A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA, RONDA & ESTEPONA ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY 26^th/ JANUARY 2016.

We had a quick breakfast and then got ourselves ready for the day; we shot across to the “ H10 Estepona Palace **** “ and met David & Jane in the foyer, it was so nice to see then both after a little while since they were last over here. After a good catch up with all their news we sorted out the day ahead, we discussed the various options and David said that he would like to go to Ronda for the day as he had so much about it from Jane when she came over for the first time back in 2008 when we gave her the ‘royal tour’!

David had hired a rather special car from the airport over in Malaga, a “ Mini Cooper ‘S’- its very fast ( sports mode! ) with all the latest gimmicks including a very good Sat-Nav ( not needed! ) – the only problem that we had to push/shove/squeeze Jane & Brenda into the back seats and then get them out again when we arrived anywhere!! I took us up through the mountains through Casares and then down and up the valleys to the white mountain village of Gaucin and then past Algatocin coming into the back streets of Ronda and across the famous bridge into the underground car park that we use in the centre of the town, excellent driving by David and the co-driver/navigator was not bad also! See the first pictures as we arrived in Ronda ( little Japan !) taken across from the famous Bull Ring!

We then walked into the old part of the town to the main square and soon found a nice table at the main bar for our first bottle of Cava, in fact it was a rather different Spanish Sweet ‘Prosecco’ style Champagne! It was a glorious day down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ – as forecast, the skies were blue and the sun was out early, by lunchtime it reached 19 degs and there was no breeze, in fact as the day went on it got even nicer; we then went for a walk to take in all the sights of Ronda, fighting or way through the large crowds of ‘Japanese’ visitors to the bridge & gorge, the old town and churches, the Bull Ring, the old boutique hotels on the cliff face etc. 

It was then time to find a bar in the old town for a ‘light’ Tapas style lunch, we ended up in a very old ‘Taberna’ just off the square where we had a very nice lunchtime ‘session’ with this time ‘Cava’ – which soon became our chosen drink, for the next two days, we had a selection of the tapas with also a Roasted Shank of local Lamb to share!

We then set off back down to coast on the famous & spectacular A-376 ‘drivers’ road through the mountains, one of the ‘top ten best drives’ in Europe! It comes out in San Pedro de Alcantara so we then went around the new ‘ Boulevard’ to give then a taste of the new addition to the town, we then headed along the coast past a sparkling Mediterranean back into Estepona where we went up to the new Orchid House, which was sadly closed for five days for essential maintenance!! – you can’t plan everything!! We then passed the new and controversial ‘Gold’ statue on the new island in the centre of the town, which the Mayor commissioned without anybodies permission! See the picture below, not very good so I will take another one another visit!

It was then time for some refreshment, so we ended up in the ‘Champagne/Sushi Bar’ on the promenade where we had a bottle of their excellent ‘Cava Rosdao’ with fresh local Strawberry garnish sat in the hot sunshine outside at 6-00pm! 

We then retired to hotel where we then ended up in the lounge overlooking the views across to Gibraltar & Africa – more bottles of ‘Cava’ appeared as we reminisced about the good old days!! One ‘Helluva ‘ day with great friends – with more to come!

NB, For all the family over in Australia! 

Thoughts for the Day, See above.

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 10^th/ MAY 2015
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We had a long lie in this morning as the village was very quiet, no traffic down our street, no workmen banging, no children playing and sun braking though a little later than normal, well that’s our excuse!

Now it’s the exact opposite as lorries are coming down our street to the building site around the corner which they have been working on all weekend?! “ Casa De Los Torres ” is starting to take shape and they are now clearing away a lot more rubble.

It’s going to be another hot one today and next weeks forecast is looking very good down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’

We have a quiet week in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ as only ‘Reina’ is back with us on Tuesday & Thursday; ‘Scruffy’ is on holiday for a week as his mum has gone to England and his dad is looking after him back here in sunny Manilva!

We are planning to go across to Estepona on Monday morning to order our new 4x Ring Gas Burner Unit and the new Extraction Hood at the same time, hopefully we will be able to pick then up later in the week?! No other plans at the moment as we are waiting to her from our friends Douglas & Lyn, who are arriving today, to see if we are able to meet up with then later in the week, they are staying at a village up in the lake district above Malaga with friends that they have come with, Pedro &Ann, who we also know.

So this morning after a quick breakfast Brenda got the ingredients on the go for another batch of my famous ‘Ensaldilla Rusa – Russian Salad’ which I will make a little later, at the same time I will then get ready some savory ‘Basmati Rice’ for tonight’s supper as we are having ‘Escalope of Turkey Breast’ pan- fried in foaming Lime Butter with some finely sliced Green Beans and a sauceboat of my famous rich & creamy Mushroom Sauce.

This afternoon we will be up on the roof terrace as usual for our 'Happy Hour' cocktails,reading & listening to the radio.

Early this evening we are going to the ‘Plaza Pozo Del Rey’ to look after ‘Reina’ while Daniela takes the official photographs for the ‘IU’ Parties ‘Bash’

Last night after supper we watched another Jamie Oliver episode of his programme as he travels around Europe; last week it was Andalusia, the week before Morroco,this week he was in Sweden and next week he goes to Venice. His food is spectacular but we can’t stand him!

Yesterdays results; Everton were beaten at home by Sunderland 0-2 – over here Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 2-0 and Real Madrid could only draw at home at Valencia 2-2 as Ronaldo,the spoilt child, missed a penalty with his play acting! It mean that with only two games to go in ‘La Liga’ Barcelona are 4 points ahead of them – we will have to wait and see as the strike is now on!

Thoughts for the Day; See Above.

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A VERY HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 7^th/ AUGUST 2014.

Just after breakfast this morning as I was out at the butchers for tonight’s supper a very efficient gentleman called at our house from the ‘Junta de la Andalusia’s - Social services Department’ to install the “ Heart Monitoring” equipment, the ‘Black Box!’ is connected to the land-line and is now live and tested after he fed in all the details!

This has been organized by the Mayor Antonia, we are suitable impressed, they had rung yesterday to make the appointment; when you press the little ‘Red’ button on the strap around your neck is sends out a very fast call to the emergency control center which is of course working 24hrs a day,7 days a week! They answer in English and respond accordingly! They even have the name and numbers of a friend with a key to the house if required ‘Mano!’ is ours.

‘Reina’ was dropped off this morning for the day so she came with us when we went out,Kathrin had her dog ‘Alfie as well – and yes ‘Chispa’ was around also playing! Both bars welcome the dogs.

One little problem this morning was that the cash dispenser at the local bank in ‘Calle Mar’ was not working so I had to get a bit of credit at the butchers, this evening it’s now working so we are back with a cash flow – for now!

At lunchtime on ‘German Time!’ at 12-noon prompt Claus & Doreen arrived at the same time as Kathrin with her son Nick and his girlfriend Frankie who arrived last night for two weeks just as Bruno went back to work! Our first port of call was ‘Bar Rojas’ for a nice cool drink, it’s very hot and sunny here in Manilva – the Atlantic ‘Hurricane/Tropical Storm' " Bertha" is missing Southern Spain and is on it’s way to England!!

We then went down to ‘Bodegon Andaluz’ for a very nice Tapas lunch with the folks,Andreas looked after us very well. Claus & Doreen leave tomorrow to go back to Germany and will be back in October – thanks for lunch, lots of love and safe journey. See the pictures below taken with the new camera!

The latest news on Brian & Lilli is that arrived late last night in Spain, they stopped in Girona above Barcelona, just across the border and stayed in the same hotel in the same bedroom as when they left to go to Finland!

Today is their wedding anniversary so no doubt they will have a little celebration before they set off on the last leg of their journey down to sunny Manilva – so near but so far – last time they did the same route in a day so they might be in sunny Manilva tonight – and ‘Home’!!  Welcome to you both on the start of the next part of your adventure and life.

This evening for supper we are having grilled ‘Pork Chops’ cut English style with Cabbage with Alselgas,crushed Carrots and our favorite “ Breton”  style Potatoes – sorry Brian & Lilli you have missed this one but no doubt there will be many more times with us in the house for supper!

Thoughts for the Day; See abve.

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