Costa del Sol - Autumn 2018 Heaven and Sea

My 3rd blogpost from Costa del Sol 2018

3. Heaven and Sea

When living at Costa del Sol in about 16 weeks a year motives from the beaches occur almost every day and night. The morning view at the delta of river Fuengirola with the bridge near Sohail Castle has been shown earlier, but a great thing cannot be left out for that reason

My wife´s images taken during her early morning´s walk, show the sun rise in different weather situations. This morning the sun had just left the horizon and the sky had a wonderful color

Another morning and some minutes later (winter-time) when the clouds hide the rising sun, the birds at the river seem to be on ice.

The wind at the coast varies almost every day and the waves are crashing the shore with different strenght. Sometimes the surfers are happy playing in the water, and sometimes people are diving in these waves,

When the clouds are black and the storm and heavy rain are stronger than usual, the beaches and riverbanks are full of "leftovers". The comunity personnel are wery good in cleaning. In a day or two the branches and mud are taken away.

When the bad weather is approaching the colors of the clouds are really spectacular.

A heaven and sea photo-serie can also contain images from above.This image of the port of Fuengirola is taken from a hotel roof, and gives us an overview of the long coastline and the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea.

Here as all over the world the moon is full every 28th day, and these images show that we often are at the beaches late afternoon or early evenings.

The next three photos can well be motives for paintings. We all know many paintings by E. Munch which contain the full moon and the light on the sea surface, so maybe these will end as paintings by me.

At last I swap the Mediterranean sea with the landscape around the Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada taken from the airplane window travelling north and leaving Andalusia this autumn.

Costa del Sol - Autumn 2018 Places and people

During our about eight weeks stay at Costa del Sol every winter/spring and summer/autumn we move around to locations all over Andalusia and also meet friends and family.

2. Places and People

We have visited our hotel Myramar Fuengirola for 10 years (20 visits) and have decided that this kind of accommodation is siutable for us. An one bedroom apartment with kitchen and all the services needed. The swimming pool area with sunbeds, poolbar and guards during the warm season is a safe and nice place to spend long stay time at Costa del Sol

On a sunny day the temperature between May and October can reach +40 C in our patio.

The hotel cat "Amina" has been there all the years and comes on arrival day till departure for some food and peace with us. This autumn she mainly  moved from us to other guests for food, but was greeting us every day

Another creature was discovered in the flower beds this year. We saw it only twice, but heard it every day.

During our long visiting years we also have developed frendship with the hotel´s management; here represented by Liza.

Visited Locations:

From Carvajal to Castle Sohail the beach promenade is 7 km. My wife walks this distance almost every morning, and I sometimes use the bus in one direction and walk back with a lot of pitstops. In this bay we pass Torreblanca, Los Boliches and the center of Fuengirola before we reach our apartment hotel

Between Torremolinos and Benalmadena we have the beautiful La Carihuela Beach where Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Orson Welles and Frank Sinatra stayed to enjoy the Mediterranean in the 1950s and 60s.

In one of the hotels Frankie boy has got his own bar with decorations of his albums.

When using the train one station is Benalmadena-Arroyo de la Miel. A very nice place and many good reataurants etc.

We come often to "the honey river" as a starting point for walking down to the beaches and the Benalmadena port. On that tour we walk through the "Jardin de Paloma" but more facinating is the hundreds of proud Hans flurting the Hens.

Well down at the sea the prominade to Benalmadena Marina and further to Carihuela, Torremmolinos and even Los Alamos is great. Lots of shops, bars and restaurants together with the African salesmen.

On the other side of Fuengirola (south-westward)  we at least visit Puerto Banus and Marbella once during our stay. In Puerto Banus we have found our own restaurants behind the tower where the crowd of tourists are not so big. Here with my sister Gerd.

In Marbella the tourist season was almost over when we visited the Paseo Maritimo in the beginning of November. Very few people in the streets and in restaurants compared to the busy and lively Fuengirola.

We normally take one "long travel journey" in Spain during our stays and this time we decided to visit Cordoba for the second time. This photo is taken from the speed train (295 km/h) over the Andalusien fields and can result as a scetch for a new painting in 2019

When people visit Cordoba La Mesquita is the main attraction. So also for our first visit to Cordoba. This time we decided to explore the area north from the fantastic cathedral, and close to the train station we walked through the "Agricultural Park" ( very similar to the park in Malaga)

Cordoba has also some great historical remains from the Roman periode, beautiful gardens and interresting squares so we recommend future visitors to use more time outside the main tourist paths.

To compare the parks in Cordoba with other cities, I once more give you some images from Malaga

In Malaga the fortress Alcazaba and the roman amfi in front are both on the 17 highlights list recomended.

Although most hotels and properties in Spain have their own swimming pool, a bath in the Mediterranean sea from the beaches will be seen as a top experience. That also happened for my daughters family.

Another great time we have with our family members was dinner at La Farola where Magic Manu show us his fantastic tricks.

Many visitors to Malaga has been sitting on Pablo Picasso´s bench at Plaza Merced, but Pablo also can be found in Mijas Pueblo.

At last it is time to say adios and Hasta Pronto to our host at Myramar. Director Carlos Cana allways try to make our stay the best, and he and his staff succeed in that every time. Feliz Navidad and bueno anos nuevo to you all. See you again in February 2019.

Costa del Sol - Autumn 2018 Food and Beverage

Since it is a little bit difficult to produce blogposts during our stay in Spain, I have to make several  posts from Oslo covering our experiences from last months. This time I will make them based on topics.

1. Food and Beverage

The first image is from the Aqua Bar at our hotel.  Here we prefer the Cava and either it is given by the host or though own money, it is a great start for the coming 6 to 9 weeks.

 Moving down to the beaches we normally take a pit stop at Gali Gali
The hosts and crew are very nice and as seen on the photo below, the limit of the drink is on top.

 Our favorite square in the center of Fuengirola is Plaza de los Chinorros.
Here we have a lot of restaurants and bars ether for a drinks, tapas or food from early morning to late night. Only be aware that some of the kitchens are closed in some hours from 4 to 6/7.

At taberna La Oliva we have found our own "local" and the owner (in green) and the whole crew know us so well that ordering is not needed. As soon we have been seated a Ribera and a Rueda are on table.

On the way back to Myramar Apartment Hotel a break at Bar Bocaccio and a Mojito can be recommended

In Malaga Pueblo there are hundreds of places to be visited, but we have of course our own favorites.

At Meson Iberico we have found a real Spanich bodega and for the us pit stop here are always requried when leaving the historic center and face the train back to Fuengirola.

A typical tourist trap is the "El Pimpi", but alhough tourists are flowing through the narrow passage, sitting at the bar with all the famous people at the walls, is always a pleasure.

Another venue is the Cerveceria Los Gatos. with Tullens favorite: Ensalada Queso de Cabre

At Mijas Pueblo ( the beautiful white town at the hillside abowe Fuengirola) we have our Secret Garden inside restaurant Aroma, and if you want to be away from the tourist stream in the streets, a lunch here can be recommended.

However, in October we discovered another calm and lovely place for a drink or tapas.

We do not remember it´s name but you will find the library saloon behind the Picasso figure at the street.

The last images in this blogpost will cover some of our favorite dishes during our long stay this year.

First we have the Chateaubriand at restaurant La Farola "Delicioso". Remember you have to order it at least a day before the reservation day.

A substitute may be the Solomillo de ternera which is always on the menu and can be eaten with a fork if preferred. Salza pimiento separado makes the steak even better.

However, the best recommendation from the menu at La Farola will be the Fish Soup and the gratinated mussels in addition to the grilled salmon on spinach with salza Holandaise says mu wife.

 A blogpost about food and beverages in Fuengitola also has to present a chef recommendation at La Caracola: Grilled Red Snapper.

And

a meal from the buffet at Mr Wok Asian food (like the mixed wok in ouster sauce on the photo)

 Although everything in this blogpost are outside the apartment kitchen, a simple dish with Spanish chorriso, cured ham and scrambled egg for lunch are appreciated and very good.