I was first to awake today. I looked through the window, which has anti mosquito mesh across, and saw there was no sunlight. Eventually I got up and saw that the entire mountain range around us was covered in mist. I thought, at first, it was cloud!
By the time we had showered etc and gone outside for breakfast only Mount Mourama was still wreathed in mist. Once the breakfast was complete we set off for the well known mountain village of Mijas Pueblas near Torremolinos. It was a journey of about an hour and a half. Once we had completed the few miles from Colmenar to Casabermeja, we joined the A45 Autovia Malaga.
At this point I stopped to fill up with petrol. This can be a confusing performance in Spain. At some filling stations an attendant comes out and you simply ask to be filled up. Hand signals easily cover this. Other stations require you to go into the shop and say how much petrol you want and pay at that point. If you can't get that much fuel into the tank, hard lines! On this occasion I realised I would have to go in and tell them I wanted to fill the tank. After queuing for 3 minutes, I asked to be filled up and then understanding broke down. Eventually the attendant asked me to go back to the car and he would open the pump. I did this and found that the pump was still not ready to discharge petrol. After a minute I saw the numbers go to zero and filled the tank. Then back I went to pay for the fuel.
Off we set for Mijas, following the commands of Tom Tom, our satnav. One feature of travelling the Spanish motorways is the tunnel. There are lots of them and the law demands that you have dipped headlights on in the tunnels. So before each tunnel there is a blue sign with a drawing of dipped headlights and once back in the daylight you see another with the same drawing and a question mark to remind you to switch off your lights.
Eventually we reached the turn off for Mijas (pronounced Meehass) and climbed the steep hill. The road winds up the hill until you reach the village from where you have a balcony view of the resorts along the coast - a concrete jungle with many high rise buildings. On a clear day you can see as far as the coast of Africa. This is our third visit and we still have not seen that particular view. We parked on a well designed multi storey car park, waited five minutes for the lift and then emerged in the village. Pauline spinal troubles were not too bad today. She did very well and climbed the steps to the upper village in a single attempt. Well done! Within a few minutes we found the eatery we had used last year and ordered drinks plus a Ceasar Salad and a Paella for two. The food was lovely. Later we wandered off again and Pauline bought a leather handbag to replace the two she had bought last year which were cheaper in design and had lost their straps!
Having had a look round we drove back to Finca Manolo in El Romo and descended into the pool! Then we had afternoon tea - a cup of Earl Grey for Pauline and one of English breakfast for me. Soon afterwards we indulged in small beers before another swimming session. All in all it was a good day.
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