Spain week three, day five

Wednesday May 14th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

For our day off today, and to celebrate Linda's birthday tomorrow, we had another drive up to Granada. This remains a real treat and we are not the slightest bit bored of the place yet. Today we visited several of the sites on the western side of the centre, failing yet again to see the inside of the Basillica of San Juan de Dios. Last time we were told it opened at 3:30. Today we were told 8:00. So seeing this will have to wait till next time

What we did visit again was the shop selling enormous jigsaw puzzles that we stumbled on last time, one puzzle of which had 18,000 pieces. I suspect that would take maybe 50 times as long as a 1000 piece puzzle. Linda bought a Rosina Wachmeister cat jigsaw.

Linda in the puzzle shop

I wonder how many of these they sell - 18,000 pieces for Euros 150

Linda and I had dinner out tonight at La Limonero, the same restaurant that we ate at last week for our anniversary. There was a flamenco guitarist playing tonight who wandered round the various tables playing a little at each. Another really good meal there, though it does seem to be a real effort for him to turn the stuff out. His food is at quite a higher standard than the usual for the area, but well worth it. A really nice night out again.

Spain week three, day four

Tuesday May 13th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

A couple of our guests have wanted to do trips down to the coast, so this afternoon we went on a trip to Marina del Este, one of the more picturesque villages on the coast just past Almunecar. In the first intense heat for a few days, we walked along the sea front at La Herraderra, close by, popping into only one ice cream shop on the way, and having a very long look at a restaurant on the beach which had huge paella pans outside.

Paella pans on the beach

Marina itself was quite a pretty village though very close to the built up towns. Linda and I had lunch at one of the sea front cafes - deciding to try one of the seafood platters which feature more or less everywhere locally.

Seafood at La Barca restaurants

Polytunnels on the coast

From Marina, we drove along the coast to La Ribetta, where we turned inland for a drive across the Contraversia mountains - the same road that had defeated us last week due to low lying cloud. The area closest to the coast (south facing) is dominated by hundreds of polytunnels that smother the landscape. In some places, these fill valleys and look like some of the Christo wrapping art from the last thirty years. Just as we came over the summit of the Contraverias, we could see the entire range of the Sierra Nevedas, still carrying a reasonable amount of snow. And at exactly that point my camera's battery expired!

Like a Christo art project - polytunnels in the Contraversia mountains

All Hide all

Spain week three, day three

Monday May 12th, 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Today's drive out is to the end of the valley to see the actual location of Chris Stewart's place - as featured in "Driving Over Lemons" and his two subsequent books. Again this turns out to be an ideal off-road drive for the land rover but probably pretty tough in any other vehicle. The nearest settlement, El Duque, turns out to be about two houses. At the bottom of the pathway that forms part of the GR-142 long distance walk, we do find the little bridge over the river that leads to his house, but decide to stop at this point - he probably has far too many visitors and we were getting a bit close to celebrity stalking.

The footbridge over the river that provides access to Chris Stewart's property

Chris Stewart's property from the road to El Duque - the small white smudge to the right of the hillside just to the left of centre!

Later, at Pilates, we hear a little more about him. The house is very rural, far more so that the villas that most of the English ex-pats own, despite the success of the books. Presumably, therefore, that is just how he likes it. We have certainly enjoyed the eggs that we had from his wife, Ana, via Nigel and Zoe.

Spain, week three, day two

Sunday May 11th, 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain.

A long journey home after the exam yesterday. We finished just before 6:00 and by 7:00 I have reached Gatwick and checked in. Fairly quiet at the airport on a Saturday night. On the way back, I finished "Driving over Lemons" and am definitely planning a trip out to see his part of the valley. Collected the car at 12:30 and back at the farmhouse at 2:30 in the morning!

So today was as quiet as I could make it.

For this weeks blogs I have decided to focus more on some of the local sights and trips out, rather than the usual daily routine we have had for the last couple of weeks. So today's blog is mainly about driving up towards Pampaniera and visiting the O Sel Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery high in the mountains.

This involves a drive of several kms off road and the land rover is ideally suited to this. We parked well before the start of the buildings and walked the last couple of kms, gasping somewhat in the slightly thinner air when we are high up.

Orgiva in the valley, on the way up to O Sel Ling

The entrance sign - visitors are welcome between 3:30 and 6:00. We were a bit early!

A massive prayer wheel - the traditional Buddhist mantra, Om Mane Padme hum, is the message on the side. Oddly enough, it revolves easily with a slight push.

The Stupa at the monastery

The monastery is actually a collection of rustic local buildings on the hillside, mainly consisting of tiny buildings built into hillside, most of which seem to be the tiny rooms occupied by retreatant monks (of whom we saw none during our walk). It is a sparse location and would be very bleak in winter. It does have some nice views of Pamaniera and Bubion though. A visit during actual visitor hours would be excellent. Maybe we can include a visit when we are doing the "learn to relax" theme which includes an introduction to meditation.

Afterwards we went to Pampaneira for a walk round and some lunch - my chance to have the (im)famous Patata a Lo Pobre, "poor man's potatoes", which is just potato, onions, green peppers, and egg. Combined with black pudding, ham, cheese and chorizo, this makes a "plato alpuharran", a plate of local delicacies. Linda stick to a vegetable tortilla - perhaps wisely.

We had a long catch up call with Emma, who is approaching exam time at college but seems to still be enjoying herself. She has been keeping up with us using this blog (while we use her facebook account) and feels that we don't mention her enough. So this is her mention. Later in the year, Emma will be staying with us in France and Italy so will feature lots no doubt.

Yoga teacher training course - final assessment

Saturday May 10th, 2008

Yoga Teacher Training Course, Victoria, London

And so after 10 months, it is the day of my final assessment on my yoga teacher training course. From our original 12 or so, we are down to five being tested today, one being tested very soon and several who have rolled onto the next course following behind our one. Four are unaccounted for - lost somewhere along the way!

But today is a tough day. One hour classes by the five of us plus Romana's pre-assessment. Also some news before we start. Sarah is pregnant and won't be doing the day's classes from us, but will do her own. Well done Sarah!

First off is Rhea, who has struggled for a lot of the course with feeling unconfident, but today she did the best teaching we have ever seen her do. A class programme that was ideally suited to her strengths. Hard to tell for sure straight away that she had definitely passed, but it seemed good to me.

Next up was Tracey, who is perhaps our best participant. Her class was actually quite a challenging one, but very well taught. No doubt at all in my mind that she has passed.

Sarah was next. She has also occasionally appeared nervous in the past, but really shone today. And she definitely has the glow of a mum-to-be.

And so to me. A little nervous at the start, resulting in my breath being a little short, but soon into my stride. A decent enough first bit, then some challenging postures for the main section - Vrkasana, Gomukasana, some flowing sequences using twists. My explanations seemed ok, if a little wordy. I did plenty of adjusting, used a lot of props, etc. Overall I was pretty happy, though Elena had written a lot down on her marking sheet.

Finally Eve, who also really pulled out a good performance, playing to her strengths as Rhea did. I was aware that Eve was a bit behind with her homeworks and wondered if this might affect her pass or fail today. Hard to tell, it seemed to me - maybe just done enough.

So then there is a hour when we all sat downstairs while each of us was called up and taken through a review by the two external assessors and Elena. Ten minutes in and there is a cry of delight from Rhea who has got through. Her Q&A went ok and she was delighted with the outcome. Tracey and Sarah then also pass.

For my part, my Q&A was relatively straightforward. Both assessors thought I had done very well - one even said they would have really liked to have been able to have done my class - perhaps they say that to all the people they pass, who knows. Elena has a few points but mainly chatted about what a challenging student I have been for her and what a transformation in me over the course. She could tell I have been teaching lots of real people recently as I was, in her words, "teachig like a real human being". So I have passed as well!!

Eve is last and doesn't get an immediate verdict that worries us all, but she eventually gets the news that she has passed too. So 5/5 for the day.

After all this we then have to regroup for Romana's pre-assessment - her mock exam. We are all really tired and overwhelmed by now and it is really hard to keep going. Romana's class starts to get a little out of control and Elena decides to roll it in to tomorrow's practicum with the other class. Romana can definitely teach better and we all have our fingers crossed for her exam in a few weeks time.

Our group - standing left to right: Rhea, Rod (Elena's husband), Elena, Sarah, Justine (one of the assessors), Romana and Eve. Kneeling, Tracey.

Spain, week two, day seven

Friday May 9th, 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

For my last yoga class of the week, I basically did my plan for tomorrow's test, focusing on getting the opening body awakening to flow nicely and plenty of assisting and use of props. And we get a couple of hours sunshine for the class before it went a bit grey again.

Eve and I left for the airport mid afternoon. Eve is a bit nervous of flying and so we made sure we were there in plenty of time. We had a rough idea of where we might be able to leave the car and this worked out very well. For most of the period before the flight I read through my class notes for yoga and rehearsed a few bits of what I wanted to say.

But for the flight itself, I have started to re-read Chris Stewart's "Driving over lemons" which is, of course, located just up the valley from us. In fact this morning saw a visit from Manola, one of the local Spaniards featured in the books, to discuss the sale of manure to Nigel and Zoe. One day next week we plan to have a drive up to the end of the valley and see exactly where the books are set.

Arrived at my hotel at Gatwick about 10:30. A quick chat to Linda, one last read through my material and that was that. Hope tomorrow goes ok - I am a bit nervous now.

Spain week two, day six

Thursday May 8th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Yesterday's weather forecast for this area suggested that it was now going to be hot and dry until October. As a result, we actually had some rain this morning - a shower for a couple of hours and enough to require yoga to be indoors. But by lunchtime it had blown over and there was sunshine this afternoon again.

Rain in Spain

This afternoon we drove up into the Contraversia mountains hoping for some views down to the coast. But as we got to the top of the mountain pass, we hit a thick blanket of cloud and could barely see the end of the car's bonnet, let along the sea! So foiled by the weather again.

That said, it was warm enough late afternoon for Pilates to be outside in the courtyard as usual.

Tonight was the last evening meal I would have with this week's guests as I have to return to the UK for a yoga test on Saturday. Tonight we aimed for a slightly more delicate bit of cooking doing two risottos - asparagus and spring vegetable - both of which came out quite well we thought. This week's guests have been a lot of fun.

Tricia and Laura examining risottos!

Spain week two, day five

Wednesday May 7th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Today is Linda and mine 20th wedding anniversary and there are few nicer locations to spend it than where we are now. Today is our usual rest day from classes, and our guests surprised us first thing by announcing that they didn't want us to do anything at all for them today as it was our anniversary. So we were all set to take some people with us to Granada but no one wanted to come! They would sort out their own breakfast, have a relaxed day by the pool, perhaps a trip into Orgiva later to a cafe. And so we could go off and do our own thing

So we travelled up as we did last week and were soon settled into our favourite cafe where they serve the local do'nuts. Winding through the back streets we stumbled across a jigsaw shop where they had a Da Vinci's "Last Supper" jigsaw with 13,200 pieces. We might pop back next week for a Rosina Wachmiester cat jigsaw that Linda liked.

Our initial destination was the Basillica Juan de Rios which has one of the most ornate alters in a city full of ludicrously ornate alters. After some initial confusion we found that this was accessed via the entrance to a hospital, but once inside we found it wasn't open till 3:30 anyway. So maybe next week.

Instead, we went round the nearby Monastery of St Jerome and this also had a quite extraordinary alter

The Monastery of St Jerome

The alter of the church inside the monastery

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Close up of the alter - the figures are only slightly smaller than human sized!

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I was very struck by the complex ceiling

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Yet another religious statue on a street corner in Granada

We had to head back home early afternoon as Nigel and Zoe were being paid a visit by a Polish film crew who were making a documentary. One of the group had translated Chris Stewart's "Driving Over Lemons" into Polish and they had been filming earlier at his place just up the road. They are making a film about foreigners living in Spain and what they get up to. So part of this programme could feature us. After a long series of filming and interviews, we staged a short pilates class for them to film. I also gave them a brochure about us. Later it turned out that they were also going to be writing something for a paper so we might get a mention there as well.

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After many changes of plan, we settled on the "El Limonero" restaurant for a dinner out to celebrate our anniversary. This was actually very good - the first time I have eaten a good steak for some while. And they had a delicious almond liquer that we should try and find.

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So an interesting way to spend our anniversary.

Spain week two, day four

Tuesday May 6th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

I am now such a regular at the local bakery that the lady who serves me baquettes and pastries each morning saw fit to make sure that I knew that they were closed tomorrow ("for a rest" as their sign says). Our well-being strategy for serving pastries is to cut them into four pieces each and then people only have a quarter of one rather than a whole one. Linda is concerned in case people go home having gained weight during the week. However apparently some of our guests have their own emergency supplies of chocolate and crisps!

Chris left today after her short break, returning to Malaga for a friend's birthday party. She seems very happy with her stay with us, especially the help we were able to give her with her photography. We are trying to work out how best to include our guests comments into our website. Like many businesses of our kind, the comments of our customers will probably be the best marketing we can have.

We are trying to get a little video footage of our exercise classes this week, so a few minutes were shot tonight in the courtyard. This is a really terrific venue for both the yoga in the morning (as the sun rises over the mountains) and the pilates in the late afternoon as the house provides a bit of shade from the heat. Several locals also attended tonight's class so 6/7 participants in all.

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Pilates in the courtyard - some good form from our guests

Views towards the courtyard with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background

Over dinner tonight the conversation turned briefly to the status of the capybara, a large rodent that lives in the rivers of South America and which was, briefly, re-classified as a fish by the Catholic church so it could be eaten on Fridays. For some reason, there was considerable scepticism about this story from everyone at the table. So for probably the only time ever, our blog now features a picture of a capybara

Spain - Week Two, Day three

Monday May 5th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our yoga class participants are generally beginners this week, so everything is a little gentler and more slowly explained. But they are certainly very keen to give it a good go this week.

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Brunch for the group on the outside terrace

Today is the first session of Eve's "Re-invent yourself" life coaching theme, which seemed to go very well. Linda is attending this theme, while I am using the time to do other work - today mainly processing the photos that Chris and I took in Pampaniera yesterday. Later in the afternoon, Chris and I spent some time running through the exposure compensation controls on her new digital SLR camera so she could try and take some pictures in tricky light around the villa.

It is paella night tonight and one of our group is keen to participate in some cooking, so we give a small cooking demo tonight. Our vegetarian paella is getting more and more elaborate with artichokes, water chestnuts, oranges, etc, added to the basic mix. We think this meal has about 12 portions of vegetables in it! We are joined by Nigel and Zoe again tonight which always makes for an enjoybale evening. And tonight the local goat herd is being moved up through the valley, so food is accompanied by the clanking of their bells as they move through.

Spain Week two, day two

Sunday May 4th, 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our guests this week are slightly more a beginners group for yoga than last week, which is good for me in that things are at a more basic level and I have to work harder on my presentation skills. Eve also attends the class and is our most experienced participant this week. So today's class is very gentle, lots of explanation (perhaps too much?) and slow work.

Unfortunately, Linda wasn't feeling very well today and decided to have a quiet day in, mainly sleeping. She has been developing a bit of a cold over the last few days and this seemed to really break through today. But this does mean that I can fit all our guests into the Land Rover and so our expedition to Pampaniera need only take the one car.

One of our guests this week, Chris, has a small walking disability and so it is very important that we try and get as close to the centre of the village as we can before getting out. But luckily we are able to park in the car park near the middle of the village and so this should be ok for Chris. She is a menber of a photographic society down in Malaga and is keen to try and take some pictures that she could enter in this years club competition. Their themes are things like "shape", "colour", "texture", etc, and I am also going to have a go at taking some on these themes.

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One of my first pictures of the day - on the theme of "colour"

After a little while wandering round on our own, we all gravitated back to the main square where some sort of fiesta has been taking place it would seem. Chris and I have beer and a ham tapas. Then things take an interesting development as a brass band of twenty something Spanish guys takes the the stage and plays some excellent salsa-style music. I am very hopeful that I will have got some good footage of this for our home movie. I can't help thinking that back home, a group of guys who decide to form a band, would not have this sort of thing in mind.

Spanish brass band - very, very good

Having run out of video film, it is time for another walk round with my main camera in order to try and get some good pictures that might help Chris with some ideas. Loads of these have been loaded with this blog entry and are mainly on Chris's themes of shape, colour and texture.

In the back streets of Pampaniera - I

II

III

The nearby village of Capilleria

Traditional Alpujarran rugs - I

II - and the theme of "Colour" and "shape" again

III - more abstract shapes

IV

Later on, just as the entire village seemed to be queueing up for paella, we drove to a promentary up the road where there are some great views back to Bubion or down the valley towards the coast. We also stopped in some lay-bys on the way back home for more photos.

Tricia at the promentary - not really as scary as it seems!

Capilleria in the far distance, under the Sierra Nevada mountains

Tricia and Laura on the promentary

The view down from the promentary

Orgiva from the road to Pampaniera

A view abstract view of "shape", "colour" and "texture". Rocks in a cave on the road to Pampaniera

Back home and Linda was well enough to do her Pilates class and while this takes place, I loaded mine and Chris's photos onto the laptop so we could have a detailed look at each set and see what has worked and not worked. As usual, maybe one in ten is o.k.

So everyone seemed to have a good day. This week's group doesn't seem to want to drink as much as last week (!), or stay up as late, so dinner is over by just after 10:00. That might aid Linda's recovery if she can get one or two early nights. She is in bed by 10:30 and I have a little quiet time to read the papers, dominated, of course, by the extraordinary results in the council elections in the U.K.

Spain - week two, day one

Saturday May 3rd, 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our first transition day of the new season. Our first guests are leaving and new people are arriving later on. We were really surprised to receive some very detailed feedback on the week and, it seems that all our guests were very pleased overall. One persom said they had arrived with high expectations because of what they had seen on our website, yet we had exceeded these expectations in virtually every area. So that is definitely a good start.

Then down to Motril to do a big shop. This is absolute hell. The store is completely jammed up with people, far more than we would have expected. Later we realise that due to this being a holiday weekend, maybe lots of people have come to the coast from Granada and Cordoba and they are all shopping today. As I join a queue to pay, there are seven full trolleys ahead of me, and when I load up the car, there is a queue of people to get the next trolley.

So I am a tiny bit later than intended at Malaga airport to meet Eve, but we find each other easily and are soon on the way back. One or two issues to discuss, but nothing too serious.

We got back just after 3:00 and only a few minutes after Chris, our guest from Malaga, had arrived. Everyone has arrived by 4:30 and we decided on a quick trip down to Orgiva so people could get the bearings and see a little of the local town (as so that I could pick up a few things that I had missed at the superstore this morning)

Tonight's meal is our "blockbuster" first night special. Lots of tapas, including the fiery prawns and marinated mushrooms. Then chicken with peppers, escalivada, and salad, followed by fruit with the hot chocolate, cream and honey source. So hopefully everyone is wowed by that. One problem this week is that one guest is allergic to peppers (on which Spanish food relies) and another is allergic to prawns. So some of the food is cooked in Nigel and Zoe's kitchen to avoid contamination! This is not a great success and we'll need to think about this further.

But everyone seems to enjoy it all and everyone has now met each other. And we have plans for a big trip to Pampaniera tomorrow for everyone as well.

Spain - week one, day six

Friday May 2nd 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our last day of yoga for the first week and a slightly more energetic sequence to end with. Overall I have been very pleased with the first week's teaching. I have made a few little tweaks to my class plans but overall, what I've done seems to have been appropriate and enjoyable for the participants. The location is lovely, the time of day is good (not too hot yet, but the early morning chill has passed), and a good way to get the day underway.

We have a quicker brunch than usual and curtail the last life coaching class so that our guests can fit in a trip to the coast and along the Costa Tropica. They are heading for Salobrena, which always looks very nice as we pass by it from Malaga, and then off in the direction of Almeria. So we can have a quiet afternoon, sort out yet more stuff and start to plan next week, when we have four guests with us.

I even manage a 20 minute swim while Pilates is on.

Our final dinner is our chicken, pepper and rice casserole which is one of our favourites and which we made a good job of tonight we thought (sometimes we get the rice to be slightly too firm for the dish).

And so far, the feedback on the week from our guests is excellent - some very satisfied customers to start us off this year!

Spain Week One - day five

Thursday May 1st 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

For our yoga today, we tried to work in a bit more flow into the postures, and included three short sequences of postures into these "vinyasa". This is not really my speciality, but was quite fun to do and is a sign of my growing confidence I would think. Feedback remains good, so I am pretty happy.

It was the May day holiday today and this meant, sadly, that the regular market in Orgiva was postponed. We had hoped that our guests would have been able to go there today (as I really enjoyed seeing it last week). So instead we have the next class of the "learn to relax" theme slightly earlier than expected and a really nice learn to meditate session under the lemon trees in the garden.

The temperature continues to climb and reached the mid thirties today. I had a little sun bathing session outside by the pool, but it was too hot for me after quite a short time. So we had a quiet afternoon sorting out more stuff. My thoughts are often on marketing and how to really develop our breaks going forward. So much we don't know about this at the moment.

Dinner tonight has a North African theme (as it is possible to see some of the mountains in Morocco from the tops of the Sierra Nevada mountains behind us) and was very nice indeed. Stuffed aubergines to start, followed by a chicken, artichoke and vegetable tagine (served in Nigel and Zoe's authentic clay tagine). Dessert was a cake we had bought at the local bakery this morning and which was really nice - light sponge with cream and honey.

And a little bit of star gazing tonight as it is another really clear evening. Saturn is high in the sky directly south and I was surprised that we could get some good views of it - enough to see the rings clearly. Also it's moon Titan was visible (I think). Still too early in the year for views of the star fields of the milky way,but the first time any of our guests had seen the rings of saturn.

Spain Week One - day four

Wednesday April 30th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our "rest day" today so no classes and a chance for everyone to have a long day trip somewhere. Granada is the most popular choice this week, and that includes Linda and myself. We gave two of our guests a lift up there as well (if nothing else to experience the excitment of trying to park the Land Rover in the tiny spaces in car parks that Spain seems to have!)

We split up at the Plaza Bim Rhambla just by the cathedral and Linda and I were soon settled in a cafe eating a selection of the really light do'nuts (no really, they are a local delicacy called, I think, chuiso).
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One of the six do'nuts that we had as a "mid-morning snack". So light, so delicate . . . .

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From there, via an ice cream seller near the church of St Anna (!), we made our way through to the Albaycin (the Arab quarter) where we found the same cake shop we visited last year and which still sells pistaschio pastries which we love. But if this is beginning to sound just like a food excursion, I probably should point out that we then heading up through the Albaycin all the way up to Sacramonte, which is a walk of at least a couple of miles. Some great views of the amazing Alhambra Palace as we walked up the hill. I shot about 20 minutes of video footage, though as yet we haven't really viewed any of this and have no idea whether it is of suitable quality (we are aiming for a home movie, but not a poor one!)

Linda and the Alhambra Palace on the walk to Sacramonte

Lunch was at a small, but very popular, square just below Sacramonte. We just had a beer and some tapas, while a businessman on the table nearby had a huge seafood platter that was just amazing. Squid, octopus, prawns, huge fillets fo fish - this was very impressive. A flute player wandered round and was very good, getting one euro from us. This was all very pleasant I must say.

Some of the old city wall in the Albaycin with snow-covered mountains in the distance

The view of Granada from just below Sacramonte - the cathedral is in the centre of the picture

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The facade of the church of Santa Anna

That afternoon we made our way to the Alhambra and discovered, much to our surprise, that it is actually possible to walk round quite a lot of the interior of the site for free. It is only the Nasrid Palaces, the Generalife (wonder how that is pronounced?) and some of the towers that require tickets to get in. For the Nasrid Palaces, this involves applying two weeks in advance or getting there by 8:00 when the ticket office has some for sale. We still haven't seen the inside of the Palaces (which are amazing from the pictures we have seen), but it was nice to go round some of the other bits. Particularly odd was the photo place that would give you an Arab costume and photograph you against a palace background for that authentic oriental look!

The entrance to the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra Palace - the most visited tourist site in Spain!

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More of the Alhambra Palace

More ice cream late afternoon and meeting up for the journey home. Nigel and Zoe had offered to do a barbeque this evening which was very good. We are not actually very good at barbequeing, so this was an excellent plan. Everyone seemed to have a good day out as well, so that seems to vindicate the plan of having this mid-week day free.

Spain week one - day three

Tuesday April 29th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

Our 9:00am yoga class is developing well. Two of the group are beginners and the remainder have done some yoga, but no one is prepared to be classed as experienced. So we are still working through the classic sun salutation step by step. Today we were focusing on the forward bends and the movement into baby cobra. This is our third class and everyone seems to be progressing well - or at least they are enjoying it. Tomorrow is the rest day so various newly worked muscles can have a break

Most people went out today at lunchtime, travelling to the local villages. Lanjaron seemed to figure highly in plans. This is a very interesting place based around the local bottled water industry. And there are some great views down the valley from by the main street.

There is a big turn out of locals to Linda's Pilates class as word has spread following Zoe's email and the first two classes. So tonight the courtyard is pretty full and most of our kit is being used. Later in the week we are hoping to persuade people to let us shoot a little bit of our planned home movie at the class.

We all dined out in Orgiva this evening. Drinks in one of the many bars in the main street by the church and then down to one of the nice places at the bottom of the main road. This is Nigel and Zoe's favourite place in town and was pretty good.

Then back to Nigel and Zoe's to watch the second half of the Barca / Manchester United match (for those who were interested!). One of our group is a keen Man City fan so he was rooting for Barcelona throughout. So a disappointing night for him