Last day at Finca Manolo

Well now, our stay at Finca Manolo is coming to an end.   It was not without event.   It began on Monday 3rd September when I got an email asking if I was OK as it appeared no one was in residence here.   My reply was that we were still at home and not due here until 8th September.   Further emails revealed that whilst our confirmation was for the correct dates we had been put in the diary as arriving on 1st September.   The outcome was that we could stay for only 13 days to facilitate a changeover for the next people.   On the way here I decided that if we were to get our full quota we should press on and not stay in Toledo for a day.   We phoned ahead and arrived at the house to find the owner's father dealing with a water leak in the bathroom.   Had we not made this late change the leak would have continued a further 24 hours and flooded the house.   Fate was on our side.

A few days after our arrival we experienced the Spanish Police stopping me for speeding - 2mph above the limit.   So I opted for the 50% reduction for payment on the spot and made a contribution to Spain's debt crisis.   After this all was plain sailing.   We managed to get two days out to visit Iglesia del Carmen in Antequera and the Mezquita-Cathedral in Cordoba.   We had lots of BBQs by the pool and one night I got confused and placed the charcoal where the food should be!   We had the company of two cats, the dog from across the road until I got her back to the other side of the gates, and plenty of flies and wasps.

 

We had earlier bought a lot of wine at the Eroski Supermarket near Velez-Malaga but decided today to drive over for a further supply.   We shall be bringing home lots of wine plus six bottles of Manzanilla that we love as an aperitif.

 

Saturday and Sunday will be spent in Toledo to visit places we could not see last year.   We shall once more include the cathedral and the street train.   Then we shall travel to Bilbao to stay one night before boarding the ferry, Cap Finistere, and a 24 hour cruise to Portsmouth.   So we have not yet finished our 2012 holiday!

We have enjoyed our break once again and recommend Spain and Andalucia as a holiday destination.   If you prefer, you can just fly to Malaga and use a hire car whilst you are here.   That is the quicker way that most people opt for today.

 

Thank you for reading the blog and I hope you found it of interest.