Oslo City Hall

It is soon Christmas in Oslo. There is almost no snow, but the precipitation we had last week has made the pavements very slippery. The weather forecasts for the days before Christmas have no indication of a White Christmas, but the City Hall with the Christmas Tree in front gives me a great opportunity to publish the first blogpost after returning to Oslo.

Last visit to Malaga this autumn

 Only a few more days here at Costa del Sol this fall, and on Saturday we are back to Oslo and probably to snow and cold winter. Our last visit to Malaga City took place yesterday and just to be prepared we visited the slope outside El Corte Ingles where toboggan made closer contact with winter than going to Sierra Nevada.

 The weather improved very fast and after a traditional visit to El Pimpi we found back to La Plaza at Plaza de Merced. Tapas bars and restaurants occupies the ground floor of the total block all the way to Picasso´s birth place on the left corner. The sun was really warm and +23 C gave a nice farewell experience of this lovely city.

Well, the real farewell we got from the Christmas "tree" at Plaza de Constitution. No lightening except glitter from the sun above the shophouse buildings this afternoon. Hasta Luego Malaga.

Hunting for new restaurants in Benalmadena

In Spain on this Monday they celebrate Inmaculada Concepciòn and had a Bank Holiday because their Constitution day was on Saturday 6th. We therefor joined the Spanish families and went for a restaurant stroll between Carihuela and torrequebrada map Torrequebrada.

First stop was a recommended tapas bar  La vina de ale vinoteca. A nice place witch we will return to on later visits at Costa del Sol.

From Carihuela beach we continued along the Benalmadena beach with necessary pitstops. The weather talks for itself with 17 degrees and it is December 8th.

Our next stop should have been the spectacular restaurant La Cala in Torrquebrada. The steep path down the hill did not look safe enough after 9km walk, so we dropped it for this time, but will return next time we are down here. Close to La Cala there is also an Italian recommended restaurant (with no pizza) GISLA.

Without eating at La Cala we had to stop at one of our other favourite tapas bars in Fuengirola, Taverna Cinorros in Calle Larga. I write favourite because their Baccalao (tapa or ration) is very like the way we make this dish back home.
Maybe I look a little old on the photo, but it is the way I look at present. Back home at Myramar we had walked over 11 km this Monday. That´s training :)

Wednesday lunch at Mr.Wok

I do not expect everyone to love this blogpost, but sometimes it is interesting how many dishes you can compose from a buffet. The fashionable restaurants advertise with menus of 5, 7 or more, but I stopped at 6:
First Sushi

2nd Peking duck and chicken lemon:

3rd, Premade pepper beef, soya pork and chicken in sweet and sour sauce:

4th, Vegetables with some prawns in oyster sauce in wok

5th, Beef and chicken, squash and prawns in oyster sauce

6th, Afters ice-cream with caramel and chocolate bites.

For those of you that rather prefer other tastes have a look at the buffet table and make your choice 

Christmas light in Malaga

Tonight we walked around Malaga City together with hundreds of people eager to experience the light of Christmas in this beautiful and beloved capital here at Costa del Sol in Andalusia
The photos sperach for themselves, and if possible try to come and be part of it.

Christmas lightening in Fuengirola

Around the world the streets and squares are lightened up this weekend.
In Fuengirola the great Christmas tree at Plaza de Espana was lit at 7pm yesterday and a lot of people were gathered to see the illumination. Not a real tree as in other places, but quite large and spectacular

 Decorations in narrow streets and in broader "avenidas" had colourful lights in red, gold and white.

 This decoration are in Avenida de Mijas at the corner of Av. Codes de San Isidro also included green.

The Christmas market also opened this evening behind the church at Plaza Constitucion.

Although we had dinner at restaurant Aroma before we went back to the hotel and the lights in the reception, I felt tired in my leg after all this walking.

Sunday stroll Torremolinos Benalmadena

This Sunday stroll along the beaches at Costa del Sol resulted in 9,5 km. Good and important exercise for my legs and body.
We started up after taking the bus from Fuengirola in Torremolinos. Walked down the stairs to the beach  and headed south west. At Punta de Torremolinos looking east, Malaga city could not de seen in the mist.

Turning "La Punta" the Carihuela Beach lays ahead.  It takes about 30 - 40 minutes to stroll this distance. A flat "passeo" with lots of possible pitstops for  coffee break and cold beers.

During the walk the clouds almost disappeared and a warm sun ripped off some of our cloths before we reached Benalmadena and had lunch at our favourite Italian restaurant Pinocho

Oranges and Christmas

Many years ago when I was a boy one of the most memorable happenings we had, was when the oranges arrived from abroad. Apples we got from the fjords of Norway (Valldal), but my family also had a box of oranges as part of the Christmas celebration.
A month ago I took this picture of an orange tree with the green fruits

 Today the orange trees look like this with matured fruits, or at least more mature than a month ago.

Another important event in front of the Christmas time is lightening the Christmas tree. When playing in the school brass band we every year played Christmas songs when the city tree became lightened. Yesterday the tree inside the shopping centre was lightened and this morning welcomed us with its glittering lights.

 Outside the shopping centre at the main entrance many small piceas are covered with light.

The light decorations in the streets of Malaga and Fuengirola will be lightened next weekend. I think we will cover that event too in the blog.
Soon: Merry Chrismas to you all.

Dia de Tapas en Malaga

A day in Malaga always starts with the flower bridge and the "termometro" in the background before crossing the street and approaching the old city. Today the temperature was +20 C when arriving at 11.30 am, and +22 in the afternoon when departing. The winter is still somewhere in the mountains.

On the wall in "Taberna del Pinxo" (our fifth pitstop) we found this old painting but in modern today and with Tullen and myself in focus, it looks like this

November flowers in Spain

Due to severe uploading problems through the local internet at our hotel at the moment I post this flower posts without more comments. The beauty of November at Costa del Sol cannot be hidden.

And now it is time to prepare for Christmas flowers all over :)

Age pensioner

After 17 years on disability conditions I can from today call myself a real age pensioner .
I am as good as I can be my wife tells other people and as you see on her photo, he looks great.
Life is Great has been my motto since the first severe heart attack 20 years ago, and the logo of my blog.

This morning (after breakfast) the Hotel Director and his staff here in Spain surprised me with a bottle of Cava and some fresh fruits. In addition lots of friends and family members has sent greetings on FaceBook, Email and video song on Path. Many thanks to you all.

 Life is great even in the heavy rain outside the apartment.

Walking along the beaches

Sunday afternoon stroll along the beaches in Fuengirola where the bathing season is on the wane and the restaurants are preparing for winter. Some of the long-stayers are having their afternoon tea (or sleep) but we are still walking around between pitstops here and there. Have a nice week all over the world.

Routa de la tapa Erotica

 Today we have been walking around in Fuengirola for some Tapas and some glass of wines. Part of the restaurants we visited was included in the "Routa da la Tapa Erotica", but we are now so experienced that we know where to go for the best Tapas in the city.

 First we went to La Cepa (our favourite) to the major tapas de Fuengirola, and the "Camembert frito con marmalade y miel" and the "Langostinos con baicon y berenjenas" (photo above).

 After different tapas bars we ended up at "Sol y Mar" at Paseo Maritim where the tapa named "Playboy" was on the menu.

If you want to join in the activity at the plaza close to the postoffice, see the video above.