Sexton's Travels: " ONE HELLUVA WEEK "

SATURDAY 7^th/ OCTOBER 2017.

We are back! After a ‘ Helluva’ week with Sandra, Bill, Norah & Jenny! See below a day by day ‘Blog’ of a very special week in our life down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ in sunny Manilva!

As the week went on it went warmer and sunnier each day as the ‘ Levante ‘ breeze dropped, by yesterday,Friday, it was 35 degs in the afternoon!

Saturday 30th September;

We greeted Sandra & Bill down in Sabinillas with the flags flying, the ‘Union Jack & the Welsh’ to welcome them to sunny Manilva, after showing them their apartment at the ‘Manilva Green Aparthotel ‘ by the two pools, which they used everyday, with spectacular views from their balcony, we then came up to sunny Manilva and our house were we opened a very special bottle of ‘ Mumm Vintage Brut Rose ‘ Champagne, with a little assortment of Tapas & Canapes.

In the evening we collected Norah & Jenny from their hotel and we all had a nice chat/meet on the balcony of the hotels bar, before going down to ‘ Restaurante Macues’ in Puerto de la Duquesa’ for our celebration supper, in two taxi’s. I had ordered for our starters a ‘ Lobster Salad ‘ – which was exceptional, the Lobster was local, a memorable start to the evening, Sandra & Bill ordered the house special of ‘ Sea Bass cooked in Salt’ Brenda had the ‘Grilled Turbot’ and I had my usual ‘Grilled Sole’ The girls choose from the menu, the ‘ Cava & Vina Sol’ flowed! For my late birthday surprise we had a spectacular ‘Raspberry Cheese Cake’ – see the pictures below, I was so excited to see the ‘ Lobster Salad’ and taste it that I forgot to take a picture of it!

We caught two taxi’s back to the hotel and then dropped Norah & Jenny back at their hotel after a perfect evening.

Sunday 1^st October 2017.

At lunchtime, on Sunday, I collected Norah & Jenny from the ‘ H10 Estepona Palace Hotel’ and we then tried to contact Jack & Lyn over in Melbourne on the Skype’ video, with all the folks in the office/studio, sadly their ‘ Skype’ was not coming online so we went to ‘ Plan B’ – we made contact with Lyn’s daughter, Deb, via the ‘ Facebook Messenger Video ‘ link, for a nice chat, we then arranged to contact Jack & Lyn on the following Thursday when we were meeting up with Norah & Jenny, at lunchtime, at their hotel! See the picture below of the full ‘clan’ before we went off for our Sunday ‘Roast’ Lunch to ‘ Kokomo’ past Estepona.

We were greeted by Sally, the owner, her husband, the ‘Chef’ is a classically trained ‘ Marco Pierre White ‘ protégé, we had starters, as you can see below, Prawn Cocktail with Crab, Deep-Fried Mushrooms & Tomato Soup, followed by the ‘ Roast Sirloin of Beef’ with fresh local vegetables and then dessert, including the Jam Sponge, the wine flowed, ‘ Cava Rosado ‘ to start followed by a ‘Chilean Sauvignon Blanc’ & a Australian Shiraz’- the live entertainment was a male singer with backing tapes, near the end he did a version of ‘ Blue Swede Shoes’ – which I happened to be wearing, so I ended up ‘ performing/dancing/entertaining’ all the patrons in the restaurant!!

Monday 2^nd October.

We set off to Ronda through Casares, Gaucin on the newly surfaced road through the mountains, after parking in Ronda we showed Sandra & Bill around the packed town ( Japanese!) before having a ‘Tapas’ ( Meat) lunch in a local bar, on the way back down the main road to the coast, we showed them the new Boulevard in San Pedro, in the evening we went along to ‘ Bar Castillo ‘ which had re-opened after Juan & Paqui had been on their holidays for two weeks, we had more Tapas ( Fish) this time!

On the way to Ronda!

Sandra & Bill outside the Bullring!

Tuesday 3^rd October.

We met up with Sandra & Bill at the hotel and set off in their car to Gibraltar for the day, we went early to beat the queues and went straight in without stopping, it was the same coming out later in the early afternoon, we parked in the multi-storey at the start of ‘ Main Street’ and walked into Casement Square and had the ‘Full English Breakfast’ – which the folks really enjoyed!

We then ‘ did’ Gibraltar before catching a taxi back down to the ‘Ocean Village’ where we ended up on the “ Sunborn Yacht Hotel “ – we were going to the La Sala Restaurant ‘ on the 2^nd floor but ended up in the 7^th floor ‘ Sky Restaurant ‘ with spectacular views over the sea, the ‘Rock’ & runway!

They had a 15 Euro two-course tasting menu, so Brenda & Sandra had the ‘Kale’ Salad, Bill had the ‘Pumpkin’ Soup and I had ‘ Helluva’ Caesar salad, for our main course all the folks had the Seared ‘Swordfish’ and I had the ‘Grilled Pork Fillet’ – see the pictures below; Our wine from the ‘Sommeliar’s’ selection was up-graded to a full ‘ Petit Chablis’ from one of our favourite vine yards, ' J.Moreau & Fils' - a memorable lunch with great company.

In the evening we went along to the ‘ Ke ‘ Bar in Sotogrande for our ‘ ‘Sundowner’ cocktails set by the side of the best and most exclusive marina on the coast, we choose some light Tapas to end a perfect day out and about on the ‘’Costa Del Sol’

'Bacardi & Coke time !

Wednesday 4^th October.

We again went in the folks car to Malaga, after parking in the under- ground car park by the start of ‘Calle Larios’ in the heart of the city, we first checked out the ‘Mercado Central Atarazanes’ the fish, fruit, vegetable & meat market, before walking along ‘Calle Larios’ to the ‘Plaza de Consitucion’ for our first ‘ Cava’ of the day sat in the shade! Next we went along the famous “ Cervecerias – Los Gatos “ for another memorable lunch, all the pictures later, after Bill sends them!!

A ' Los Gatos' regular !

In the evening we all had a well earned ‘siesta’/night off relaxing evening re-charging our batteries.

Thursday 5^th October.

We set off across to Estepona in our car to show Sandra & Bill around the flower decorated town before walking along to the “ Orchidarium “ – the ‘ Orchid House & Botanical Gardens ‘ where a very helpful and English speaking ‘Botanist’ gave us the grand tour and introduced us to his world of the ‘ Micro Orchids’ on show and flowering.

It was then time to come back to the ‘H10 Estepona Palace Hotel’ to meet up with Norah & Jenny for a pool-side snack/brunch. We first made contact with Jack & Lyn over in Melbourne on Sandra’s tablet, via the ‘Facebook’ Messenger Video link again, so we all had a nice chat and catch up with them, we have just come off this morning ( Saturday) after speaking to them on the ‘ Skype’ video, after they have had some technical assistance to get it back online!

We had a very enjoyable ‘ Brunch’ with Bill & I having the ‘ Black Angus Beef Burgers’, his topped with Cheese and mine with a fried Egg! Sandra & Bill went for a dip in the sparkling ‘Mediterranean’ and all the girls walked off their lunch along the beach. More ‘Cava’ flowed before we wished Norah & Jenny a safe journey home on Friday morning.

PS; They are home safe and sound!!

In the evening we went down to 'La Choza ' for a late supper, we had a very enjoyable time, Sandra & Bill loved the place and the staff, we had another supper meal, Bill had a large ' Entrecote Steak ' in a glazed Dijon/Sugar Mustard sauce, Sandra had a ' Tail Fillet of Salmon, Brenda choose the Grilled Fillet of Pork in a creamy Green Peppercorn sauce and I had my favourite ' Beef Stroganoff' - ' Torres' wines, White & Red, went down very well, the 'Caramel' Vodkas went down well at the end also!

Friday 6^th October.

Our last day with Sandra & Bill was planned as a special ‘ surprise’ – we set off in our car to a Hotel & Restaurant, in the mountains behind Ronda,” Molino del Santo “ in the small white village of ‘Benaojan’ – the ‘ surprise’ being that we went on a train from the station outside San Roque, around the coast, past Sotogrande, it starts in Algeciras and goes to Granada eventually into the Spanish rail system, it passes through spectacular mountain gorges, tunnels etc as it winds its way to the small station, a five minute walk finds the hotel set by the side a mountain river and small waterfall, the young waiter dropped us off later back down to the station to catch our train back, by then it was over 35 degs in the afternoon sun!

We selected from the ‘ Menu Del Dia’ with the house aperitif of a glass of the local ‘Gazpacho’ to start, Sandra had the house ‘ Parfait’ Brenda had a ‘Smoked Cod & Avocado’ salad and Bill & I had the ‘Tomato & Red Pepper’ soup – all served with a selection of five homemade different breads, Olive and Tomato being our favourites.

For our main course Brenda had the Poached ‘Sea Bass’ with ‘ large ‘ Pink Prawns with a very tasty ‘Lobster Bisque’ salsa, we all had the ‘Rack of Local Lamb ‘ ( Pink ) resting on a creamy Mashed potato with Cranberries and Baby Whole Green Beans with a rich Red Wine/Sherry glaze. I choose some local wines, for a change, from the ‘ Sierra Ronda ‘ – a fruity aroma ‘ Rueda Verdejo’ and to follow a rich ‘Tempranillo’ – full bodied, for desserts we had the house ‘Sticky Toffee Pudding, Apple Tart & Chocolate Cake all served with liqueurs, Calvados, Sherry and a rich ‘ Fire water!

See the pictures below;