Casa Bliss Week 5&6 -Work, sight seeing & a trip to the Dentist

Fuengirola - reminded us of the Nelson sculpture

Six weeks have flown since arriving at Casa Bliss. We have kept ourselves busy with further maintenance around the property. The days are certainly shorter as we quickly head toward the shortest day in December.

New gummies first outing
Oiling the flagstones

Our days start around 10 when the sun is up and over the hill, and we normally finish up before 5 so we can enjoy a drink before the sun sets. The temperatures are still in the 20's during the days, lovely blue skies, but definitely cooling down at night - we have started wearing track pants in the evenings, but still in our shorts during the day.

Trying to keep up with the weeds!

Rosie, our host, talked to Bill about the benefits of the dentist she goes to at Fuengirola, an hour and a half away by train. Fuengirola is a lovely seaside town, with a lot of English tourists, and English operators in some of the businesses.  The biggest benefit being the cost, and as we haven't stayed anywhere long enough for Bill to get his dental work done, now seemed a good time while we are based here. So last week we caught the train through to Fuengirola for the day.

Fuengirola groomed beach - 5 km long

We left home on our bikes at 7.30am, just as it was getting light. It was a bit of a shock as it was only 5 degrees and we were still in shorts and sandals. My poor toes and fingers almost dropped off. At least the carriages were heated.

Locals find the winter cold
while tourists sunbath

Bill had his consultation with the dentist and made an appointment for the following week to get a root canal done that had luckily so far given him very little grief, which was to be followed up by a crown.
Tuesdays are market day, and it is a large one they host in the township, so we spent the next couple of hours walking around them. I managed to get another handbag (one can never have too many handbags!) and a jersey for these cooler evenings. Bill's saving all his money for his teeth!!

Novel BBQ outside a
restaurant

We then wandered along the beach looking for somewhere to eat - and what do we do in Spain! Find an Italian restaurant and had a lovely pasta meal. Delicious :)
Lots of English tourists were wandering along the beach front in shorts & T-shirts. There were still sun loungers set up along the beach, where some brave soles were sunbathing in bikini's. I only got the photo of the poor guy who puts the loungers out, as he was working with his hoody on right beside the sunbathers. He must think the English are mad!

BBQ Pits on the beach -
Other BBQ's forbidden  

It was a lovely groomed beach, no sign of the usual rubbish that has been littering the beaches here in Spain, tourism must still be big at this time of the year. We walked as far south as the Castillo Sohail castle, built in 956AD and renovated in 2000 so it is now a useful cultural and tourist event centre. Unfortunately it wasn't open for us to look through at the time of day we arrived. Hopefully another day we will make it.

By the time we walked back to the train station, it was after 5 and got back to Alora Station at 7.30pm and pitch black. Well almost, thankfully there was a full moon and

with our high vis vests, motorists were able to spot us without running us down. Once again my toes and fingers froze on the ride home, but at least my new jersey had a scarf that kept my head warm.
We have been able to get out and check a couple of local sights such as the restaurant

View across to Alora from the Mirador Cafe

(The Mirador) up the road on top of a hill with a drive way steeper than our Nelson one. We left our bikes at the bottom as it would have been too hard to push them up, when it wasn't necessary. Had a lovely pizza with local wine while looking out across to Alora. And we had the day in Coin with Rosie lending her car, so we could have a look around another white washed town  tucked into the hills about 40 minutes away. We had a disappointing lunch there, but the setting was lovely. I love the Plaza's (Squares)  that all the towns have where the locals get together to meet up. Coin, like

The main Plaza in Coin

many other Spanish towns, was ruled by the Moors, before the Christians took it back in the 1400's, so has lots of narrow streets making up the towns heart, which are wonderful to walk through as they are too narrow for traffic.
Although the temps are cold at night, we did manage a quick swim a week ago in the pool that has been repaired and filled once again. Like I say a quick one

Lovely narrow streets of Coin

length of the pool was enough before hypothermia kicked in. The plants and shrubs all look so healthy here, like in spring flush, but of course its autumn ( next week being winter). With the rains that we had when we first arrived and very little since but lots of sun, grass and weeds are flourishing. But it has been ideal conditions for me to get on with painting and Bill creating a new patio area where Rosie said the grass dies over summer

Bill in safety footwear
(You thought he would have learnt)

when it is too hot for it to survive. He has been waiting on the installation of a window above the kitchen he has been renovating, so he can then complete it. Hopefully early next week.

Finished patio area

With less than a month to go till Christmas we have been making plans for a Swiss Christmas this year with my lovely Niece and her family in Sursee. Amanda has promised me a white one, so hope she can organise that for me :) We also have friends in Copenhagen to see on our way through, so will fly up to Denmark for 4 days and then train down to Switzerland. Hopefully it should be a fun one with Amanda & Rico's 9 and 6 year olds getting into the Christmas spirit

Hard to beat a cook up on the
BBQ  for lunch

like our kids use to till they ruined it by asking the "is he real?" question as they look you directly in the eye! Just hope we have enough warm clothing. Ah well if not, guess we will have to buy some.

Casa Bliss - Week 4 - The Rock and Relish with a touch of Vegemite

At last - Vegemite / Marmite
Cream Honey & Relishes

We need Vegemite!
Tomatoes on toast just don't cut the mustard with out Vegemite or indeed Marmite.
Its been over 3 months now.
Gibraltar seemed the only option and surprise surprise!! its only 1 .5hrs drive away, so on our way we went.
The Poms with a quick eye for a good spot, if history records it correctly, were just sailing around filling in time after a failed campaign elsewhere, spotted the Rock under the rule of the Spanish (who had only recently wrested it back from the Moors) and said "We'll ave that" and "got it" they did, much to the annoyance of the Spanish to this day.

The Rock of Gibraltar
The Cloudmaker

The weather was obviously a major selling point for the English as the Rock, sticking out in the middle of the sea, creates with the prevailing easterly wind  a perfect cloud,  producing its own gloomy weather shielding the town from the sun. "Home sweet home"

Looking back into Spain from Gibraltar
The runway dividing the two countries 

The Rock is certainly a place not to be missed with a population of 33000 a very compact mini England sporting many reminders of home, and an abundant supply of eager workers from across the border to do all the work, much to the Spanish Governments chagrin.The large service community crosses the frontier daily to service the five million annual tourist throng, getting special passes etc but it wasn't beyond the Spanish G to make this hard on their "own" causing return queues of up to 6 hours this last summer in a stated effort to reduce cigarette smuggling.

Southern most tip looking at the Mosque
A reminder of it's Islamic past.

{According to figures from Spanish government officials, the amount of tobacco brought into Gibraltar has continued to rise in recent years, from 110m packs of cigarettes in 2012 to 117m packs in 2013. The figures, they argue, are excessive for the 30,000 or so inhabitants of Gibraltar. "Every resident of Gibraltar, including children who are nursing, would have to smoke nine packs of cigarettes each day," one government source said.} (Lifted that from a wiki report on the border hold ups)
It probably should be noted the Poms are selling the cheapest cigs in Europe here, cheaper than at home in Old Blighty, and would seem that much of it goes across the border with the daily commute of Spanish workers. Go figure!!!

The cycleway each day to Gibraltar

Any way its a very niggly relationship at the border with both sides having complained to the EU on many occasions. Thankfully the border was smooth while we were there with only a cursory nod from both sides as we crossed. On the 3 occasions, the British always looking at passports but the Spanish not the least bit interested!!.
The Hispanic residents of Gib.born there of Spanish parents who have been able to get residency, are well looked after by Her Majesties Government. With free schooling including Uni back in GB plus airfares, free health and a housing deal to good to be true. We were led to believe this is also a niggle for the Spanish Powers

Barbary Apes -Mum & baby

The Rock is full of siege and warfare stories, its one of those places packed solid with history but in truth not a lot of bricks and mortar dating back too far, the oldest bits (an old Moorish Castle) dating back to 711 but little else remaining of any real vintage.
But is has tunnels and caves ,always guaranteed to perk a males interest. The caves are......well caveish and St. Michael's Cave ......big.......well biggish. The tunnels have a combined length over 35 miles which is more than the Rocks roading network. These two things effectively turning the Rock into a giant lump of Swiss Cheese

St Michael's Cave where concerts are held

The island being so limited space wise, there are cars parked up every where. Some have been for a very long time, I'm guessing not easy to dispose of and am sure Spain not being overly cooperative in helping to dispose of the highly subsided cars being shipped in.!!!! Water has been a constant issue, alleviated by huge power hungry desalination plants, yes this outpost of Britain, cost the taxpayer dearly unless you are one of the lucky few who live there.
The airport is on the isthmus at the frontier and due to space the main road crosses the runway, but with only a few flights daily it is lived with albeit the manpower required to police this is huge. A quick count of 10 police at any one time patrolling there to close the road etc. this is right on the border so its all very serious stuff. Police, pistols, machine guns, fast cars and not many smiles:(
Over the frontier back into Spain, it is almost 3rd world poor. The Spanish have tried to cash in with the 5 million tourists visits a year as a huge lot do come over the border. With flying in and lots of cruise ships, they have put huge parking areas and big retail precincts but sadly tourists don't stop, the local retailers must tear their hair out, many kiosks and stores showing signs of never having been occupied.

Our lovely anniversary lunch

We spent 3 days nosing round The Rock. Filling in our first day with a relaxed amble through the High street sporting duty free shops for liquor cigs and electronics. To be honest we did not think any thing was cheap except the ciggys, so didn't do any thing for us, but a lovely lunch was found on the marina for our 31st Anniversary. Fairly quiet that end of town, well suited for us. We went on back to camp via the supermarket (an English franchise) and picked up some supplies that could be carried, again not overly economical.

The newly developed Marina

We were domiciled in a camp 20 mins bike ride from Gibraltar as the island is so tight there is no camp and indeed camper vans are not permitted. After day one we were thankful for this as the place is far busier than such a small area should be. The next day saw us back again and taking a 90min taxi tour of the major attractions. This is the most popular method of seeing the area. We saw the Monkeys, the caves and the tunnels plus spectacular views, which freaked S out a bit as the Rock at the top is a razorback and not suited to those of S's disposition. It was also neat to look over to North Africa where you can visit easily from Gib or Spain as there are two cities/ports occupied by Spain, for historical reasons, much to the Africans Chagrin, sound familiar????

Not quite sure whats in here!!

Our final day we skirted town proper and nosied round the water front, on our bikes to the southern most point or Europa Point again with views of Africa and bristling with WW2 gun emplacements and some pre WW1 cannon which was all to our liking. Again, steeped in history.
All in all a nice few days safely away from the sun but worth a visit and of course we got vegemite and marmite.
Roll on breakfast.
Life is good.

Casa Bliss Week 3 - Finding Jesus

Out the front of our cottage
Another beautiful evening with Bill telling me one of his stories!

Three weeks have slipped Blissfully past as we are surely getting Casa Bliss into a saleable condition or simply ready for next season. Our days are as busy as we deem fit but usually a leisurely start at 10ish then stopping at 5ish to catch a wine in the evening sun, often our main meal being a late lunch with a chapter of our books. Am enjoying reading again and with Micheal Kings History of NZ on my tablet is proving informative about our own country as we try to get our head around this one....
If I mentioned the barking dogs at Montemiletto well the dogs here are dynamite.

Hmmmm not really sure!

There are stray dogs wandering at all times (thankfully mostly smaller breeds and non threatening). Many are semi cared for by locals, they remain tied up but alone all day and night and when one starts howling the whole district just lights up with incessant barking which can and does happen randomly at all hours, thank goodness our double glazing alleviates much of the nocturnal noise. The mad English man up the road with 11 cats and 24 dogs at home feeds another 12 strays locally,(the cats have there own room he told me),it seems he gets some funding to be able to afford this through an animal welfare group which also funds some neutering. Needless to say the streets in town need to be consistently watched for "packages".
Water also is an issue. The area is reticulated but many locals rurally and in town seem to still get water, presumably for drinking, from the many public taps which we assume is not the reticulated supply but from springs?? The reticulated water is chlorinated but soapy almost salty. Not overly pleasant. The preponderance of water sold at the supermarket is uncarbonated water but in Italy carbonated was more popular. We buy 5L  container for 50  or 60 euro cents (double that for NZ dollars). and carbonated (which S seems to have developed a taste for) at about 40 c for 1.5 L which is about twice what we paid in Italy.

The flowers have all perked up after the rains

Arriving here and as we commented earlier, the country was certainly brown and arid and had been since the spring rains not eventuating, portending a poor olive harvest later, but the autumn rains, which we have seen, have transformed the country, with the green literally coming up overnight. The flowers particularly Bougainvillea wild on the road sides are stunning. All the barren paddocks now green with grass changes the countryside. More like Springs flush!
The road here from the "main" road of 1200 meters is a good example of regional politics. It urgently needs work and if it rains again heavily  (likely over  winter) it will disappear into the down hill neighbours.This wont be addressed, it seems, till it actually happens and locals often will get work done to improve their own situation as there is no money or the will from council to help. The road is a mix of tar seal, bitumen, and concrete. According to our host the road outside your place etc depends on your connections. Only the Spanish appear to have concrete and culverts.....
Olive harvest is starting and buy all accounts will go through till march but not sure if they hit the same tree later as there is some fruit left on after the initial harvest.
Its a matter of "sacudiendo la mierda del arbol" and making sure the tarpaulin is well placed to receive the crop as it is thrashed off the tree. Each tree yielding  12 -15 kilos and this then realising 1 or 2 litres of oil, is a labour of love often, however it appears with last season being poor as also this years production, that prices may be good for the growers, not so good for the consumer. We are looking forward to getting the real oil whilst here, being in the heart of the largest olive oil producing area in the world. (yes that surprised us as well). It seems that most of the export oil here is shipped directly to Italy relabelled, often remixed then on sold for a good margin. The loose talk is the Spanish don't market as well as they could or should and as such lose some of the value!!!to be picked up by the savvy Italians.

Bill looking out over Pizarra - I wasn't going out there.

Every knoll, nob, hillock, or lookout through out Europe has a cross or religious shrine and so it came to pass that we took a walk up to Jesus, as S so aptly put it, a good walk up to the top of Monte Pizarra - a nice lookout over nearby Pizarra town, in our area here in Andalusia.

JC in the distance

Happy to report that the track proper was clean of rubbish, not so the picnic area at the start or indeed the roads here, once more being badly littered. The track I would liken to the Centre of NZ track in Nelson but 4 times the distance with a return walk time of 2 hrs but 3 hrs with sight seeing etc.  Jesus was being  well patronised this Sunday, all of us enjoying the wide views and balmy weather.

Sheryl and JC amongst the clouds
on the knob

Interesting as this place was under the Moors (Islam) for 7 centuries indeed them being largely responsible for the introduction of the domestic olive, citrus from the East and the water technology to sustain it in the dry times, but apart from some Moorish names and ruins little else remains in the Spanish Culture that we can detect.

Bill makes me go into places I am not happy about!

There are a few places to visit whilst here and later this week will head to Gibraltar to source some Vegemite (I do miss it, tomatoes on toast don't work without it) and look across the 27km  to Africa. Apparently you can often see refugees practising the sprint swim marathon (sorry in poor taste).  I would also like to do the El Chorro Gorge (note I said "I") not sure how its going to work as we need to source a ticket, (hens teeth) and then arrange transport......If you Google El Chorro you will see why Sheryl is not coming with me, however I understand the walkway is now uber safe but still high.
English not being such a popular language in Southern Spain, it's always intriguing how the locals get round the issue. Once you establish you don't speak or comprehend they will then speak huge volumes of more Spanish at you, I guess hoping that a miraculous intervention will help you understand. To date sadly this intervention has not manifested itself upon us and we are left none the wiser!!!!

Kiwi Cafe Pizarra
No English & no
clues from the waitress.

At least they don't do what we do and just repeat it louder then louder again!!!
There are many English expats here, and from the loose talk again, many don't return home often as it is always not that easy for them to do so for whatever reason!!!!Ronny Biggs comes to mind. There is certainly a cross section of English here. If not exactly a colonisation, it can smack of colonialism with the locals getting short shrift on occasion. But handy contacts were made at the local pub so I could borrow a grinder to cut tiles. He just happened to have one in his van!

Casa Bliss Week 2 - And the AB's won!

Rosie burning off a bit of vegetation
I told her next time to get marshmallows!

The second week has flown as fast as the first, and we are quite settled into our little cottage. Although it is Autumn, it feels like spring as we have had so much rain since we arrived ( after they had hardly anything all summer) and with it being warm

Part of the lovely gardens

(temps in the early 20's) the grass and weeds which weren't in sight on our arrival are now lush & so green. Bushes and shrubs have all perked up and flowering. Seems weird for Autumn!

Bill cleared out the old kitchen

Bill has been getting on with the kitchen in "Rose Cottage" as you can see by the photo's. We have a deadline of the 11th November when there are some people coming to look at the property. Rosie has had the property on the market for a wee bit but the Spanish property market has been a bit stagnant. Now all of a sudden, it has perked up and people are starting to look

Really getting into it now.

inland instead of just on the coast. So it will be lovely for Rosie if it does sell, but if not, she still has to have all the work we are doing done in preparation for next summer. And of course we don't want it to sell till after we move on of course!

Coming along

The pool has had an ongoing leak and needed some work done on it, so it had to be drained. What a job that was, but between Rosie and Bill playing with hoses, they got it emptied. Luckily it has been raining so I haven't felt like a swim, but it is supposed to be lovely for the next week. So I guess it will just be a shower by the pool after our days work! The guy is suppose to turn up next week.

Starting a new trend in footwear

I've been scrubbing patio areas, which don't get as bad as at home over the winters here, but still needed freshening up.
And continued with my trenches & gardening.

The lovely pool half empty.

We seem to start working around ten and finishing around five. There are no set or expected hours to do, but with the 11th November deadline, we will help to get as much done as we can, and then will probably head off for a week and check out the area a bit further afield. Lots of history in this part of the world too.

End of the day, enjoying the last hour of sun

Saturday we finished up by 3.30 and got Rosie to drop us off in Alora to watch the AB's in the final of the World Cup of course. We arrived in town by 4.30 (Kick off was 5pm local time) and Bill visited about ten bars ( all the ones we could find) & asked if they were going to have the RWC on, but no such luck in a small place where they are all football mad and a big game was on. Most of them didn't have a clue what rugby was! So we jumped into a taxi & headed back home, but decided to give our local bar

It's Olive harvest time - two men
collecting the olives in a mesh 

another go after letting us down the week before. And to our delight it was just about to start. So there was the two of us and one other Englishman, whom we joined so we didn't have to yell across the empty bar. He wasn't sure who he was going to support, but with our arrival, he joined us against Australia. And didn't we do well!!

Looking out over Alora

Sunday we decided to have the day off and go into Alora on our bikes (great thought when we left here but a bit of a mission getting up the hill for the last ten minutes. The only good thing was it was to be downhill most of the way home thankfully).

Bill wondering how he can build
a castle like this back home

We visited the ruins of the Moorish Castle built in the tenth century and walked along the hill tops back into town, by which time we were quite hungry. Managed to find a little bar with beer & food. How wonderful, before heading back home as the temperature had dropped and we had cooled down after our warm up coming up into the town. There were quite a few families out and about as it was "All Saints Day" which has been slowly hijacked by Halloween, and made Monday a Public Holiday.

Looking down through the streets of Alora
Across to where we are staying in the hills