Sunday market in Marbella
Tuesday a.m... It is raining! I google Marbella weather and they promise scattered showers and temperatures near 60 degrees. We get a call from Madrid--BG has made his connection and will be in Malaga just after 11:00am--and so we grab our umbrellas and head to the Fuengirola market.
Parking is crazy, so CA drops KG and I off giving us 20 minutes to shop. We dash for the food vendors and check out the first available olives. We need to replace the very bitter olive mix we bought in Marbella. This time we will taste before we buy! And, we LOVE the large, salted almonds and want more. The third booth we check out has a beautiful selection of olives, dried fruits, and almonds. We choose 4 kinds of olives--green, spicy green, black, and green stuffed with almonds. We each buy a large bag of salted almonds, and then a communal supply of dried fruits and a mix of fruits and nuts.
We head for our point of rendezvous with CA. I am sidetracked for a moment by some brightly painted ceramics. Then, we are off to the airport in Malaga to pick up BG and then on to Nerja.
We explore the streets of Nerja, check out the Balcony of Europe, and find a cafeteria for a bad lunch. Not my choice... I had my eye on the very European restaurant on the Balcony... But, this is a group effort and I concede. I won't eat bad food again.
We return to the Marriott in Marbella [Elviria] and BG is dazzled by the resort and our accommodations. We allow him a nap since in the past 8 days he has flown Chicago to Paris to Miami to Paris to Chicago to Madrid to Malaga.
Dinner is again a challenge because so many of the restaurants have closed for the holidays. We end up in the just so, so cute port of Cabopino at Albert's, a very Victorian waterfront restaurant--GO FIGURE. Our waiter is from Budapest, an I.T. guy. Jobs are scarce these days in Budapest, so he headed for the coast of Spain to earn some money in a beautiful spot. Monday, a bank holiday, he was skiing in the Sierra Nevadas. The cuisine purports to be Mediterranean and we have openers of tiger prawns or green salad with apples and avocados, and then dine on pasta, sea bass, or chicken breast wrapped around ham and asparagus... The food is good and the singer is very talented. She favors Karen Carpenter songs.
Today we sleep in a bit and then head to Ronda, where bull fighting began. The season lasts only the month of September, but Andrew Forbes has written accolades on the scenery to Ronda from Marbella and inspired us to try both roads. We take the A377 north from Manilva and then the A369 south to San Pedro. The A377 is longer, curvier, and the most beautiful. We have to stop twice for breathtaking views and then restrain ourselves from stopping more.
We take a cafe break in Gaucin where I find cute [secret] gifts for my big girls, and then arrive in Ronda in early afternoon. BG doesn't want to waste any time eating, so we share a baguette sandwich and not much more. We cover the old city--enjoying the views. We again find a small cafe for coffee--very local--before heading back to Marbella.
A Marriott employee had recommended La Taberna Del Pintxo in Puerto Banus for tapas, and the timing is right to give it a try. We love the restaurant, the pintxos [tapas], and the beer, sherry, and wine. The self-serve cold tapas bar is perfect as we can see before we buy--and they look as good as they taste! We also order some hot dishes: jamon con queso y tomate, pisto con huevo, patas bravas, pollos de champinones, i.e. [roughly] ham and cheese on toast, ratatouille with a fried egg atop, spicy potatoes, chicken fillets w/mushroom-cream sauce].
Cool way to keep track of the costs--each cold tapas in the self-serve area has a different skewer, based on price. You leave your skewers on your plate and the waiter tallies the charges.
BG & KG are buying so why not dessert! I order chocolate con horno and since it takes quite awhile to appear, our waiter treats us each to a lemon sorbet. My dessert turns out to be a molten-chocolate cupcake with pistachio ice cream, toasted pistachios and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Our waiter delivers it with 4 spoons--smart guy!
Instead of heading back to the Marriott, we stop for awhile at the Corta de Inglesia--a one-stop shopping experience that includes both high-end and lower-end goods in different areas of the building, along with groceries, housewares, etc. Wal-Mart marries Nordstroms.
A great day. Unsure what the plans are for tomorrow. Maybe Granada. Maybe not.
Parking is crazy, so CA drops KG and I off giving us 20 minutes to shop. We dash for the food vendors and check out the first available olives. We need to replace the very bitter olive mix we bought in Marbella. This time we will taste before we buy! And, we LOVE the large, salted almonds and want more. The third booth we check out has a beautiful selection of olives, dried fruits, and almonds. We choose 4 kinds of olives--green, spicy green, black, and green stuffed with almonds. We each buy a large bag of salted almonds, and then a communal supply of dried fruits and a mix of fruits and nuts.
We head for our point of rendezvous with CA. I am sidetracked for a moment by some brightly painted ceramics. Then, we are off to the airport in Malaga to pick up BG and then on to Nerja.
We explore the streets of Nerja, check out the Balcony of Europe, and find a cafeteria for a bad lunch. Not my choice... I had my eye on the very European restaurant on the Balcony... But, this is a group effort and I concede. I won't eat bad food again.
We return to the Marriott in Marbella [Elviria] and BG is dazzled by the resort and our accommodations. We allow him a nap since in the past 8 days he has flown Chicago to Paris to Miami to Paris to Chicago to Madrid to Malaga.
Dinner is again a challenge because so many of the restaurants have closed for the holidays. We end up in the just so, so cute port of Cabopino at Albert's, a very Victorian waterfront restaurant--GO FIGURE. Our waiter is from Budapest, an I.T. guy. Jobs are scarce these days in Budapest, so he headed for the coast of Spain to earn some money in a beautiful spot. Monday, a bank holiday, he was skiing in the Sierra Nevadas. The cuisine purports to be Mediterranean and we have openers of tiger prawns or green salad with apples and avocados, and then dine on pasta, sea bass, or chicken breast wrapped around ham and asparagus... The food is good and the singer is very talented. She favors Karen Carpenter songs.
Today we sleep in a bit and then head to Ronda, where bull fighting began. The season lasts only the month of September, but Andrew Forbes has written accolades on the scenery to Ronda from Marbella and inspired us to try both roads. We take the A377 north from Manilva and then the A369 south to San Pedro. The A377 is longer, curvier, and the most beautiful. We have to stop twice for breathtaking views and then restrain ourselves from stopping more.
We take a cafe break in Gaucin where I find cute [secret] gifts for my big girls, and then arrive in Ronda in early afternoon. BG doesn't want to waste any time eating, so we share a baguette sandwich and not much more. We cover the old city--enjoying the views. We again find a small cafe for coffee--very local--before heading back to Marbella.
A Marriott employee had recommended La Taberna Del Pintxo in Puerto Banus for tapas, and the timing is right to give it a try. We love the restaurant, the pintxos [tapas], and the beer, sherry, and wine. The self-serve cold tapas bar is perfect as we can see before we buy--and they look as good as they taste! We also order some hot dishes: jamon con queso y tomate, pisto con huevo, patas bravas, pollos de champinones, i.e. [roughly] ham and cheese on toast, ratatouille with a fried egg atop, spicy potatoes, chicken fillets w/mushroom-cream sauce].
Cool way to keep track of the costs--each cold tapas in the self-serve area has a different skewer, based on price. You leave your skewers on your plate and the waiter tallies the charges.
BG & KG are buying so why not dessert! I order chocolate con horno and since it takes quite awhile to appear, our waiter treats us each to a lemon sorbet. My dessert turns out to be a molten-chocolate cupcake with pistachio ice cream, toasted pistachios and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Our waiter delivers it with 4 spoons--smart guy!
Instead of heading back to the Marriott, we stop for awhile at the Corta de Inglesia--a one-stop shopping experience that includes both high-end and lower-end goods in different areas of the building, along with groceries, housewares, etc. Wal-Mart marries Nordstroms.
A great day. Unsure what the plans are for tomorrow. Maybe Granada. Maybe not.
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