Having completed the mission of disposing of all of the remaining Victoria ale, I slept a bit better last night.
My crap sleep has nothing to do with the accommodation. The pillows & mattress are comfy and the roller shutter on the outside of the window provides blackout conditions which usually make for a good nights sleep for me.
As is now the routine, my morning consisted of dozing first, then slow repeated movements to the balcony via the espresso machine, toaster and meat selection.
By midday, we were all breakfasted and sat in the sun (in shade on Mr Bs part) listening to the kids playing in the pool and wondering which one we would drown first if they keep having screamy, noisy fun.
Also, as the church bells rang in the midday, we saluted that with the hiss of Alhambra Tradicional being opened.
The next hour was spent scouring the internet for 83mm barrels for a VW 1500cc engine. A bit niche even for VW enthusiasts, but I have a need. No luck as yet sadly.
By 1pm we changed and headed out, down the hill and had a stroll around the town. We headed to the lower road at the bottom of the crevasse that got a mention yesterday.
If you walk down, then to return, you must walk up and so we did, up and around a very steep road to a small square next to the Ermita de la Virgen de la Peña, a little hilltop chapel with some nice views down the valley.
The unspoken negative to Mijas in my opinion is the use of donkeys and horses to pull carriages full of tourists around the hilly & hot town. Personally, it doesn’t come across as a progressively good look.
A steady climb up past the old flour mill, and passed the intriguing Museo de Miniaturas, where you can see a donkey that has been painted onto a grain of rice apparently.
From there it was on to Patio Antiguo for a spot of Tapa or two. The thought today was to eat a bit early avo then spend the evening on the balcony eating a “picky tea”. I went for the Octopus Frito and a Taco Carne Ragu. Decent portions when they arrived, which was after a couple of corrections to the “All good? Everything here?” question from the waiter.
After our late lunch. We went for a wander around the less central parts of town and above where our apartment is. Heading out from the centre we passed a few artisan shops. I have mixed views on making and then selling incense burners min the style of Ku Klux Clan members though.
Very quiet residential streets, all whitewashed with lots of steps or gradients between them. We even met a prison dog. She looked at us through the bars of her window and required us to stroke her. When I stopped, I got a wrist tap reminder to continue. Eventually I made it away.
As lovely as it was, even taking in a few natural caves on the way, it was very much “mad dogs and Englishmen” as the temperature crept up to 32 with no breeze at all. We all got to a point where we just turned around and stumbled back to the apartment and its aircon.
We had thought about going to the pool but it was still busy and the little ones were still jumping about and having fun so we stayed on the balcony for a while longer.
Around 5pm, Mr B and I headed out to hunt and gather from Happy Larrys Emporium of Joy. It being hot, we felt it was safer to break the journey down into hydration stops, with our first being at Restaurante Los Arcos (beer was fine, but Google reviews suggest this is the best way to visit).
We then went to to the old Eroski supermarket and had a good old chuckle with Happy Larry, after buying a few extra bits for tea.
Sensibly, we stopped at Porras for another rehydration (two actually) whilst putting the world to rights. Having realised it was heading towards 7pm, we got la cuenta, paid up and headed back to the apartment.
From here on in there’s little to say other than we chatted, laughed drank, ate lots of picky things (cheese, meats, figs, avocado, tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, haribos) and did a rinse/repeat until almost everything had been eaten and drank.
Finally, at around 1am, we retired to our beds in readiness for our last full day. An all too brief visit for sure.
Up early as we have a plumber coming to inspect a leak above our shower at “Spanish 9am”.
Adios Amigos!