Category: Mijas 2025

I got up just before 9am so that I was ready to let Mike the Pipe in to check the plumbing & hopefully identify how to resolve the leak from the apartment above that led to the ceiling above the shower collapsing (all prior to our arrival).

He arrived promptly at Spanish 9am (just before 10am) as expected. The lady who looks after the apartment above was with him and acted as our translator.

After lots of heated debate between the two they left and headed upstairs to try and sort the leak, saying they will be back later. Which at 11:15 they were. Bathroom sealant in hand he explained that the leak was fixed and had been pressure tested as ok. At least that was how the translated message scanned.

An hour later and the drip, drip, drip was back. We will keep an eye on it & report back to the property owner, who bless her, has been mortified that we have suffered the inconvenience. So much so that she has sent us £50 to spend on tonight’s meal.

Mr B has been noseying on the tinterweb at a restaurant that they’d been to a few years ago (“Alboka”), and commented that the menu suggested that they had changed style and upped their game massively. We decided to head down there for an early lunch.

Doing so would allow us to come back to the apartment and squeeze in some pool time in the afternoon, before heading to the restaurant right next door to where we planned on lunching.

Albeit they opened at 12:30, it was more like 1:15 before they were ready to serve so we passed the time by either having a cervesa grande or by looking in touristy shops. I made my decision quickly.

During this stop, Mr B and I contemplated the Horse/Donkey situation there and whether it was likely to continue. It turns out that a) it’s €80 for 4 passenger trip, and b) the local government are under pressure to stop issuing licenses, which was good to hear.

We headed over the road to the Alboka Gastro. Beers/Vinos/Cocktails ordered, we checked out the menu. Wow! What a menu!

We ordered:

• Iberian Pork Meatballs, Manchego Cheese, caramelized Apple, Goat’s Cheese cream and Tomato compote.
• Spiced Rice, Prawns with Garam Masala sauce and Coriander.
• A salad of Grilled Avocado, Feta Cheese, Quinoa, Blueberry, Apricot, Apricot, Pipirrana and Coriander vinaigrette.
• Homemade Duck Foie Mi-Cuit with Pedro Ximénez and Cognac, roasted Apple cream and White Chocolate cream.
• Oxtail Croquettes With Goat’s Cheese sauce
• Prawns Pilpil/Prawns, Garlic, Chilli, Cherry Tomatoes and Oyster sauce.

And then:

• FRENCH MERINGUE WITH CUSTARD SAUCE FOAM AND RED FRUITS.
• FIG CRÈME CARAMEL WITH PASSIONFRUIT COULIS & WHIPPED CREAM.

The food, service and atmosphere are exceptional! Some of the very best food we’ve ever had, and I’ve eaten at L’Enclume!

There are three chefs – a Spaniard, a Ecuadorian and a Colombian. You can tell in the food. Fabulous fusion of flavours throughout the menu.

Sated, we headed back to the apartment via some more touristy shops. Jane stayed on the balcony and Mr & Mrs B joined me at the pool for a swim but they headed back upstairs whilst I stayed poolside for an hour and overheated. I spent the following hour in a dark air-conditioned room until I felt more sane!

In the meantime, it turns out Danny Boy the racing taxi driver is now off tomorrow so we have been switched and will now be travelling to Malaga Airport with “The Big Mig” Miguel. I wonder which lines he will be taking down the hill?

Oh, Mike The Pipe needs to come back as the leak is definitely not cured.

We all chilled for a while before readying ourselves for our next meal – sadly a “Last Night Meal” before we catch a flight home tomorrow lunchtime. As we did, Twitcher Jane spotted a Northern Goshawk, which made her day.

All dolled-up, we headed down to the main Square again heading to Pampa on Avenue Virgen de la Peña, right next door to Alboka.

We were heartily welcomed and the lady greeting us remembered Mrs B from their last visit a few years ago. We plumped for ordering the Tabla Pampa, a share board for 4 people. It was ace! And was more than enough for us. A big spinny wooden board loaded up with iberian cured ham, iberian regular sausage, iberian spicy sausage, iberian loin, manchego cured cheese, potato russian salad, spicy chicken wings, codfish fritters, argentinian skirt steak (with creamed celeriac) and meatballs. Stuffed!

After that we headed up towards the Place de Toros to visit a little bar that Mrs B is very fond of. Sadly that was closed so the girls substituted the drinks for a tub of icecream each in the walk home.

And then we were back on the balcony to sup up the remaining booze, before heading to bed.

Tomorrow will be packing, a taxi to the airport, security, gate, flight, discomfort, queueing to get out of Manchester Airport and then taxis home.

So on that note, I bid you a final “adios amigos” for this holiday blogging! Thank goodness for that I hear you cry!

Much love,

Chris 

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!

I’ve had a terrible nights sleep, so was awake earlyish. It’s my turn to hunt and gather so I dressed and headed out to the artisan market. Which is closed on Sundays, like most other shops. Having used google maps to locate a few alternatives, tried them and also found them to be closed, I decided to head down to Happy Larry’s, opposite the bus terminus and where we’ve been a couple of times already.

Walking across the already hot main Square, the sun was giving its best through the palm trees, casting long shadows like witches fingers across the terrace.

At 9:08, Happy Larry (job satisfaction seems not to bother him) opened up the “Opens at 9am” supermarket, and the waiting punters were greeted with a swiftly turned back.

Nespresso espresso pods, bread, cherry tomatoes, some weird local cheese, orange juice and cheap corn snacks. Hunted. Gathered. I returned victorious. And then went back to bed!

Basically, I have discovered what Victoria’s Secret is…

Drinking it has the same effect as spending a day supping Efes in Turkey or drinking Joey Holts’ bitter – nice going in, but it’s going to make a rough exit. I will amend my drinking habits (after supping the remaining cans, of course) and hope for a better nights sleep a couple of nights from now!

The girls decided to go on a mooch and a shop. Mr B was happy in his spot on the balcony, but I got changed and was going to go and fall asleep at the pool. Turns out that Sunday is play day & the beds were allocated at that point.

So we sat on the balcony. The clock struck 12pm. We opened the fridge and started the controlled disposal of the offending and aforementioned beer. we take a job seriously.

Realising that if we were too keen on the disposal job it may compromise the evening, we changed tack, and I changed shorts (the elastic has gone in my netting-lined ‘swimmers’). We headed out for a walk to keep our fitness levels in check. We didn’t want risk “doing a Kalvin Philips”, did we*!

Mr B led me down a path (not the first time) and up some steps. We had a really nice walk around the cliff edge.

It’s a fab walk around the sheer cliff tops, and has been worked really well. It’s safe, shady in parts, cracking views, had lots of insect/butterfly activity and we even caught a glimpse of Mrs Bs fanny thing off in the distance.

As the rocks twist east you get a really good view back towards the hillside town (and if you look closely you can see the girls waving at us)

Out in the other direction, we can see the ever increasing building work along the coastline. We suspect Belamadena and Marbella will soon join Fuengirola and create one long resort.

But in lighter news here’s a photo of a butterfly and some lovely flowers, courtesy of Mr B.

There’s one part of the walk where, if you’re paying attention which I was, you cross a small bridge. Turns out that the next part of that walk is on a pedestal of rock, that only really connects back at the next small bridge.

The small crevasse (?) surrounding the pedestal is of a decent height and is used by climbers for a bit of a laugh.

We headed up and around to where there’s a really nice classically presented church, that sits right next to last nights bagpipe/sitar event, and just across from the Bull Ring, thankfully no longer operating in any other way that a hopeful reminder of the cruelty.

Then we had a beer. At a place that apparently is very good. It was. But time pressures meant we moved downhill to another bar, the Blue Bike Cafe.

A beer/sangria refresh accompanied by some green olives & a plate of shaved meat. Another mooch for a while and then another stop. This time in “The Big Square” again.

You can probably guess this became a recurring theme, albeit I was full of food and pretty full of beer before we called it a day & headed back home.

Sat on the balcony, I finished tonight’s drivel. Now I need to fall on the sword, finish those tinnies of Victoria & regain control of my intestines!

• *KP was less than a kilo over what he was supposed to be at ‘start of training’. The manager acknowledges he made a mistake calling this out in public.