Farewell Casa Bliss - time to move on

Casa Bliss beautiful at night from the pool

As January came to an end, we had decided it was time to move on from Alora and

explore other parts of Spain before we move across into Portugal and start heading north.

Our bedroom for the past
three months

Our living area

       

Lovely Alora from Casa Bliss

Our last week at Casa Bliss saw Bill complete the last few jobs Rosie had on her list (and some she crammed in at the end when she realised we were about to leave). We think Rosie was very happy with our work (she gave us a glowing review on HelpX) and we were actually sad to say good bye as after three & half months of living near each other you do get rather fond of each other. Good luck Rosie, hope your place sells soon and you can move back to London.

Bill was very lucky to share
some of Mel & Bev's son's
wedding cake
(Not to say anything on the
fact that this cake had been
shared with one who may
become our future King!)

We also celebrated Bills birthday in our last week, along with Mel,  Bev & Frank and Rosie on a lovely afternoon out on the front patio. Our one and only time we socialised with Rosie, it was great listening to her yarns. Pity we didn't do more of it Rosie!
Just to clarify som mis-information - Bill is now the same age as
myself!

Frank eyeing up the
competition in the garden

               

Our last evening with M&B
looking through Rosies photo's of the
beginning of Casa Bliss
(The Ruins)

We really enjoyed our first job through the HelpX web site, and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to travel. It is great to have excellent accommodation, some food and get a chance to see the local area without rushing. We were lucky finding Rosie and being able to spend the worst of winter in southern Spain - hardly winter really. Just hope our next host is as wonderful.
Also meeting Mel & Bev and doing the local sights with them was fun and pushed us to see the last few sights we hadn't had time to do prior.
 We have organised our next HelpX site in Seville, only for two weeks before moving onto Portugal.

Finally got to the English Bar
by Alora's Railway station
Bill not playing the game for a
photo shot!

But first the lovely city of Granada. We are heading off there for a few days before going to Seville at the end of the week.
 So watch this blog for the update.

A mountain (El Torcal), a gorge (El Chorro) and caves (Ardales) and a little bit of Rock Porn

Sheryl Dwarfed by Ancient Eroding SeaBed

It has been a few busy weeks since our return from up north, doing some great trips that are iconic in this part of the world.
El Torcal

Similar to Punakaiki

On an earlier trip, Bill and I had seen the turn off to the National Park of El Torcal which is a karst upthrust bursting into a mountain top, but didn't have time to visit. So on a perfect day we drove up there and did the walkway through the rock formations, with amazing views out over the valleys that ran out from the mountain.
El Torcal Park Nature Reserve is known for it's unusual limestone rock formations.  Within El Torcal Park's 17 square km are some of the most beautiful and impressive

There's Injuns in these hills!

limestone landscapes in Europe. The whole area was under sea until one hundred million years ago. Then the violent movements of the Earth's crust forced it upward into hills and mountains up to 1.300 m, the limestone still kept its layered horizontal formation. Because of this, over the millions of years the rain and wind have been able to chisel away at these layers to form incredible shapes.
The site is well worth its status of a national reserve. It has it own peculiar native

Suckling Ibex not on the
menu

fauna and we were lucky to have got close to Iberian Ibex (mountain goats). We didn't get to see any foxes or snakes, but the natural attractions were ample reward.
Over the years the park has been the scene for many movies not surprisingly mostly westerns.
We were happy to find a cafe at the car park, which was perfect after our walk to sit and enjoy the views from the warmth inside

Spot Sheryl. 

El chorro
This is a gorge that we didn't know existed till some time after arriving and bit by bit we became aware of its magnificence and significance.
Dubbed “one of the world’s scariest hikes”, the walkway attached to the steep walls of the El Chorro gorge reopened to the public last  March after a €2.7m refurbishment. Built at the turn of the 20th century to give workers access to two hydroelectric plants, the path – also known’s as the King’s Little Pathway – was closed in 2000, for more than a decade, after a number of people died attempting to cross it.

Not a dull minute

The dangerously worn-out path earned a reputation though as thrill-seekers ignored the closure and dared the crossing, despite a maximum fine of €6,000 for trespassers.
There are two extremely narrow sections at each end of the gorge with a wider bowl in between. In addition to the new walkway a railway line runs through the gorge in a set of several tunnels, bridges and dams cutting through the gorge. The railway and sections of the Caminito were used in the final location shots of the 1965

Bridge to the railway. Not used so much now.

adventure film Von Ryan's Express.
Needless to say Sheryl neither shared my enthusiasm for or desire to complete the walk.
The tickets which are free for this first year were carefully managed so as not to be sold on to 3rd party's and as such were managed by a select few restaurants and other concerned groups which they trade for custom. This proved quite difficult to manage on our part but tickets were eventually obtained for our party of 5, taking us several days to organise (requiring passport number / birth date and full name, which ends up on each

Waiting for a train to come
through.

person's pass) so you can't just turn up and walk the trail or pass them on.
Numbers are also strictly managed and you have a date and time  allocated, if you miss or the track is closed due to bad weather, well bad luck, you will be slotted in when the next vacancy exists which at this time of year may only be a few days, but over the summer months could be many days or weeks!!The ticketing is to be revised this year now that the "powers that be" have a feel for demand and the infrastructure required to make this

New and old Walkways

very popular draw card work for the community.The local papers have been reporting an excellent upturn in the tourist trade for the whole area, so bodes well for keeping this part of Spain on the tourist map, not just for the serious rock climbers.This ticked all the boxes and as extreme as it may look, it was absolutely safe and not difficult in any sense unless you are sensitive to heights. That and the constantly circling vultures(true) did not put the punters of.

Nearly out. 100m above river.

I was accompanied on this trip with our new friends Mel & Bev who were staying at Casa Bliss, and their friends Nolene & Mick who turned up for a few days. Sheryl stayed home and minded Frank the Tibetan. Between us we amassed over 300 photos which after extensive culling have now reduced to a mere 259 to show you all on our return. Know you are all excited!!


Ardales Caves

Stunning Formations
Notice the calcified soot now embedded.

These ancient caves rediscovered in 1821 long after after neolithic man had done his thing and moved on. They were bought by a socialite, a lady who made access, carving steps and levelling floor areas for dances, concerts and parties  etc, quite oblivious to the much earlier neolithic presence. Any way they soon  fell into disuse and were largely forgotten, then in 1921 a scientist did a exploration and realised its significance but again little was done until 1990 when extensive exploration was undertaken and a history is still being established & exploration continues. Again numbers are pegged being limited at 1000 per year and 15 per tour as it is tight, also needing the art to be interpreted to see any thing. There was no English spoken on tour which was a shame as the guide had a lot to say for the 90mins underground and the hour at the interpretation centre.

Animal scratched into rock

Thankfully this did have a fair amount of written English which set Mel and myself up with enough info to make the trip interesting. We did see some of the art, but if it had not been pointed out in some detail you wouldn't see it, also much of it is inaccessible to easily view.
The caves have been extensively lit by fire over many years in prehistory and this soot has slowly washed down over the limestone formations and is now locked in under a layers of limestone making for many black shapes & in some cases obliterating the art.

First ever Porn??

The cave contains paintings and impressions of 56 animals from the Solutrean age (20,000 BC), an important Neolithic site (3,800 BC) and several Copper Age burial sites (2,700 BC).  The photos here are lifted from the web and are images we did see. Incredible really, but as man and neo man has been hanging round the Iberian peninsula for 500,000yrs the record of his occupation is scant, and any sign of this presence is much prized. .
It is not possible to enter the cave unaccompanied, too many people have got lost.  It measures a kilometre and a half in length inside, and there are various sections known as the Salas (or rooms in Spanish).  There are columned tunnels, lakes?? and massive stalactites and stalagmites all round.

This was made as shown
in the following drawing,

Mel and I enjoyed the experience, for me just in having stood in space that man had trodden so long ago and left his mark for what ever reason??
Mel is convinced that the negative hand images are nothing more than Neolithic mans attempt at hand puppertery, something we all do when bored and in possession of a torch or in their case an oil lamp.  He is so convinced of this that he is considering a 10,000 word thesis "Hand Puppetery 101 How Neolithic Man started it all" , against the prevailing experts lined up on this subject, and.... he may well be on to something, indeed I may assist him and let him publish on this very Blog.. Watch

But Why?

this space!!
The language barrier was irksome but one i can live with as I will live with the memory of these caves.

Exploring Locally

The Moorish Castle of Alora

We returned to Alora's welcome climate after our Christmas break and settled back in  for a few days before we explored a nearby whitewashed village (Pueblo Blanco),

Not really wheelchair friendly

which is "a typical" with steep narrow, often cobbled, streets, prolific use of tiles on walls & paths, stray dogs, laden orange trees lining public spaces, difficult parking,
and friendly locals always ready to return a smile
and greeting. So different from home in so many ways.

Trees laden with oranges
line the Plazas

 The villages here since time immemorial, before cars, wheel chairs, electricity ,covered sewers, before old age was normal, life isn't a pampered existent as we can expect in NZ. We would not choose to live here!!
Ardales was the village, and its interest was it's proximity to lakes & reservoirs forming a water control project to protect downstream areas historically prone to flooding, and to supply good constant water to Malaga. It includes a gorge that I hope to walk soon, El Chorro, which will feature in the blog soon as we are able to gain

El Chorro walkway

access via a very difficult ticketing system controlling numbers. We drove home from Ardales through this area to return to Casa Bliss and I was excited to see the gorge disappearing into the cliff side. Sheryl didn't share my excitement on this occasion!!!
We had a light meal at a restorante in Ardales by the lake as it was a sunny cool day and we were both treated to a meal not enjoyed, and as you have heard me say on rare occasions ...."Disappointing" with a capital D! The dishes may well have been a local delicacy but were definitely"not to our liking". Uuuuuggghhhhh!! Country Soup - how can that be made so bad, think it was warm lard with green peppers best returned to the compost, sea food soup from the local harbour & shipyard and followed with bread garlic and bacon vitamised and doused in oil to form something akin to quicksand that nearly sucked us down down down..........all saved only by an engaging red wine.

New friends Mel & Bev at Mirador

At Casa Bliss we welcomed English clients staying a month, Mel, Bev & Frank the Tibetan Terrier. Our host Rosie is still in the UK with her family so we assumed the mantle of  locals and were able to guide our "guests", introducing them to some of the spots we deemed worth a second look, also taking the initiative to explore new areas in the company of fast evolving friends.
M,B&F are similar to us in many respects (age, like of walking & drinking a wine or two) so it proved a welcome interruption to our labours here and an excuse to do some excursions whilst swapping tales of far flung adventure. They resigned from their jobs last year to work at motor camps in the UK and this is a serious vocation with hundreds of camps and many hundreds of staff employed to cater to a large camping fraternity. Generally they are employed on a 9 month contract then have 3 months off, or can elect to work back to back contracts, but with one day off a week they look forward to their holidays.

View out over Alora from top of  El Hacho

Our first outing was a pleasant walk to El Mirador  (as previously featured in these chronicles) to spend a convivial afternoon eating and drinking with only a hint of a stagger, walking the 3kms home in the early evening, soaking up the character of the small streets of our local Peublo Blanco, its stray dogs, and its views of Alora & the Castle.
A more energetic foray followed 2 days later as we walked up the hill which stands over Alora, this was a scenic gentle ascent up, often on formed roads providing many photo opportunities of the expansive panoramic valley we reside in.

Toxic caterpillars on the track

Interestingly and concerning for M&B were thousands of hatching caterpillars from the trees and forming files to cross the roads and tracks, (did they think they were chickens ??) but apparently are a real hazard to dogs, they could be fatal if ingested with no known cure!! However as befitting the Tibetan Terrier, Frank was neither "boffered" nor interested in their slow march, causing little concern to Frank's guardians.
My Spanish dentist was again on the list for a visit (7th) and our friends also came for the outing to Fuengirola, introducing them to the great train service and all that the seaside resort has to offer, even if Frank was banned from the Plaza Mayor shopping precinct on the return journey, never mind, another beer was had whilst waiting for the girls to return from their shopping jaunt between trains. Private security is

Bill & Frank, his Tibetan friend
Minding each other 

employed by all shops and public places. The train company also has many security staff constantly and randomly travelling on trains and at stations. One doesn't see much trouble so one assumes this is why!!. They all carry batons or night sticks, hand cuffs, are wired, and are generally helpful and friendly enough though you see the occasional hyped neanderthal the uniform struggles to contain. The police are low profile and there is a culture of  ''don't attract their attention'', however with the EU striving to lift standards there are glimmers of hope, the police we see not looking so much like the "local dealer" these days.

Ronda from the Old Town 

Next on our list was the town of Ronda. This is a must do if you get over this way, it is interesting on many levels the least not being its stunning position in relation to the small river running  at its feet. Of course it was strategic to all and sundry who have ever occupied this ancient town dating back into prehistory.  It was made virtually impregnable by the Romans to hordes or armies, but was none the less, over run by all challengers  (as "virtually impregnable" doesn't mean "impregnable") and  occupied till the next conquerors came by. Ronda has a rich history of Neolithic's, Celts, Phoenicians,

The walls giving a base to Ronda

Romans, Moors, & now in contemporary times, intrinsically RC Christian if we can say that about present day Espanol and its inhabitants and its politics. Catholic Spain wrested control of the country back from the Moors in the 14th Cent. We are continually enlightened in how Europe was in the grips of the the RC church and the wars waged over two millennia to hold, convert, to acquire any one and everything, in the name of God. The Moors also with their intractable Muslim ideology proving a real flash point in Spain. Has anything really changed in the world today!

Ronda - looking out over the gorge

Ronda is inland and stands at a height of 2500ft, so is cool, but we had a stunning day walking the streets and taking a zillion photos. Went for a horse & buggy ride around

the "Old Town". Enjoyed a nice meal where we weren't disappointed. This town has

Animals still have the run of
parts of Ronda   

been oft visited by a long list of notables over the years, including Orson Wells and Hemingway being attracted to its romantic allure.
Mean while back in Alora we have been enjoying some local fare and walks with our new friends and looking forward to more fun and adventure as the month unfolds.

A comfortable way to travel around Ronda

A Perfect Swiss Christmas, but no snow.

Christmas celebrations start at church with a
 Nativity Play and Mass 

Sursee for Christmas was a lovely international affair  with lots of family made up of Kiwi's / Swiss & Italian.

Delicious Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas Eve was the Swiss Christmas celebrations at Amanda & Rico's, with their two children (Luna & Caio), Rico's Mum & sister, and three of Rico's Italian cousins. We attended a church service before our dinner, where Luna was involved in the Christmas Nativity. Luckily Bill and I already new the story as it was all conducted in Swiss-German, including the Christmas Hymn's. We could at least hum to them as we knew the tunes.
On returning to the house, Christmas presents had been delivered by "Christchlindli" (Christ-Child is the traditional gift-bringer in Switzerland & other European countries on Christmas Eve encouraged by Martin Luther in the 16th century to discourage the figure of Saint Nicholas - Santa Claus) while we were out! So lots of excitement with presents being opened, we all did well. Then we had a delicious evening of various fish courses, deserts and of course wonderful wines. A perfect start to Christmas.
With the Petrillo household being Kiwi as well as Swiss, Santa made an appearance sometime through the night delivering more presents! How wonderful for Luna and Caio to enjoy both cultures festivities and still young enough to accept them without query. Makes it all the more fun for us adults.

Bill & Rico with manual for Lego
Note: not a child in sight!

Christmas day started with a champagne breakfast, moved onto Rico's parents home to celebrate Christmas the Swiss-German way with a lot more Swiss families of Uncle, Aunts, Cousins and friends. Sadly Rico's father, Beniamino, had passed away at the beginning of November, so this first Christmas without him was felt by all family & friends. At 69 far too young. All the more reason to make the most of life, and get out there and enjoy!
There was more eating of traditional Christmas fare. Great to experience another cultures celebration of Christmas when we were so far from our own children and families. We were made very welcome and part of the extended family.

Lovely walk in the woods
Luna almost looking me in the eye

Thankfully Bill & I could walk the hour home afterwards to work off some of the festive food.

We found a little Fairy Grotto

Unfortunately the snow never eventuated for Christmas, or at all while we were in Switzerland, but we had beautiful, mostly clear frosty days, temperatures down as low as 1 or 2 degrees, below on a couple of days. Truly beautiful! And as you dress for the weather there and the homes are so well insulated and heated, you don't mind the cold when the days are so perfect. Except you do need an extra ten minutes to get ready to get all the gear on :)

Break time on a walk in the woods

We had lots of lovely walks through the woods near Amanda & Rico's. The surrounding hills are farm land where the villages  exist, and with no fences, the land is very picturesque as you can see in the photo's. Pity NZ wasn't more like this, but we didn't see a lot of live stock so quite different to NZ in that aspect, and a reason they can exist like this. One of our walks was to Rico's Grandmother in the nearby village of Nebikon that should have taken two hours, but took us three with two children "whingeing" as Luna told us her & Caio sometimes did. She told Bill & I the story of another walk they did "that took six hours, with whingeing more"

View from Klewenalp inside cable car

We had a perfect day up on Klewenalp, approx 1200m above Lake Lucerne. Only problem of the day was that Cable Cars were the only mode of transport to get up and back down the Alp. Cable Cars are so numerous on the Alps which make up

Switzerland so no one thinks anything of them except me! We got into the large cage/carriage to go up and they just kept squeezing more and more into it before it departed. I was wedged right in the middle with my eyes shut all the way, not that I could have seen a thing if I had opened them. As I am writing this blog, you will now be aware we did make it and back quite safely!
Once at the top, it was very picturesque (one can't over use that word in Switzerland),

A little bit of Hop Federation on the Alp

and although the majority of people in our group were disappointed in the lack of

snow, there was sufficient for children & adults to have fun on the sledges we had taken up with us.
Once back down, we called into some Irish friends of A&R who now live there and celebrated Christmas in the Irish/English/Swiss way with a drink or two before returning back to Sursee where we stopped in at Rico's Mum's for a Raclette Cheese evening. This was a new experience for us and quite different to a Fondue evening, in that meat is cooked on

the top plate of a small cooker you put in the middle of the table, and grill "Raclette" cheese under the grill below the hot plate. You then pour the melted yummy cheese over tasty new potatoes (previously cooked) and the meat.
Delicious! God knows what Bill's cholesterol level will be by the time we return to NZ!
We had an afternoon in the woods cooking sausages, Bill in his element over the smoky fire. It is traditional in Switzerland that all Swiss kids get given pocket knives (Swiss knives of course) at some point, and having just had

Bill happy with smokey sausages

Christmas, all four children with us were whittling all afternoon. And I'm pleased to say no one lost a finger or were injured in anyway :) Our sausages in bread were accompanied with a cup of hot Gluhwein (mulled wine). Perfect!

Luna & Caio whittling away

A&R managed to get a day's pampering at a Day Spa while Bill & I looked after the kids - no one got hurt or cried, so I think we did well :) Our kids, should you ever get around to reading our blog, that is not an encouragement to have grandchildren just yet. But we did enjoy our time with Luna & Caio and seeing the world through their eyes.

View out over the fields on our walk to Nebikon

We saw the New Year in with A&R, Rico's mum, and a lovely Swiss/South African couple (Daniel & Jenny) with their young sons Olli & Thomas. The game of pictionary kept us all awake till midnight, just sad the men lost! Oops did I write that!
New Years day was a nice relaxed one, with a forest walk in the morning, and then a walk into town in the afternoon to have a lovely meal with Swiss couple Chris & Sabina & their two boys Noah & Jan, in their new home. Best lamb we have ever eaten& it wasn't NZ lamb !!!. Cooked to absolute  perfection, thankyou  Chris & Sabina.
Their home was being built when we were there back in June, so it was nice to see the finished home. Bill is very impressed with the building materials and designs that

Perfect shelter to keep firewood dry

the Swiss put into their homes. The high density buildings that have to be built in order to accommodate large populations in small villages are amazing in design. This home was one of four units, three floors high. A common basement takes all the

Another perfect frosty day in Sursee

vehicles, bikes, gear that most have in garages, plus more storage. And then you head up into each separate home which are built up over this basement area, giving large lawn areas out the front of each home. They end up quite separate to each other, great design, huge homes on less land that would be required back in NZ.
The next day it was time to return to Spain, only a 2.5hr flight from Zurich. We had a wonderful stay Amanda & Rico, thank you for so many new experiences of other cultures.

Green - Flight Malaga to Copenhagen
Blue - Nightmare overnight train to Sursee
Pink - Flight Zurich to Malaga, back in Spain