Mijas

Mijas Pueblo is a town in the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Located on the southeastern coast of Spain, It is a typical Andalusian white-washed village, located on a mountainside about 450 m or 1,476 ft. above sea level, in the heart of the Costa del Sol region. Mijas was founded in prehistoric times by the Tartessians. The remains of the fortification are still visible in parts of the present-day wall. Ancient Greeks and Phoenicians visited the village, attracted by the area's mineral wealth, as described in the Ptolemy’s Geography of the 2nd century. Today it is very popular with tourists and although it is blatantly commercial it has managed to maintain a special feeling of community and welcome.

I am not sure if there is some connection to Don Quixote, but we saw quite a few hints! I thought it was amazing that this suit of armour was so accessible to the public - especially because it has a real sword which is only held in place by a thin piece of wire!

This is a lovely courtyard in the museum. Entrance used to be free but now there is a charge - of 1 euro! It was money well spent and you could easily spend a couple of hours enjoying the cool rooms full of amazing artefacts. Photography is encouraged!!

Sunny Spain

We had ten lovely days in Benalmedina with Anne Wise - just like we did last year. Very impressed with how civilised it is. You arrive at Malaga, walk out - all on ground level - through security, across the carpark and into the station. 6 stops (about 25 minutes) for 2 euros, very clean air-conditioned train, (all subsidised by EU and me). Arrive at Benalmedina and walk downhill for about four blocks and then we are in the apartment. The complex has 7 3-storey blocks all done in a lovely Moorish style. Two pools and nice tiled walkways.

This is the less popular pool. We mostly had it to ourselves and started to call it "our" pool!

Before & After

This is the site of the old greenhouse - I will dig up an image of that sometime! The concrete base is cracked and un-even.

Thanks to my good friend Ken I got some decking and now it looks like this! I bought a reciprocating saw and my neighbour gave me a Black & Decker style workmate. I got all the cutting and fixing done in a day - mainly because I wasn't sure my back would last another day.

Very happy with the orange irises that grow like weeds - just like they do in Ireland! My neighbour also gave me six outdoor tomato plants which have been incredibly prolific - they have literally produced hundreds of plum tomatos.

Had a nice walk with Alison & Lady Palmer @Nostell today.

Quite intreegued (sorry!) by how the trunk of this dead giant tapers so fast at the top!

Quite a nice view from near the boathouse. They are changing the land from parkland back to the hay meadows that the estate used to have. I think this is a good idea and they have what look like a prize-winning herd of cattle to do the grazing. However, they have kept quite a few acres as parkland and were cutting the grass while we were there - with a single rotor blade just the width of the tractor! Maximum inefficiency! Why not do an acre a day with a silage cutter and feed the grass to the herd? In Switzerland I stayed with a farmer who had a contract with the council to cut the grass verges in his local area. Not only did he get a bit of money for doing it but he would bring the grass back and feed his cattle at milking time! Maximum efficiency!