Just back from a wonderful 6 days in Andalucia. I love this area and could happily live there tomorrow.
Because Madge is doing the epic cycle from Venice to Rome in 3 weeks, he needed to get some cycling in during the week so after we picked up our car and got to the hotel, we went out in search of the bike hire place. Turns out the combinaton of an unknown car, on unknown roads, on the wrong side is a hairy combination so it took us a few goes to find the place, but once we did they kitted him out with the bike, leaving him to ride back to the hotel and me to find my way in the car. Once we got back I was happy to park the car up and start the holiday!
We stayed for 2 nights in the NH hotel just outside Marbella, which is a nice basic hotel with a lovely pool and a good bar next door, perfect for watching the MotoGP in while eating tapas and drinking cava. The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
On Monday we got the bus into Marbella for a stroll around the old town and along the beach. We dipped our toes in the Med and had some lovely tapas.
We got the bus back, checked out and headed off to our villa, where we were staying for the next 4 days. We’ve been there before, so finding our way was easy and it was nice to go back to somewhere so lovely and so familiar.
We were straight into the pool, before heading out for dinner at Villa Padierna, a very nice hotel near by. On Tuesday Madge was up early for a cycle into the mountains, so I dropped him at San Luis de Sabinillas down the road and headed back to Puerto Banus for breakfast on my own.
It was lovely drinking cafe con leche and watching the world go by, and before I knew it it was time to leave to go and pick Madge back up. We had lunch back at the Villa Padierna and dinner out at our favourite Italian restaurant in Puerto Banus.
Wednesday was my Birthday and we had already made plans to spend it at the PuroBeach club in Estapona. We booked beach-facing pool beds and started the day with fresh fruit and water, followed by swimming in the sea, the pool and pre-lunch cocktails. We had a gorgeous lunch at Camuri and then spent the rest of the afternoon round the pool listening to the great music, drinking cocktails and snoozing, before heading home, getting dressed up and going out to La Sala. A brilliant Birthday.
The rest of the week flew by in a flash and before we knew it, it was Friday morning and time to leave to drop the bike off and head to the airport.
We finished our wonderful holiday with champagne at the airport, perfect end to a perfect trip.
