Weekend Getaway

The last Saturday in May was beautiful early summer day.  It was supposed to be moving day for us and our large duffel bags were all packed and standing in the common area where the house manager had asked us to leave them.  We threw swimsuits and a change of clothes in our backpacks, made sure our trusty towels, in their net bags were attached and headed out into the early morning to walk down to the bottom of the Albaycin where we were meeting our friends Diana and the irrepressible Kelsey at the bus stop.

We caught a bus for the short ride to the train station where Diana who had been acting as our travel agent, had arranged to rent a car.  In Granada, it is far more expensive to rent a car with an automatic transmission than one with a stick shift and Diana was a little uncomfortable with the vehicle for a little while.  To be fair, none of us wanted to drive under any circumstances so Diana was the brave one and thankfully, the vast majority of the one and a half hour trip was on the autovista and not complicated.

As we neared the beachside pueblo of Nerja we were faced with a series of roundabouts which were complicated by the fact that we didn’t have an appropriate map and had to rely on Kelsey’s smart phone for navigation.  After circling a couple of these several times in first gear looking for the proper exit and with only one wrong turn we found ourselves passing through this lovely town full of tourists.

We were staying just outside of Nerja however, and we continued to the Hostal Avalon located in Punta Laura and just across the street from the beach.  We were immediately impressed by the friendly staff, incredible restaurant and rooms, each with an ocean view and after a wonderful late breakfast (complete with beers) we changed into our suits and headed for the beach.

The beach was not crowded and consisted of a grayish sand; very different from what we were used to in the US but we spread our towels, acquired beverages from one of several cafes along the beach and began doing our Spanish language homework.  About an hour of this and we needed a change of location and activity so we moved down the beach to an upscale resort where we appropriated lounge chairs without any arguments and settled in for an afternoon of reading and sipping beverages.

We soon realized that this particular section of the beach accommodated many topless sunbathers…..ooops!  Most of the sunbathers were northern Europeans in Spain for a spring vacation so there was quite of bit of pale pink flesh; quite a bit if you know what I mean.  I mean really, people of a certain age (surely older than me) should know better.  This did not ruin our afternoon however and after a couple of hours we realized we were getting a little more sun than we should and we packed up and walked further down the beach to a seaside restaurant recommended by our hotel named Pepe’s. 

Pepe’s featured close to one hundred tables and was obviously very popular although our timing was perfect and the comida crowd was just finishing up.

  We ordered  a salad and a bowl of mussels to share as an afternoon snack since we had dinner reservations for later in the evening.

They were incredible and a much larger portion than we expected, so we stuffed ourselves and left a large pile of empty shells behind . 

 We were very impressed by the quality, especially since the prices were very reasonable, much less than we expected,  The sunburn, adult beverages and food caught up with us and we decided to walk back to the hotel for a siesta.

Dinner in the hotel restaurant much later in the evening was a very pleasant experience, as was our breakfast the next morning, great food, friendly people, and reasonable prices. 

We loaded the car and headed inland on a very steep, winding road for a visit to the nearby pueblo of Frigiliana.

All of us were immediately enchanted by this lovely village and we hiked up and down the steep and narrow but clean cobblestone streets simply looking around and doing a bit of window shopping.

After climbing a series of switchbacks we found ourselves atEl Jardin, a restaurant our friend Tony had recommended to us. 

We were not very hungry having eaten a very large breakfast late that morning and we were saving our appetites for an expected Thai food extravaganza later, but we stopped for a drink and to chat with the manager before our next stop on our way home in the Valle de la Crin.  Next time we will definitely fit a meal at this restaurant into our plans.

 The view was extraordinary!  Yes, that is the Mediterranean down there.....

Diana has some close friends who run a restaurant called the Thai Elephant in Restobal,

a quiet little pueblo in the Valle de la Crin, which just happened to be on our way back to Granada.  It is a lovely place set in a huge garden,

run by a Thai woman who just happens to be married to a Spaniard.  We all loaded up on the green and red curry and we were very happy to eat some great food with a little spice and heat.  We all emptied our plates several times and left for Granada with our bellies full and our craving for spicy food satisfied for the time being.

All of us look forward to returning to the Hostal Avalon and both El Jardin and the Thai Elephant in the future.  Great food, sun, beaches, a little exploring in new places…what more can you ask of a weekend?