This is a view of the village as you can see it is nestled or carved right into the hill side..
The above 2 scenic pictures are of the views when I got out of the car looking straight down the valley it was stunning and although you cannot see in the pictures you can see the sea in the distance it was a tiny bit hazy and so not totally clear but I am not complaining at all it was a glorious day!
You can see the narrow streets of the town in this picture, honestly it was v narrow and hilly, no space for cars, imagine trying to get shopping up and down the streets and there werent many shops in the town that I saw...
I initially awoke v early this morning but was able to snooze for a little longer. Then finally pulled back the curtains to see what sort of day it was… Hurrah very sunny with clear blue skies although a little windy!
A pleasant leisurely breakfast followed by a few things I had to do and I was then setting off for the bus to Estepona…
The bus ride was ‘interesting’ with the bus driver trying to drive up a road which was obviously closed (he ahd to move the cones to drive up there!!) He began to drive then a passenger shouted ‘Cerrarda’ (Closed) meaning the road… therefore the bus driver had to reverse back down what was essentially a slip road (perhaps I should mention this was a large bendy bus as well making it a double difficult feat..!). Having missed a bus I was a bit late getting to Estepona to meet Maria. However she was waiting patiently for me at the bus station.
We headed to a typical Spanish town in the mountains of Spain called ‘Casara’, which was fabulous. The journey made all the more adventurous as her new car kept telling her that she needed petrol and so was very worried on our journey in the mountains that she would run out of petrol (we didn’t thought just to reassure you!!). Casara is typically Spanish in that the houses have characteristically white washed walls with orange roofs set in the beautiful mountains with the added bonus that you can see right down the valley to the sea.
As we got out of the car, there was the sound of music as a Spanish wind band was playing traditional Spanish music (Eg pasa doble) and some popular music for Andalucia Day as part of the towns celebrations. We then began our walk down the mountain side to the village (a lot easier going down than coming back up I hasten to add!!). The village was lovely lots of winding narrow streets and houses carved into the mountain and tucked behind narrow streets. There are a lot of Arabic influences in this area (Andalucia) as the arabs once lived in this area. We walked into the Plaza (where the band were playing) then up to the Castillo (Castle) which is the remains of a castle with great views, here they are renovating a church which stands next to the castle remains.
From here we returned to the car and prayed as we went back down the mountain that there would be a petrol station on our return to Estepona…!! We made it back without problem and I realised how cheap the petrol is here in comparison to UK as it is only approx 1.1euro although apparently in Ceuta (Spanish town in Africa) it is only 0.80 euro!!
We went back to Maria’s lovely flat where she cooked us a traditional Spanish potato tortilla (like omelette) for lunch with salad followed by pineapple accompanied with some wine..! Not sure I will manage the same when I cook for her in cookery session with the residents next week..!! We sat on the terrace in lovely sunshine and warm weather (apparently unusual for this time of year) chatting together. I also managed to practice my bad Spanish with her husband when he got back from work (am sure it was the last thing he needed!!). I showed Maria some diving photos from my diving experiences and we chatted easily about holidays and life in general.
By late afternoon her dog (Pongo) who is lovely needed another walk so we headed to the beach for a walk. After a wander along the beach we were in need of refreshment and so wandered into a cocktail bar enjoyed a Mohito before returning to the bus station and my journey back to Puerto Banus.
What a civilised and fabulous way to spend a day off….!! I now look forward to the weekend when on Sunday I am hoping to go scuba diving with Maria and some of her friends..!! She has also told me about some more cocktail bars we should try – oh dear… maybe we have started something….!!
I initially awoke v early this morning but was able to snooze for a little longer. Then finally pulled back the curtains to see what sort of day it was… Hurrah very sunny with clear blue skies although a little windy!
A pleasant leisurely breakfast followed by a few things I had to do and I was then setting off for the bus to Estepona…
The bus ride was ‘interesting’ with the bus driver trying to drive up a road which was obviously closed (he ahd to move the cones to drive up there!!) He began to drive then a passenger shouted ‘Cerrarda’ (Closed) meaning the road… therefore the bus driver had to reverse back down what was essentially a slip road (perhaps I should mention this was a large bendy bus as well making it a double difficult feat..!). Having missed a bus I was a bit late getting to Estepona to meet Maria. However she was waiting patiently for me at the bus station.
We headed to a typical Spanish town in the mountains of Spain called ‘Casara’, which was fabulous. The journey made all the more adventurous as her new car kept telling her that she needed petrol and so was very worried on our journey in the mountains that she would run out of petrol (we didn’t thought just to reassure you!!). Casara is typically Spanish in that the houses have characteristically white washed walls with orange roofs set in the beautiful mountains with the added bonus that you can see right down the valley to the sea.
As we got out of the car, there was the sound of music as a Spanish wind band was playing traditional Spanish music (Eg pasa doble) and some popular music for Andalucia Day as part of the towns celebrations. We then began our walk down the mountain side to the village (a lot easier going down than coming back up I hasten to add!!). The village was lovely lots of winding narrow streets and houses carved into the mountain and tucked behind narrow streets. There are a lot of Arabic influences in this area (Andalucia) as the arabs once lived in this area. We walked into the Plaza (where the band were playing) then up to the Castillo (Castle) which is the remains of a castle with great views, here they are renovating a church which stands next to the castle remains.
From here we returned to the car and prayed as we went back down the mountain that there would be a petrol station on our return to Estepona…!! We made it back without problem and I realised how cheap the petrol is here in comparison to UK as it is only approx 1.1euro although apparently in Ceuta (Spanish town in Africa) it is only 0.80 euro!!
We went back to Maria’s lovely flat where she cooked us a traditional Spanish potato tortilla (like omelette) for lunch with salad followed by pineapple accompanied with some wine..! Not sure I will manage the same when I cook for her in cookery session with the residents next week..!! We sat on the terrace in lovely sunshine and warm weather (apparently unusual for this time of year) chatting together. I also managed to practice my bad Spanish with her husband when he got back from work (am sure it was the last thing he needed!!). I showed Maria some diving photos from my diving experiences and we chatted easily about holidays and life in general.
By late afternoon her dog (Pongo) who is lovely needed another walk so we headed to the beach for a walk. After a wander along the beach we were in need of refreshment and so wandered into a cocktail bar enjoyed a Mohito before returning to the bus station and my journey back to Puerto Banus.
What a civilised and fabulous way to spend a day off….!! I now look forward to the weekend when on Sunday I am hoping to go scuba diving with Maria and some of her friends..!! She has also told me about some more cocktail bars we should try – oh dear… maybe we have started something….!!
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