Originally, we'd planned to stay at Stu and Susie's three days. When we got there Saturday night Susie was waiting for us with a warm welcome and a cozy fire. Stu wasn't home, he was at a soccer game in a nearby town, but we met the dogs and all had a nice chat by the fire that first night and then Val and I headed off to bed. Ollie was given strict orders to stay out of our room because as much as we would have loved the company, there was no guarantee the next guests would have felt the same!
Sunday morning we got up about 8:00 to go for a run. Stu was up and gave us suggestions on what route we might like to take. We took his suggestion and walked down the road and passed a goat farm which we didn't need to actually see to know it was there, we could have used another of our senses - pee yew! But they were so cute and so curious as to what we were doing.
We had a great run through some olive tree groves and wagon trails up to the road that winds around back to their place. So beautiful! The surrounding hillsides are like something out of a movie. Wide and expansive, dotted with villages and farms. You could look around for miles and not see anything that would have been out of place 50 years ago, except for the odd car that passed us on the road.
After our run and the delicious breakfast that Stu made, they went off the meet some friends for lunch while Val and I grabbed a book, some suntan lotion and a cold one and made ourselves comfortable by the pool. Aaah.
We didn't linger too long, though, there were sites to be seen. On our way to do some hiking at El Torcal - a national park not too far away with limestone rock formations similar to the Badlands or Painted Mines east of Colorado Springs - we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the village of Villanueva de la Conception. The restaurant was run by an English woman and the other two parties who were eating outside were English also. We found out there is a lot of English people who either have holiday homes or live in that area full time.
We were having such a good time and there was so much to do in their area so we asked Susie and Stu if we could extend our stay by one day. Over the next two days, we explored the area more, both by car and on foot. Quaint villages, rolling hillsides, cathedrals, all so picturesque. We also drove 45 minutes down to visit Torremolinos Beach, south of Malaga. There is a long boardwalk that goes for at least six miles and the coastline itself is unbroken for miles and miles. Beautiful area! I had my best run since I hurt my knee 18 months ago - it felt so great to be able to go that distance. After our run, we attempted to relax on the sand for awhile, but it was so windy where we were that in a few short minutes we had sand stuck to our bodies everywhere you could see and a few places you couldn't! We soon got the smart idea to position ourselves behind a windbreak and had a relatively sand-free sun bath.
Susie and Stu invited us to dinner that night so on our way back to their villa, we got some wine, a local kind of cake and everyone's favorite (at least it's my mother's favorite) ice cream for dessert. We had such a great time at dinner and toasted our new friendship with a $6.00 bottle of wine that was much better than you would think! (We don't necessarily judge the quality of the wine by how much it costs, but we were hesitant to buy the bottle that cost $1.50! The wine here is so reasonable that our $6.00 bottle was the second most expensive that store had to offer.) After dinner we sat by the fire and talked until even the dogs had given up and fallen asleep on their beds.
These days were some of the best of the trip - we say that a lot, we realize, and it just keeps getting better. Wednesday, Val got to cross off a item on his bucket list, hiking the El Caminito del Ray. He's going to tell you all about it in a future post! We left on Thursday morning with promises to stay in touch and some talk of us house and dog sitting so they could travel back to England for a visit. We know we'll see these wonderful people again - maybe even in Colorado!
Sunday morning we got up about 8:00 to go for a run. Stu was up and gave us suggestions on what route we might like to take. We took his suggestion and walked down the road and passed a goat farm which we didn't need to actually see to know it was there, we could have used another of our senses - pee yew! But they were so cute and so curious as to what we were doing.
We had a great run through some olive tree groves and wagon trails up to the road that winds around back to their place. So beautiful! The surrounding hillsides are like something out of a movie. Wide and expansive, dotted with villages and farms. You could look around for miles and not see anything that would have been out of place 50 years ago, except for the odd car that passed us on the road.
After our run and the delicious breakfast that Stu made, they went off the meet some friends for lunch while Val and I grabbed a book, some suntan lotion and a cold one and made ourselves comfortable by the pool. Aaah.
We didn't linger too long, though, there were sites to be seen. On our way to do some hiking at El Torcal - a national park not too far away with limestone rock formations similar to the Badlands or Painted Mines east of Colorado Springs - we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the village of Villanueva de la Conception. The restaurant was run by an English woman and the other two parties who were eating outside were English also. We found out there is a lot of English people who either have holiday homes or live in that area full time.
We were having such a good time and there was so much to do in their area so we asked Susie and Stu if we could extend our stay by one day. Over the next two days, we explored the area more, both by car and on foot. Quaint villages, rolling hillsides, cathedrals, all so picturesque. We also drove 45 minutes down to visit Torremolinos Beach, south of Malaga. There is a long boardwalk that goes for at least six miles and the coastline itself is unbroken for miles and miles. Beautiful area! I had my best run since I hurt my knee 18 months ago - it felt so great to be able to go that distance. After our run, we attempted to relax on the sand for awhile, but it was so windy where we were that in a few short minutes we had sand stuck to our bodies everywhere you could see and a few places you couldn't! We soon got the smart idea to position ourselves behind a windbreak and had a relatively sand-free sun bath.
Susie and Stu invited us to dinner that night so on our way back to their villa, we got some wine, a local kind of cake and everyone's favorite (at least it's my mother's favorite) ice cream for dessert. We had such a great time at dinner and toasted our new friendship with a $6.00 bottle of wine that was much better than you would think! (We don't necessarily judge the quality of the wine by how much it costs, but we were hesitant to buy the bottle that cost $1.50! The wine here is so reasonable that our $6.00 bottle was the second most expensive that store had to offer.) After dinner we sat by the fire and talked until even the dogs had given up and fallen asleep on their beds.
These days were some of the best of the trip - we say that a lot, we realize, and it just keeps getting better. Wednesday, Val got to cross off a item on his bucket list, hiking the El Caminito del Ray. He's going to tell you all about it in a future post! We left on Thursday morning with promises to stay in touch and some talk of us house and dog sitting so they could travel back to England for a visit. We know we'll see these wonderful people again - maybe even in Colorado!
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