Puebla Lucia

Closing up - Checklist

2011-02-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

Things to bring

Keys for home and Puebla
Books
Wallet + bank cards
Passport
Driving licence
Flight number
Medication
Glasses - contact lenses
Sunglasses
Euro coins for train ticket
Money for return taxi
iPod / Palm Pilot
Memory stick

Things to do

Put covers on yellow chairs.
Stand tables upside-down
Close laptops
Cover RJ keyboard
Check radiators are off
Defrost fridge
Dishwasher empty or on
No food left around
Leftovers to Eric
Spray round with insecticide
Check rollerblinds are down
Check all lights switched off

February 2011

2011-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

First week and a half in February, and the weather has been glorious. It's been sunny every day - but split into three quite distinct temperature bands, which are worth noting for the future.

In the morning it's sunny but chilly - so the dress code is sweaters and long trousers. Then by 1.00 pm it is warm enough to sun bathe, which I have been doing privately on the patio and publicly in the garden.

However, by 5.00 pm, even though the sun is still out, the temperature drops quickly, and it's time to go in. Between 6.00 and 7.00 pm it gets dark, and the radiators need to be switched on in the house.

May 2010

2010-05-28T02:03:00.000-07:00

After the dreadful winter during which incessant rains have filled the reservoirs to overflowing, we're now into something more like the climate for which the region is famed. I arrived in mid May, and it hasn't stopped sunshining after a week and a half. The geraniums in the pots on the patio wall are in full flower, and the vine has more grapes then ever after I gave it a drastic pruning.

This week I took the major step of buying a bike, and can now be seen pottering up and down the Paseo Maritimo of an evening in a desperate attempt to get some exercise.

Easter 2010

2010-04-13T03:49:00.000-07:00

After an unusually severe winter here in Andalucia (and buckets of rain) Easter brought a return of its more famous sunshine, and we arrived just in time to take advantage of it. Heather located handyman Barry, and he fixed some of the annoying practical issue which have been hanging over for some time now. A new floor in my window casing - tiled in traditional dark green after some searching; the hole in our bathroom fixed, and some new wiring in my bedroom and the hallway.

I also took delivery of my new computer set-up from the Daytona boys, and the installation of our new broadband supplier went mercifully without a hitch.

Eric and Gerry gave us two of their Indian-style carpets from upsatairs, and these have enhanced both Heather's bedroom and the conservatory.

It was good in the Puebla to note that new palm trees have been planted in the garden to replace those destroyed by the beetle which has caused so much damage along the coast in the last year or so, and I was inspired to buy some plant pots to replace those which disappeared from the patio wall some years ago.

However, there is sad news to relate. Heather discovered that her favourite mascot in the Puebla - the Blue Cat - has gone to the Big Kitten Basket in the sky. Fortunately, she has him immortalised as a screen saver on her PC.

November in Andalucia

2009-11-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

November - maximum afternoon temperatures average around the low twenties, but when you put the thermometer directly in the sun 40 degrees is possible.

2009 - I have just had two weeks of continuous sunshine, with only a breezy weekend to disrupt the ambiance.

November is the time for tree pruning. The gardeners cut growth back so that the trees and bushes don't get out of hand. Experts are brought in to do the palm trees. See November Haircut 2006.

I have just this year cut back the two trees on the terrace, which can provide an extra hour or more of sun.

It starts going dark around six o'clock.

Fresh artichokes are available and cheap.

October in Andalucia - what happens

2009-11-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

October is the month of the Feria - which means families dressed up in very attractive traditional costumes. Males in the short-jacketed grey suits of a caballero, with flat, broad-brimmed hats, females in brightly coloured flamenco dresses.

The common wisdom is that it rains for the feria - but in 2009 I was here for two weeks in temperatures not much less than the August highs. [But there had been rain in late September.]

The nights begin around 7.30 pm - but there is no need for any extra heating.

Asparagus is only available in the 'wild grass' variety - which is best avoided.

Winter Sunshine

2008-12-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

It seems really odd to be sunbathing at the end of December - but this week the weather has been glorious. We're lucky - because the autumn in Andalucia has been so bad it's made the newspapers. Low temperatures and lots of rain, which fortunately have filled up the reservoirs.

We've bitten the bullet and cleared all the rubbish out of the house. It reminded us that we've been here for six years now. So all the old curtains and bedding which was left behind by the previous owner has gone down to CUDECA, as have wheely bags and all the crap that people seem to leave behind here when they come to stay.

We've bought a beautiful new multi-textured spread for my bed, and re-arranged the furniture slightly so that everything will be ready when Teresa and John come out with us in January.

December 2007

2007-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

A strange week of mixed fortunes. We flew in on Sunday night (December 2) to find the restaurant in Pueblo Lopez closed until February. Then the next day, after cleaning the house, within twenty-four hours, both computers had collapsed. Mine updated Windows and needed a startup disk to re-boot, and Heather's lost its Internet capability. Faced with the worries about marking OU scripts, and some problems with our new Moodle courses at Xaverian College, I was on the point of going back home. Fortunately, we were bailed out by Eric lending us his snazzy new wide-screen laptop, and the Swedish boys at Daytona got our systems working again in a couple of days.

But the weather has been stunning - especially for this time of year. It's been hot enough to sunbathe every day, with cloudless skies.

The evenings are chilly - as soon as the sun goes down, which is around five or six o'clock. And it happens very rapidly, which one tends to forget.

We brought ourselves up to date in a civic sense by paying all our local taxes vis Saez y Saez, and we enjoyed the new Los Olivos which has crap service but a much cheaper three course menu for 13 Euros - but the same good standards of cuisine.

May 2007

2007-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Another 'mixed week' weatherwise. I arrived on Monday 21 to an electric thunderstorm which even knocked out the satelite TV stations. But there were good days ahead. David Radford brought me up to date with neighbourhood developments (ie, gossip) - the saddest part of which was the death of John Clarke at 'Oasis' who had been doing his two lengths in flippers and goggles regularly until quite recently. The tree in the Plaza (pictured above when alive) has been poisoned by persons unknown and has now been cropped, and climbing vines planted round its base. I got a replacement mobile phone from Adam's Internet shop, read and wrote reviews for the next newsletter, and lived more or less the whole week from one shop at Mercadonna.

Easter 2007

2007-04-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

We arrived on Easter Monday to find Malaga Airport partly under water. The rains had been torrential and persistent - and continued so in muted form for the next few days. We read, wrote, and did jobs in the house. Friday 13 was the first decent day, and Saturday the first time I got into the garden. The patio is much more pleasant and much easier to keep clean since we had it re-tiled, and since I cut the trees back.

The broadband connection has setlled down now - though I still have to wait for a connection to be made via next door before I switch to our own supply.

Two sad tree losses to report. A palm tree in the middle of the garden has been infected with some bug and lost all its fronds. And complaints about lack of parking space from the houses opposite Salus has led to the cutting down of some of the orange trees to make more room. Not a good solution to the problem say I (to Giovanni).

Contacts

2007-04-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Window cleaner

Pete Harriss

Tel: 679.88.63.52

Email: peteharriss@yahoo.co.uk

Robin and Judi

Tel: 0034 958 78 5517

Nora and BM

Tel: 00 34

November Haircut

2006-11-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

The palm trees in the garden receive their fairly severe trim at the hands of the 'tree fellah'.

October in Puebla Lucia

2006-10-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

Eating Out in Fuengirola

2006-09-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

You are spoiled for choice. The town is teeming with restaurants from all over the world. As a general rule of thumb, the nearer you are to the seafont, the more expensive the prices will be - but there are bargains to be had everywhere. These are a few suggestions for places within striking distance of Puebla Lucia.

LUNCH

Lots of restaurants specialise in a menu del dia which is served between mid-day and late afternoon. It's a fixed-price bargain aimed at working people for whom lunch might be the main meal of the day.

Casa Dori
Starter, main course, dessert, wine, and bread for seven Euros. Andalucian dishes, lots of fish, cheap and cheerful; packed out every day; get there before 2.30 pm. Directions: exit Puebla Lucia via main entrance to Paseo Jesus Santos Rein, turn right, twenty metres on right.

La Paz Garrido II
This is the most authentic lunchtime fish experience ever. It's a very simple formula. They just sell fish - of all kinds, raw or cooked on the hotplate a la plancha - and that's it! Spartan accommodation; wine or beer to drink; rapid service; bread the only extra. But you can try mussells, squid, octopus, anchovies - anything that comes out of the sea. Closed in summer. Corner of Paseo Jesus Santos Rein and Avenida de Mijas.

DINNER

El Candil
The ultimate 'fill your boots' at good value prices. Huge salads (one will do for two people - ask for 'una para dos'); fish and meat courses with routine trimmings; polite Spanish service. Unfortunately, attracts downmarket Euro-bore clientel.

El Caballo
Horse-themed traditional Andalucian restaurant; very popular with Spanish locals; choose meat rather than fish; mid-priced; good service.

Sol y Sombra
Listed in tour guides as a cheap and cheerful workers' kaff - but don't believe it. This place has been through two changes of ownership since then. It's now a comfortable, medium-priced option. Menu del dia about 11 Euros, and an evening special of three courses plus bread and wine for 16 Euros - outstanding value. Good quality cooking, and food presentation standards high, but empty most of the time, and hovering table supervision creates concentration camp atmosphere. Could close or change hands soon. Calle Maestra Angeles Aspiazu.

Los Olivos
Traditional classy service; restricted but good menu; nouvelle cuisine approach; good ambiance; especially good on food presentation; clientele almost all local Spanish.

Fish Alley (Calle Moncayo)
OK - if you must. It runs parallel with the Paseo Maritimo from the port, westward, one line back. The restaurants go up in quality and price as you walk down this Tourist Hell. It starts from Brian and Tracy's pork pie and beans with Sky TV in your face and as many pints of lager as you can drink for tuppence - to quite good fish restaurants at the far end of the street. A tourist trap, best avoided.

South from Granada

2006-08-23T02:55:00.000-07:00

Gerald Brenan was a Bloomsbury fringe figure who spent much of his adult life living in and writing about Spain. This is his much-loved travel memoir which recounts setting up home in the 1920s in the Alpujarras - a beautiful but fairly remote area of the south between Granada and the coast. It's a joy to read for all sorts of reasons - partly because of his amazing fortitude and resourcefulness, and partly because of the empathy he shows towards everything with which he comes into contact. At first he lived on next to nothing, with no water, gas, or electricity, settling in a village miles from anywhere. His idea was to spend his time reading, catching up on an education which he had not received at public school. His food came virtually straight off the land - for this area is rich in fruit, vegetables, and the olive oil for which it is famous.

He integrates completely with the locals, and gives wonderfully sympathetic accounts of their customs and behaviour. Anything he wants to buy is miles away in Almeria, Orgiva, or Malaga, and his account includes expeditions we would now consider positively heroic:

I set out therefore on foot by the still-unfinished coast road, buying as I went bread, cheese, and oranges, and sleeping on the beaches. Since I was in poor walking condition, I took five days to do the hundred a fifty miles.

He is amazingly at one with nature. I imagine a keen botanist would find double pleasure in his description of excursions into the Sierra Nevada. And literary fans will be amused at his accounts of visits from Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington, then Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. His portrait of Strachey's calvary on the outing to Lanjaron, riding over mountains side-saddle on a mule, carrying a parasol, and complaining of piles - is pricelessly funny.

There are chapters on the calendar of village life, of festivals and religious beliefs, and in particular the powerful local superstitions; a whole section on local food - paella, bacalao, and gazpacho - all quite common now, but at the time, like food off another planet.

There's a chapter which creates en passant a whole analysis of the Bloomsbury Group and most of its major figures, plus why he felt that by 1930 it had outlived itself as a cultural force. His description of the pleasures and riches of walking in the mountains would take you several holidays just to re-trace his steps.

He offers a history of the region which starts at the Mesolithic Age and traces its development in terms of agriculture, architecture, politics, and land cultivation. He even throws in a chapter describing a guided tour to the brothels of Almeria.

It's no wonder why this book has remained a popular classic which never goes out of print. Read it if you are interested in Spain, Bloomsbury, or just an account of life, art, and culture from a sensitive and intelligent human being. He went on to write one of the definitive accounts of the Spanish Civil War - but it's this book which you will want to keep on your shelf.

Gerald Brenan, South from Granada, London: Penguin, 1963, pp.320, ISBN 0140167005

other BLOOMSBURY GROUP books

Another Tour of the Grounds

2006-08-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Around the Puebla

2006-08-20T03:47:00.000-07:00

Interiors

2006-08-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

How to Enjoy Yourself

2006-08-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Take one look at these, and you'll get the general idea!

Security

2006-08-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

All doors and windows in the apartment are now fully secure, with some combination of reijas (iron grilles), roller shutters, and/or locking doors. You can lock the reijas and leave the doors open (to let air circulate) or do the opposite. The safest thing to do is to take the house keys with you whenever leaving the apartment.

However - be warned! It is now easily possible to become locked out on the patio if the wind blows the doors shut - because there are no exterior handles on them. If this happens, you have to climb over the wall - and you need to hope that the conservatory reijas are open - or you have the keys.

Cleaning the House

2006-08-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

1. Sweep or vacuum obvious bits from floor.

2. Take all small rugs and shake them on the terrace. Leave them there until the end of your session.

3. Change bed linen.

4. Fill mop bucket (half) with hot water, Don Limpio, and a drop of bleach from yellow bottle.

5. Mop everywhere, but strategically so that you're not stepping on areas already done. Use the hallway as an oasis.

Follow these housewifely tips for the best results.

Change water when it gets dirty or you're just spreading dirt
Empty water down toilet not kitchen sink. Sink will get blocked with sludge and bits.
Wash mop and let it dry upside-down in cupboard on terrace.
Spray with anti-vermin stuff as you'll have mopped most of it up.

6. Vacuum all big rugs and possibly settees with nozzle (on kitchen shelf).

7. Dust wooden furniture with Pledge and a J-Cloth or some kitchen paper. Lightly dust TV screen.

8. Clean bath, sink and toilet with special cloth and Don Limpio.

9. Wipe rim of toilet daily with toilet paper and put drop of bleach down toilet.

10. Clean mirror with Crystale glass cleaner.Clean kettle with same.

11. Put rugs back, and wipe all kitchen surfaces with Don Limpio.

12. Sweep then hose down terrace.

13. Sit back and admire your lovely house.

NB Maintenance

Put J-Cloth in with washing or in dishwasher at top or in bowl with drop of bleach every three days or so.

Wash towels and tea-towels and table linen frequently.

Use swifter to keep dust down off floors.

Washing machine

Start of programme is 'F'

Spin is 'H' - I give an extra spin usually.

Use one tablet for a half load, or two tablets for a big wash.

Dishwasher

Use one pellet. They're under the sink.

A1 is the normal programme starter - look at the icons on the inside of the door for further enlightenment.

Take care that nothing sticks up so that the arm can't swivel. Lay the long utensils horizontally across top layer.

Don't put wooden stuff on bottom layer.

Put everything upside down. It won't wash the bottom of things well.

How to get there

2006-07-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

When you can see any element of this view, you are almost there. It shows the taxi rank outside the Supersol supermarket, with the railway station behind you. The obelisk marks one end of the Paseo Jesus Santos Rein, and two hundred yards walking straight ahead will bring you to the front gates of Puebla Lucia.

Arriving at Malaga airport, you have two choices - a taxi ride or the local train. The first is fast, expensive, and scary; the second is cheap, slow, and safe.

The Taxi option

Taxis are located immediately outside the arrival lounge, and the journey should last about twenty minutes and cost 40 Euros. Ask for Puebla Lucia in Fuengirola. If the driver doesn't know where this is, tell him it's near the railway station: "Cerca la estacion de tren".

The driver will probably drop you at the taxi rank outside the railway station in Fuengirola (as in the picture above) which is also outside Supersol, one of the main supermarkets. You have in front of you a large fountain with an obelisk. Cross the road to the Mercacentro (covered market) and continue eastwards along the main avenue. Puebla Lucia main entrance is is 200 yards on your left, just before another roundabout/fountain with horses.

Most taxi drivers drive at death-defying speeds along the motorway - so much so that we have stopped using this option on health and safety grounds. It's only for emergencies or late night flight arrivals.

The Train option

At the end of the airport arrival lounge, go outside and turn left, past the line of taxis. Cross the roadway. This leads you to the railway station, where the local train takes you directly into Fuengirola. Buy a ticket at the machine for 2.20 Euros. Trains leave Malaga every thirty minutes on the hour and the half hour. They take about ten minutes to reach the airport.

You can't miss your stop because Fuengirola is the end of the line. On emerging from the railway station, take the same directions as above, starting from Supersol.

Once you get to the railway station and Supersol, you are only five minutes away from Puebla Lucia.

Trains run every thirty minutes, and the last train out of Malaga is at 10.30 pm.

If you arrive in Malaga by train, the high speed Spanish equivalent of the French TGV docks in the main railway station, Maria Zambrano. Exit onto the station concourse, and the local Malaga-Fuengirola train is downstairs.

Puebla Lucia - the basics

2006-07-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Puebla Lucia
Paseo Jesus Santos Rein
Fuengirola
SPAIN 29640