Day 6 (Thursday)

Our apartment, despite its 1.2M Euro price tag, is somewhat shabbily furnished. The towels are threadbare and the pillows would be more at home in a quarry than in a bedroom. Given our stay here is for 4 weeks, we decided it would be good to invest in new pillows and towels. So off to Alice’s we go.

“Alice’s is like a crab pot”, says Ross, as we walk along the windy streets to the store. Well used to his bizarre thought patterns, I look at him quizzically and wait for the rest of the sentence.  “It’s easy to get into, but nearly impossible to get out”. Hahaha – this is true.

Even though it’s 10.30 in the morning, the streets are deserted, the sunlight is pale and weak, the shops are only just stirring, and the cafes are all closed. Spain doesn’t really get into gear until lunchtime – and by lunchtime, I mean 1 or 2pm.

But we’re at Alice’s to buy towels, and other mundane things. We select a sealed towel package that included many Spanish words, some of which we deciphered to understand as “4 pieces”. So we thought we were getting two towels, and perhaps two face washers. NOTE: in a foreign language, it’s not the words you know, but the words you don’t know, that make all the difference. Needless to say, I’ve come to enjoy drying myself with 2 hand towels and a face cloth. Ross is using the ‘big’ towel (mainly because he can’t do two things at once and coordinating an array of linen whilst wet would be his undoing).

We’re hungry now, (surprise!!) so we head out towards Marbella. A couple of kilometres away from our apartment, on the beachside promenade, there’s the most surprising grove of eucalyptus trees. They were introduced to Spain in the late 18th century and it’s surreal to be walking along next to the Mediterranean Sea beneath a canopy of swaying gum trees.  I didn’t see a single Drop Bear!

Also nestled under the gum trees, is the Tower of Ancon (Torre Ancon) – a lookout tower built around 1516. Its 500 years old!!! However, the scourge of graffiti is insidious, even in Spain, and the picture below is the only angle I could get that was free from the ravishes of the spray can.

We lunched in a beach-side restaurant, securing the last table. The wind outside was brisk, whipping up white caps on the water beyond. Over lunch, Ross, always one to have a chat, makes friends with a guy called Guy! He’s from Luxembourg – a tiny, land-locked country, half the size of Brisbane. He speaks four languages: Luxembourgish (did anyone know there was such a language?), French, German and English, making us feel grossly inadequate with our mastery of just one single language. He smokes a Cuban cigar. Ross tells him that he likes his hair cut (really??? It’s remarkably similar to Ross’ own).

Guy is here with his wife for 10 days. We tell them we have a booking at La Sala for the following night, where there is great food and live music. We invite them to join us. I wonder if they’ll turn up?

Lunch over, we wander back home. It’s nana-nap time – and this time, I manage to have a solid 2.5 hours!! #Winning.  Dinner is light and simple, eaten at 9pm, on the balcony by the glow of the fairy lights.

#IloveSpain