Day: January 21, 2016

Today we spent a wonderful day relaxing on the coast in Nerja at the east end of the Costa del Sol. We walked down to a lookout called Balcón de Europa. Apparently the King of Spain called it this in the early 20th century. Hence Duke’s picture with the King.

 

Below us on the beech was a fisherman fixing his net and next to us on the lookout was a harp musician busking. The temperature was in the low 60s and it was a perfect day to just stroll and enjoy the view.

 

We went back to our room to read and rest and then we felt an earthquake!! It was a magnitude 5.1 and apparently it was 25 miles off the coast of Morocco due south of us. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us10004g3i

It gave us a pretty good jolt. I thought we might even see a small tsunami but if there was one we missed it.

Later on we went for a walk on the beech to see if a beach front paella place that I read about in the guide book was open. They have seating on the beach for what looks like several hundred people but since this is the off season there were only about a dozen people around. Nerja must be packed in the summer!

 

 

Tonight we had dinner at a tavern not far from our hotel. The owner told us the fish was very fresh so I had dorado and Duke had salmon. It was divine! With a bottle of wine, dessert, and coffee the total bill was $54.

 

Tomorrow we are off to a town called Torremolinos near Málagaalso on the coast.

This morning in Granada we walked to the Monasterio de San Jerónimo. It was unlike any church I have ever seen. Almost all the walls and ceilings had painted scenes and as Lonely Planet says “the stained glass literally pales in comparison.”

 

We walked back to our hotel, got our bags and took a taxi to the bus station where we caught a bus south to the town of Nerja on the Mediterranean. We are staying at a Parador right on the beach. As we left Granada we also left the olive trees behind. And the towns on the Mediterranean look different too. Almost all the buildings are white.

 

 

We checked into the Parador. Because we belong to the Amigos program we get points for every euro we spend at a Parador and we get a coupon for a free drink when we check in. So that has been our routine. We check in then go down to the bar for a glass of wine or beer. It is clear from all the shops and signs that this area has a lot of British snow birds. In the dining room next to the bar there was an English group with six tables of duplicate bridge.

 

 

 

We took the elevator down to the beech. That’s the elevator in the picture below. Then walked along the almost deserted beech. The weather here is a lot warmer than inland and the Mediterranean was calm and relaxing.

 

We had dinner in the Parador dining room.