Up late as usual, and then a trip to the beach, to the town of
Salobrena on the Costa del Sol, about an hour away. Salobrena is an attractive
little resort town that isn’t listed in guidebooks, and the better for it.
Marching down the pebbly beach, I swam in the Mediteranean for first time (it’s
cold). Groups of teens and families peddled what looked like brightly colored
plastic cars with slides on the back in the water. It began to rain, which
discouraged very few people from their beach day; we walked around, desperately
searching for a public bathroom (no luck); we encountered a cute Mexican girl
with a lovely smile selling onyx pipes. Both Nick and Ron were smitten.
We
ended up at funky café, searching for a waiter (it had a bathroom, thank you!);
an ancient fellow brought our tinto de veranos (half red wine, half lemonade,
and the drink of choice for all concerned). We had to send out a search party
to find him again to pay—the entire clientele (three locals) were completely
involved in a dubbed western/kung fu movie on TV in the main bar.
We
attempted to drive up the hill to a Moorish castle at the top. Ron, at the
wheel, guided us through Mr. Toad’s wild ride; the old village streets were
only about eight inches wider than our tiny Peugeot. It made for some thrilling
twists and turns. We found space to park, started walking (the wrong way, of
course), and were redirected by a lady couple that had rented a flat there with
an awe-inspiring garden. We got to the castle at 8, and the fellow at the gate
wouldn’t let us in—it closed at 8:30, but he wanted to hurry home to his
dinner.
On the
way down, we crossed the green fields we had seen from the summit, and made an
unplanned stop for roughly 300 goats and their goatherd in the road. He finally
rounded them up into the pasture—and we return to Salobrena to dine at a nearby
restaurant—great views of the beach and sunset (I had a traditional dish,
Zarzuela, a mixed fish stew in a tomato base).
Check
out the video: https://vimeo.com/70760985
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