MANILVA THE ROYAL TOUR.

SUNDAY/MONDAY 1^ST/2^ND/ MAY 2011.

After a little lie in on Sunday morning we had a Bacon and Egg breakfast to set us up for the day ahead; the weather forecast was a little better with some sun and no rain! The arrangements for the day were to have cocktails in the Piano Bar Terrace at the Don Carlos Hotel before we dropped down to the Beach House Restaurant in Elviria ( Tim had requested to go there as we took him to it last time he was staying with us ) Just before Brian left he put me in touch with a friend of Tim’s who used to work for him and was also from Llandudno; I made contact with him via Facebook and it turned out that he new us from our time at the Seventy Degree’s in Colwyn Bay; John and his partner Wendy have retired just over two years ago and have a very nice villa on the coast outside Sabinillas, the outcome was after we had met him in Bar Rojas was that he and Wendy were going to join us as a surprise, so when we arrived at the hotel we hit a little problem, the Piano Bar was closed for a large wedding Party ! Any way the surprise went off very well and we were soon in the Beach House Restaurant where they made us very welcome, I had spoken to the manager and set things up so we had the best table on the terrace overlooking Africa and Gibraltar and down the coast back to Marbella; it is always very busy and was already bouncing as we had our cocktails, we then ordered, Tim and John had the Shank of Lamb on Mash,Thea has Sea Bass, Wendy had BBQ Pork Fillet with savory rice and Brenda and I had the Roast Argentina Rib of Beef; every thing was excellent, as always and the young staff looked after us very well, the Lamb was succulent, the Sea Bass was just right and our Beef was rare with excellent large Yorkshire Puddings, proper gravy and the vegetables were Creamed Leeks, Broccoli and Cauliflower Mornay,Carrots and lots of crispy Roast Potatoes ! The wines were both excellent Riojas, the white was particularly drinkable; the live music during the lunch was Felix, Vidal’s brother, who has been poached from his usual regular Sunday spot further up the coast; he immediately greeted us and sang my name out as we arrived! He plays a relaxed style of Funky/Soul/Trinidad music with a selection of popular songs on his guitar along with backing tapes, he knows lots of the customers and makes it very personal, the outcome was that as the afternoon progressed and the wine flowed I ended up dancing in front of him and got the crowd going as well as dancing with the ladies!! The manager sent over another round of drinks and a rebooking is on the cards! Watch this space.Thea has the pictures of our Beach House lunch and I will blog them in the next few weeks, we did not have our camera with us; my assistant did not pick it up as we were leaving the house! On the way back along the coast we stopped at the La Sala Restaurant Bar and Grill in Puerto Banus, which is the posers paradise, the black Bentley’s form a queue outside and the place rocks, the act on was a Michael Buble sound alike ( From Rhyl ! ) John knew him so we had a great time; we ended our day back in Bar Rojas for the next to last drink before we went down the street to our house.

Monday morning was a early start as we took Tim and Thea to Gibraltar; as they had not been across; as it was the bank holiday there we got in before the traffic builds up and the mid morning flights start landing and taking off; the new airport is nearly finished and is looking very impressive, David and Jane are flying in a week on Thursday, we had a greasy spoon breakfast in Casement Square as the shops were opening later; Thea had phoned her cousin Diane who lives just past Sotogrande and we had arranged to meet her and her husband Harry ( He was born in Gibraltar ) down in the Ocean Village complex; they retired nine years ago and bought a house in Alcaidesa; we had met them over in England at a family occasion so we soon got all the news and Tim and Thea were very happy to see them, we ended up following them back to their house, as we left Gibraltar the queue to go in was taking over an hour and a half ! After a coffee we left to go back to John and Wendy’s villas as they had asked us to join then for drinks and a buffet with some friends of theirs; as we made our way back along the coast we called into Sotogrande Marina and then Duquesa Marina to show the folks our end of the Costa Del Sol, sadly the weather was not too good but the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday is sunny and warm. John and Wendy made us very welcome as we started on the Mojito’s followed by wine and Cava! John is a Karaoke fanatic; he has a very good voice, so the afternoon/evening got rather lively; we left at around 11-pm on our way home and ended up at the Burger King in Sabinillas for a late night snack! Bar Rojas is closed on Monday so we retired after a “ Helluva “ day, the pictures below give you just a small taste of the day, more to follow at a later day.

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