From La Cala de Mijas to Calahonda

This Sunday the weather is just another spring / early summer time here in Fuengirola. The temperature is around + 30 (official +22 in shadow) and Bikinis are the most preferred clothing.

A week ago the weather was a little more grey and cloudy; perfect for a walking tour along the beaches at Mijas Costa

Far away you may see El Faro, and behind that Fuengirola. La Cala is proximal in the center of the image.

During the stroll we registered more and more clouds, but the horizon towards Africa became clear all day long.

The costal walking path from La Cala to Calahonda is quite new, and can highly be recommended

However, when reaching Calahonda the wooden path has its end and you have to walk in the sand for a while. Hopefully the community can find budgets for creating a prolongation of the path till it meets the wooden path around La Luna in Calahonda

Hotel Myramar, Castle Beach, Fuengirola - Our second home

We have now for 7 years stayed at Hotel Myramar in spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons. We will continue to return, and may well call it our second home.

Why?

That is a question difficult to answer  because you all have different expectations of what you want and/or require for long stay periodes.
I will therefor try to present some photos showing what we find attractive here at the hotel. For opportunities outside the hotel´s protected areas, you have to read some of my other blogposts from Fuengirola, Andalusia and Costa del Sol in Spain.

The first image (above) shows the pool area on an ordinary day in October. Lots of sun-beds available. The large pool is about 60 meters long with a depth from 30 to 180 cm. A pool for the smallest children in front, and two or three safeguards always there to watch what is going on in the water. A HC ramp and lift is available to bring you down to 120 cm

Outside the Olea restaurant and Bar tables are normally occupied from breakfast till late evenings.
In the background of this image you can see the large shopping mall (Miramar) where all kinds of shops (including foods) can be found. Myramar is an apartment hotel where you may make all your meals by your own, but if you want breakfast, snacks or dinner the restaurants serves you well.

This is the salad bar ready for dinner.

For those interested in physical activities in addition to walking along the beaches at Costa del Sol, the hotel har 7 Padel tennis courts. (2 for children), and a minigolf area within its fence-protected area.

The hotel also has an indoor swimming pool with hot water, a gym and a library where guests have left books and swapped to others during their stay.

At the reception you can get all the services needed and the personnel are very nice and responsive to your wishes. Any problem in your apartment, tell the desc and maintenance people will within minutes / hours solve your complaints with a smile.

During summertime there are various shows (both for kids and adults) going on at the Aqua Bar. This image is from a Flamenco show.

The children are taken good care of by the professional crew and the mini-disco with competitions are entertainment both for children and (grand)parents

 At the AquaBar refreshments can be enjoyed during summertime. At other seasons there are two other bars with Happy Hours to be visited.

 A blogpost about Myramar without the hotel-cat "Amina" is impossible. She always arrives to the areas where food can be achieved, and she is very selective for where to visit and sleep during the days. At nights she is all around protecting her area against other animals who try to enter her home range.

Ending up with a night photo showing the entrance area and the Olea Bar and restaurant in Block 1 and the growing moon shining from a dark and warm sky. Many Norwegians could certainly find Myramar at Costa del Sol an alternative to the Canary Islands during autumn and winter.
I know that the management would look forward to welcome more Scandinavians to this hotel.

Two days in Madrid

Early Tuesday morning this week we found our seats in the AVE Renfe (High Speed Train) and went for a two and a half hours journey from Malaga to Madrid. On the tour the sunrise could be seen in the east, but the weather forecast for the Spanish Capital was not as beautiful as the upping sun in the south could indicate.

Well installed at our hotel we used the first afternoon to be tourists and visited the Castle and the Cathedral along with many others. The beauty of these buildings is a reason by itself to make this journey.

 A pitstop at Plaza Major is of course always expected, but there are so many other places to go and have a coffee or a drink so you miss nothing by dropping this tourist magnet.

A place that had to be visited was the Apple Store at Puerto del Sol, and as for a year ago the Apple Specialist "Leo" was there to help be getting my new iPhone 7 Negro Brilliante.
Leo is holding his own iPhone SE with the photo of us taken exactly 12 months ago.

The shopping street Gran Via was my wife´s area during my own visit at Apple Store, and as long as our hotel was close to this street I think a night photo (taken by iPhone 7) of Gran Via is on it´s place.

The buildings at Gran Via is spectacular. This building with the black and golden dome is the most photographed object in Madrid

 This penthouse and the long row along the street is fantastic. The traffic is horrible, but in Spain they almost always stop for us at the pedestrian marks.

This facade is fake. However at many back walls street painters have made interesting images of how it could look like if the buildings were constructed differently

 At the end in this blogpost I will cover some of the interesting places we visited around Plaza Santa Ana. First the popular restaurant Lateral.

then the Tapas Bar where we found it more delighted to visit with their great tapas and nice servants

and at last the great facades of restaurant Villa-Rosa builds up with painted tiles.

An artist is working in Fuengirola

 At Plaza de los Chinorros a painter is working in front of the restaurant Picoteo these days

 The gastrotaberna Picoteo is a place we sometimes visit for lunch, although other establishments at the Chinorros plaza are more frequented by us.

We have watched an artist for some days now, and the development of his painting is progressing.

According to the artist he will still need three four days to finish his work. We will come back to the signed painting later this week.

Sunrise in Fuengirola, Spain

Two young expectants together with grandma ready for the swimming pool to be opened. The sun is also ready for the day and makes a nice background in our patio.