SUNNY MANILVA MARBELLA ESTEPONA CASARES AND SABINILAS ON A BUSY THURSDAY

THURSDAY 6^th/ JUNE 2013.

This morning I had the luxury of a lie in bed on my own as Brenda was up with the larks as she had an appointment at the surgery with the nurse for her blood test; she came back and woke me with a cup of tea and toast, now that’s living! Later she is going back to a different nurse for more tests before we take Gillian over to the bus station in Marbella for her to coach to Malaga for her flight back to England and onto the Isle of Wight.

On the way back we are going to call into the English butchers in Guadalminia for some essentials,Duck Fat for the roast Potatoes,Kidneys for the pie and homemade Pork Sausages for breakfast, then we are going to cut across country behind Estepona and call at ‘Venta Garcia’ below Casares to book a table for lunch on the Friday before Brenda’s birthday on the Saturday; we will then drop back down to the coast and go along past Sabinillas to ‘Restaurante San Rafael’ to book her birthday party dinner on the Saturday evening! At the same time we can call into ‘Marlow’s Fish and Chip Restaurant’ to reserve a table for the Sunday evening to end the weekend of festivities with all the folks.

PS; Two out of three OK - 'Venta Garcia' fine and Jesus was delighted to see us,it was very busy on a beautiful hot and sunny afternoon and was doing over 80 covers! 'SanRafael' also fine and a nice round table booked ! But ' Marlow's is at the moment closed on Sunday evenings !! So it will have to be Plan 'B' as there is no other Fish and Chip restaurant near us - watch this space!

When we get back later this afternoon I will catch up with the fifth stage of the ‘ Criterium du Dauphine’ which is a tough ride from ‘Gresy-sur-Aix’ to the ski resort of ‘Valmorel’ over 139kms; then it will be time to watch the Tennis from Paris as it is the semi-finals of the Woman’s Singles with Sharapova and Williams trying to get into the final!

PS; At the moment it us rain stopped play in the Sharapova game 6-1 2-6 so all to play for.Sharapova won the third set 6-4 after the re-start and so is in the final on Saturday where she will meet Serena Williams.

PPS; Chris Froome as taken over the Yellow jersey after he out-climbed his main rival Alberto Contador up the hill to the finish.See the picture above.

This evening for supper we are having ‘Escalope of Pork Milanese’ – flattened Pork fillet coated in fresh breadcrumbs then cooked in foaming butter with Spaghetti finished in my rich savory Tomato sauce with lots of Lemon wedges on the side! It’s another mmmmmmmmmmm !!

Thought for the Day; See above.

..

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

MANILVA - MALAGA FRIDAY

FRIDAY 8^th/ MARCH 2013.

Well Friday turned into a “Helluva ” day as you will see; the forecast was showers but it was fine all day and the sun even came out as the temperature rose to 23 degs! In the morning we did a quick shop down in Sabinillas and collected the papers, after unpacking we went for a long walk with the dog around the village, as you can see the work on the ‘Plaza Pozo del Rey’ is progressing slowly and the renovation work on the church does not seem to have started properly yet! As we were out for the night at the basketball we decided to have a more substantial lunch so I produced ‘Brunch’ as you can see in the pictures below – English Pork Sausages and Smoked Bacon, Sauté Potatoes,Mushrooms,Tomato and Chorizo, Fried Bread and of course Campo Fried Eggs! – Hot steaming tea set us up for the rest of the day ahead.

       PALACIO DE DEPORTES JOSE MARIA MARTIN CARPENA  -- “ UNICAJA BALONCESTO.

We set off on the coach from outside the surgery where Marie joined us, on the list it said ‘ Marie Sexton’ along with our names! It only takes an hour to go over to Malaga especially as the bus went on the ‘Paeje’- not along the coast road. We were dropped off right outside the arena and collected our tickets and found our way in; the arena was opened in 1999 and seats from 11,000 to 14,500 depending on the event, as well as Basketball they hold Tennis,Boxing,Monster Truck events and Pop and Music concerts, next month ‘Mark Knopfler’ ex ‘Dire Straits’ is there on tour. Next to the arena is the very large and new ‘Malaga Aquatic Centre’ and an even newer ‘Athletics Stadium!

Most importantly it is the ‘Home’ of the “ Unicaja(Bank) Malaga ” Basketball team that plays in the ‘Turkish Airlines Euroleague’ and the Spanish league; our first seats were on the very top row behind the basket at one end as you can see in the pictures above, later we moved around to some prime seats on the side, they were free and had not been taken so we had a commanding view right on the half-way line! The large four sided screen above all the action was installed in 2007 and shows you all the action, with replays as well as the teams and who has scored and most importantly the score! The stadium soon filled up as the time neared for the game to start; Malaga started well but soon ‘ Panathinaikos’ took the lead and maintained it by up to 12 points right up to the final 2 minutes of the final quarter! The atmosphere soon builds up, lead by the drum and trumpet band and the ‘Mascot’ The pictures above show you the game as it went on and the entertainment by the ;Cheerleaders’ at the intervals; there are four quarters of ten minute periods and a 15 minute half time interval; at different times on the screens they have a ‘Kiss-Cam’ screen that zooms in on a couple who as they recognize them self’s ‘Kiss’ – the best ones win a meal at the sponsor’s restaurant at the end of the evening, sadly it did not pick us up as I was ready and able to catch Brenda ! We had our snacks during the intervals that were provided by the ‘BRSEXTON’ outside catering company; Ham Sandwiches on thick Bread, large English Sausage Rolls and Crisp Sticks along with water and chilled Coca Cola but no Popcorn allowed ! The only thing missing was the paper napkins – next time we will not leave them at home!!

Back to the game, Malaga played well but did not convert their ‘Three Pointers’ as the Panathinaikos team did and hence their lead right up to the final quarter; the crowd by then including us, especially me – as you can see – were going mad! Unicaja Malaga gradually caught up with two minutes to go as the score was 60-60 – then we scored a three pointer to make it 63-60 and then another in the final seconds to make it 66-60 and a fully deserved  win for Malaga! The crowd went mad and so did we !! One “ Helluva ” evening and experience – we shall return ! We got back to Manilva at 11-0’clock and had a good ‘Stiff’ drink to celebrate when we got in !!

Thoughts for the Day;

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.  Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.

…

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

MANILVA OVER CHRISTMAS.

MONDAY 24^th/ TUESDAY 25^TH / DECEMBER 2012.

We had a nice relaxing day at home on Monday and took things easy; later in the morning we went for a walk and stopped at Bodega Augustin for a coffee and took in the noon day sunshine. Later in the afternoon we made contact with the ‘ Moffatt’s over in Old Colwyn on the Skype Video, Ben was home from university and Tim, later Thea came in after being caught in the rain shopping in Llandudno,Jo was working at ‘ Clinton Cards’ so we were able to wish them all the best for the Xmas festivities. In the evening for dinner we had the two steaks that we picked up from the English Butchers; Brenda had a very succulent Sirloin with sweet fat and I had very good T-Bone, I finished them with foaming butter as a treat, I normally dry pan-fry them, Mushrooms,sliced Green Beans and crisp Chips along with a fine Rioja all helped as we had an indulgent evening.

On Xmas morning we were awoken by a very loud thunder clap at 8-15am; what followed was what you could only call a ‘ Cloudburst ’with severe rain for half an hour( Not forecast) As you can see in the pictures below everything returned to normal by lunchtime as we walked to the Manilva Green Aparthotel for our Christmas Lunch; the Santa picture needs no comment! The whole ‘ Guerreros’clan arrived as we got into the Xmas spirit in the bar/lounge overlooking the Manilva valley; Bucks Fizz to start with a prawn salad soon had us in the mood, for our main course we had Roast Turkey, Roast Pork and Roast Beef, all from our butchers in the village. They were served with fresh Sprouts,Carrotts and Garden Peas, very good Mashed Potato and fine proper Roast Potatoes and on the side Stuffing and Yorkshire pudding –along with ‘OK Gravy! This was produced by a Spanish Chef that had not cooked a Xmas Lunch before, Carlos had arranged it and worked very hard to make things go, at one time Mano,Ana Mari and Sally Ann all dived in to help serve and clear! Xmas Pudding with Brandy sauce made by Sally Ann and Mince Pies finished off the meal. We retired to the bar as you can see in the picture below to end a very nice family Christmas Day. The pictures above have just come in and show Jack and Lyn on Christmas Day over in Melbourne and David Jane at one of their pubs! We were dropped back up to the village and settled down for the evening in front of the TV.As you can see Cheta came visiting in the evening and joined us in front of the TV with Charlie!

Thoughts for Christmas;

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.  The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree; the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

…

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

ESTEPONA /MANILVA/GAUCIN/CASARES

Monday 15th.October.
In the morning we serviced the Winnebago and caught up with the jobs so as to give us the rest of the week free to spend time with Carol and Chris.We went for a swim after lunch as the afternoon sun shines on the pool and then set off to Manilva to meet Carol and Chris off the Autovia and take them up to the Manilva Green Aparthotel where we had booked them into a two bedroomed duplex on two levels.Carlos who has just started working there had arranged everything and gave us a royal welcome! The apartment overlooks the Manilva valley with spectacular views to the sea.and Africa on a clear day.As they had arrived a little late we popped down to Puerto de la Duquesa for a quick Italian at”Il Capitano” and caught up with all the family news and then arranged to take them out on Tuesday as the weather was becoming sunnier by the day.
Tuesday 16th October.
On a beautiful sunny day we set off into the hills behind Manilva in their hire car and stopped in Gaucin,one of the famous “White Villages” on top of a mountain for a Tinto de Verano,leaving the car at the end of the village- we then got lost in the narrow streets and cauld not find our way out to the car! In the end sence prevailed and we found the car and set off to Casares,another white village and had a three course Menu Del Dia in one of our favourite “Ventas” We then went down past the wind farm above Manilva and dropped into the Estepona marina for a coffee in the late afternoon sunshine.I spotted a speed boat dropping off some people on the quay and caught up with the owner of the boat and arranged for us to go out for an hour for a spin! The sea had quite a swell and we set off at 25knots for an exhilarating trip down the coast towards Marbella and back to Estepona-whilst we were in the deep water a shoal of Dolphins raced along with us!! The pictures show us on the boat but I was not able to catch a Dolphin in mid-flight !! We arrived back in the harbour along with the fishing boats in the early evening sun shine on a beautifull day,Later in the evening we called into the restaurant at the foot of the hill that we had called into on Friday.We had another super meal washed down with the local Temperillo house wine,which finished off a “Helluva”day.