caught up with all
Joyce’s news and gossip, the inside is very grand and decorated with
every conceivable type of pictures, furniture, mirrors, glasses, vases etc, a virtual
palace with the finest of everything, in the main dining room they even have a ‘Silver
Carving Wagon’ – even nicer than our at the ‘Hotel Seventy Degrees’!
We spent the rest of the day catching up
with all our news, we had taken some large local fresh ‘Gambas’ so I cooked
them ‘ A La Plancha’ on Sea Salt, they are succulent, sweet & juicy as you
break off the head and peel them, we had a nice bottle of a chilled local white
wine, as the day went on, for our second course we had a very tasty homemade ‘Vegetable
Soup ‘ that Joyce had made earlier, she’s a vegetarian, so the soup was rather
special, then for the main course, a lot later, Joyce had bought in the local
market a Whole ‘Hake’ that she baked in the oven with lots of Garlic, in
their skins,small Roast Potatoes and wilted Spinach with more garlic! A fine local
red wine for a change with the fish.
A lot later we set off back on our travels
back through the bustling streets of the town before coming down the road back
to Marbella, it’s gripping drive at the best of times, but in the dark with all
the cars coming towards you, at speed, it makes you pay attention, there are
over 100 ‘Z’ bends and over 10 gravel
traps, just in case!
One ‘ Helluva ‘ day - thanks Joyce, here's
to the next time!
Thoughts for the Day; See above.
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