After an exciting year of getting engaged, starting a new job and moving 2,000 miles away, I finally went on vacation (thank God). I went back to a favorite haunt, the Marriott Playa Andalusia in southern Spain.
Getting Around
Driving in Spain is always a bit of religious experience - by that I mean that you say “oh God” a lot. The Spaniards, as do most other Europeans, drive like a bat out of hell in their 4 cylinder piece of shit car. Everyone there has a piece of shit car, unless you have tons of money or just want people to think so. They have the POS car because of the fact that parking can, at times, be like bumper cars and door dings are frequent. As usual, I drove. I get car sick, plane sick, train sick, sea sick; let’s just say it’s best if I drive.
My Dad’s girlfriend, Marilyn, told me that I “drive like a local”. I’m not too sure if that’s a compliment but, I’ll take what I can get. Many Americans like to drive within the lines (just like coloring) and can’t seem to grasp the concept that people will go when the light is red and drive in the middle of two lanes. This is why driving in Europe is not for the faint of heart. This is why a close family friend prefers tours. He said that he can’t handle the driving and would prefer that someone else would do it. I guess no one told him he could hire a driver for the day, too.
The Costa del Sol
The south of Spain is fondly referred to as the “Costa del sol”. This scenic area consisting of more condos and golf courses then you’ve even seen, is the home away from home and FAV vacation destination of many Brits, Germans and a few Americans, too. The weather is HOT in the summer. And when I say HOT, I mean it’s freaking’ HOT. The humidity can be surprising at times (varying from degrees of sticky to just plain unbearable); coupled with the high temperatures in July and August, it’s uncomfortable. We traveled in September and it was still on the warm side - temperatures ranging from 80 to 85 degrees.
Many Brits and Germans come to soak up the sun and the heat, escaping from the cold North. Being pasty white, I’ve never been one to sit by the pool. This doesn’t seem to stop the Brits. You can practically feel the heat radiating off of their bodies as the cook in the hot sun and maintain their sun burn for a constant week.
What to do
If you’re a golfer, you’re in heaven. The only problem is that many of the golf courses are expensive (about 150 Euros, or $210) and many of them require a handicap. Being a novice golfer, I was told by my father that those of us infrequent players would be out of luck without a handicap. Oh well…
There are many white cities in the south. The white cities of Spain are famous. Living in close proximity to your neighbors, in the hilly regions, the hills provided protection from invaders. Later, “White Villages” became convenient farming communities, allowing the farmers to live in a protected community. Today the white village, or pueblos blancos, remain. (You can find more information on the white villages of Spain by visiting http://www.andalucia.com/villages/malaga.htm.)
If you decide to venture to a white village, note that the parking can be treacherous. (We had a slight incident in Casares and nearly ended up in the Castle – long story.) Be aware of the giant blue “P”, for public parking, and you should be fine.
My fiancée, Scott was interested in checking out the wines of Spain. Finding a bottle shop in the Costa del Sol is few and far between. Many of the wine growing regions are in the North, not the South. Determined to drink good wine on our trip, we asked the concierge if there was a wine shop in the area.
He recommended a place called “The Museum of Wine” in Mijas. I’ve been to Mijas. It’s one of the white villages. It’s very picturesque. Parking is a bitch. If you visit Mijas, don’t be cheap - park in the parking garage. Trust me, it’s worth the money. After traveling along the A7 highway to and then up a steep grade to get to Mijas only to squeeze your POS 2.5 cylinder rental car into a parking spot the size of a shoe box, a glass of wine sounds like a fantastic idea.
The concierge gave me a map and noted where the “Museo de Vino” is located. White cities are elusive, though. They are deceiving in terms of size and also in terms of where each street is actually located. After a small debate about is it down this street or that, I spotted a cop. In Europe they’re happy to give you directions so feel free to ask. After all, there’s no crispy crème in Mijas; what else is the guy going to do?
We venture up another small narrow street (almost an ally) and there it was. This wine shop is much more then a wine shop. For 15 Euros you can get tapas and 3 wine tastings. Or for 25 Euros you can get 5 tastings and 5 tapas. There were 4 of us who had the wine tastings and, believe me, we didn’t starve or lack for wine.
The tapas started out as typical Spanish hours d’ouvres. Aged cheese, salty ham and spicy chorizo were starters. From there were had the ratatouille with tuna (amazing) and pork with a balsamic reduction sauce. ALL FOR 15 EUROS (including wine). The proprietor of the shop is a wine connoisseur without being a snob. All you have to do is tell him what types of wine you want and he’ll bring out customized tasting, just for you.
Scott and I actually came back a second day and enjoyed tapas and wine. We had nowhere to be all day so, we just talked with the shopkeepers about wine and watched the tour groups from the cruises go in and out of the store. We were asked several times how we got that glass of tempranillo or if we were going to get back on the bus. They were all shocked when we said that we drove our own car and were going to continue enjoying our wine throughout the afternoon.
Here’s the web site for the wine Museum. It’s all in Spanish but, it lists their phone number and address.
http://www.museovinomalaga.org/
More Food
If you didn’t eat enough during your wine tasting/tapas afternoon, you can head west to Estapona. One fabulous restaurant is Tikitano. It’s a challenge to find but, the food is incredible. This culinary gem is actually right on the sand making for scenic lunches and romantic sunset dinners.
My recommendation would be the risotto appetizer. They know how to make it. Being an Italian girl, I know if someone screws up the risotto. Theirs is top notch. Just about anything else on the menu would make your mouth water, as well. I had the sea bass and it melted in your mouth. If you feeling like a big shot, Louis XIII is available for a mere 225 Euros a shot.
Check out the web site for directions – trust me, you’ll need them. And you can make reservations on line.
http://tikitano.net/
More to come from Spain. These are just a few of my favorites and suggestions.
