VIVA ESPANA

Dear Reader


Well I'm back from my hols and a lovely time I had too. We stayed in a village at the foot of the Sierra mountains called Benahavis, about a 15 minute drive from the coast. It was a last minute deal but we struck lucky and our hotel was lovely - quiet, peaceful, traditionally Andalucian and generally just what we had hoped for. Here is the view from my sun lounger.





Here I am with my boat in Puerto Banus marina.....

Yes, I'm joking but a girl can dream can't she?

It was a lovely place to look round but ooooooh! the prices. All designer, very chic and lovely to window shop. It was baking so I said to Maurice I'd buy us an ice cream but when I got to the ice cream shop and discovered a scoop was 8 Euros (about £7) I suddenly went off the idea! But great for people watching and general gawping !!!

It's all a bit me, me, me or Moz Moz Moz this blog but as there was only the two of us and it was our annual hols hope you'll forgive us. Anyway, moving on.......

Here I am on the airplane runway which we walked across from Spain into Gibraltar. No I hadn't taken leave of my senses - it's apparently what people do. But I was a bit worried by the sign which warned ' If aeroplane is about to land please walk quickly'! I'm not a very fast walker, especially in flip flops. Pleased to report made it without a 747 landing on my head. Or is it a 737? Not too hot on plane numbers....

We walked miles that day, past all the British quarters of the troops stationed there which Maurice, being ex Army, was interested to see and a British phone box which amused me, especially as you don't see them much in England any more. We went down Main Street full of duty free shops selling perfume, cigs etc and then caught the cable car up the Rock to the top. I climbed aboard before I really had time to think about what I was doing. A nervous soul with heights at the best of times too much thought could have been fatal and I might not have gone. I have to say the ride was pretty spectacular and the views amazing. But when I reached the top the sudden climb and the cable car movement and the height had sent my balance askew (I suffer from labyrinthitis from time to time) so I wandered round the top of the Rock lurching about looking like one of the monkeys after a night on the town!





















I did, however, manage to take this picture of Maurice who loved this day out. I think it shows from the picture. He's my rock too!




















And of course I just had to take a picture of one of the apes. The story is that if ever the apes leave the Rock then British rule will cease. During the 2nd World War the ape population started to decline and Winston Churchill was so worried he put all the apes on special rations!!

They're so much a tourist attraction that I felt sorry for them constantly being looked at and photographed but on the upside because they're looked after the life expectancy is quite a bit above that to be expected in the wild. They're cheeky monkeys too, stealing food and visitors bags and running off with stuff! So there are some compensations being a Gibraltar ape!


























The next set of pictures are from another day out. I had a really strong desire to visit some caves I'd read about in the mountains near Ronda. They contain drawings done by Cro Magnon man 30,000 years ago. Can you get your head round that? I couldn't. So I wanted to go and see for myself. Oh! my damn curiosity - I'm sure I was a cat in a previous life - it does get me into some situations. I really am not a brave - or fit - person so how I found myself scrambling like a mountain goat for what seemed like forever in order to reach a dark set of caves that I was then going to walk a kilometer underground in aided only by a paraffin lamp - and yes in my flip flop sandals - I really can't say. After scaling said mountain and reaching cave 'kiosk' with my face looking like a bull (appropriate in Spain) the ticket man asked if we would like a drink. Before I could get my breathing in check enough to answer Maurice replied, "Yes please I'd like a coffee". I ask you, a coffee!! We're half way up a mountain in 80 odd degrees in the midday sun after a strenuous climb and he's asking for a coffee. Much to my surprise the guy looked at Maurice, shrugged in the way that they do abroad when faced with barmy Englishmen and went and made him one, how I've no idea as there was no electricity. Anyway, here's the picture of Maurice looking out over the mountain enjoying his coffee.

























We then sat and sat .... and sat. We had to wait until there were enough people to make a tour worthwhile. Eventually there were ten brave souls ready to venture into the caves, four Spaniards, two Americans and four English.


Here's me entering looking slightly trepidatious. Well alright terrified! But I so wanted to see the drawings. The coffee-making kiosk man turned out to be the guide too and in fact the direct ancestor of the farmer who found the cave in 1911 looking to see where the bats went to sleep, as he thought their droppings would make good fertiliser for his farm. The same family still own the site. It took a British Colonel though, Colonel Willoughy Somethingorother in 1928 who'd been bird-watching in the area and heard about the caves, to show some curiosity, pay a visit and recognise that the paintings were not by the Moors as had been thought by the Spanish farmer, but much, much! older.

Anyway, the guide locked the metal door to the caves behind us and we went in. Eeeks we were trapped inside! He then lit four paraffin lamps (I'd forgotten how pungent a smell paraffin is) and luckily gave one of them to Maurice. Off our little party set, me bringing up the rear. We climbed up roughly hewn steps, and up and up and then down and down and came to a cave full of stalagtites and stalagnites and drawings on the walls of a horse (apparently totally drawn to scale), a bull (even Cro Magnon Spanish man loved bulls!!!) and a mountain goat type animal (could relate to that one). We ventured further and further into the caves, passing two lakes, an underground fire site (a natural chimney got rid of the smoke), a set of caves where they'd found human skeletons (sacrifice or murder?), seeing bats (yes live ones), making our way through narrow passages in the rock, until eventually after an hour we reached the biggest painting of all and it was a ........... fish. Anti-climax. A fish?? Yes, a one metre fish that looked like a plaice. Why on earth would you paint a one metre fish on a wall 30,000 years ago? Maurice ventured that it was probably the artist's favourite meal. Good job Maurice wasn't about 30,000 years ago or he'd have painted a cup of coffee on the wall.

























And here's me again coming out of the caves at the end. Looking every inch the intrepid explorer ... and much happier! The caves are called the Cueva de Pileta, they're about a 20 minute drive from Ronda and so worth seeing. And don't let me put you off (I exaggerate) - it's a great trip out. But top tip - wear proper shoes and take a torch. It's wet in places and dark everywhere!



















Here's a picture taken the same day outside the bull ring in Ronda. It just looks so Andalucian that I thought I'd share it.




















And here's Maurice with the famous Bridge over the gorge in Ronda in the background.
























Finally, here's a photo of the two of us in the village square in Benahavis, at the end of a night after enjoying a day's adventures, a lovely evening meal, a sit down and a glass or two of Spain's finest Rioja.