March 4, 2020
Nerja Nirvana
Nerja was a treat! This town on the Mediterranean south coast of Spain, just 40 miles east of Malaga, offered us gorgeous views, a safe and quiet environment, and warm weather. We were lucky to find a bright, cheerful Airbnb from which we awoke each morning to a soul-enriching sight of a sliver of the endlessly changing sea. Our tiny patio was a heat sink, outfitted with an umbrella to protect from too much sun. We read and ate out there; drank in the ambiance and white wine; and, in general, felt very spoiled! There was a pool but we never ventured into it. Our neighbors in this complex, fellow retirees also fleeing cold weather, included folks from England, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. They were all much more sun junkies than we, sitting by the pool for hours.
The wake-up sight from our bedroom in Nerja. I tried to convince myself that I could see the African coast on the horizon but I may have been a little delusional.
Bruce had chosen to include Nerja in our winter itinerary to check it out as a possible destination for a longer stay another year. One of his favorite activities anywhere is to stop at real estate agencies displaying photos of properties for rent and sale. In Nerja this behavior intensified.
Our visit lasted for just 8 days but was our longest time in one spot since McAllen, Texas. We needed somewhere to settle in and rest for a bit. Nerja was perfect for that. Six years previously, when we had spent a few days there, we had scurried around visiting the much-touted nearby caves and the huge weekly flea market and the 16th century church. This time, being a bit older, we kicked back and filled our days with reading and napping, a bit of food shopping & cooking, walking around by day and strolling the streets by evening, as is the Spanish tradition, perhaps stopping for a wine & tapas or a gelato along the way.
Coincidentally, our friend, Jon, another lovely Brit whom we had met in 2014 while we were staying in the small Spanish town of Alozaina, is now living in Nerja. We had a delightful but brief visit with Jon at a cafe where he modestly filled us in on his activities geared toward supporting sustainability, as well as his creative outlets of music and writing. He's a past resident of Totnes, England, known as a "transition town", that is transitioning off fossil fuels and into energy independence, as well as encouraging communal unity for solving local issues. We are impressed with Jon's ability to create a new and meaningful life for himself, alone, in a very different land, requiring the use of a second language! It seems to have invigorated him, and his enthusiasm was contagious.
Our last hurrah in sweet Nerja was a weekend visit from Andrea and Angel (see last post), down from Madrid! She had business in Malaga that very week, so Angel joined her. Our Sunday adventure together was a drive to the beautiful little town of Frigiliana, just 15 minutes from Nerja in their car. It's a gorgeous place, all white buildings and narrow, twisting medieval streets looking out to sea from a lofty perch on the side of a mountain. Tourists and artists have definitely discovered it, too, bringing lots of restos and galleries.
We wandered up and down, around and about, oohing and ahhing, clicking lots of photos. Frigiliana is a typical "pueblo blanco" (white village), built high up for defense purposes, back when the Muslims ruled the land - for 800 years!. Multiple beautiful informational tiles now give the old story of their fight to stay when the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella & Ferdinand) began expelling Muslims and Jews, beginning in 1492.
The streets led us ever upward until we finally emerged onto a high, flat space, the location of a resto with an incredible view over the town, across the lower land and out to sea. We had quite a feast there, reminiscent of our Sunday roast dinner with John and Mary in London in some ways, as this one included roast pork for me and roast lamb for Bruce. But oh so different in most every other way, most strikingly in locale! Bruce & I sat back and enjoyed having A & A take charge, doing the communicating, translating the menu for us, making recommendations, and ordering.
https://www.turismofrigiliana.es/en/
We left Nerja the day after our outing with Andrea and Angel, on a 7 hour fast train bound for the Catalonian city of Girona in the north, nearly on the French border. We were armed with our bottle of Purell, with wipes at the ready to disinfect our train seats! Girona was a bit of an impulse destination. We spent 4 days there and really enjoyed it. It deserves its own post so look for more on Girona coming up.
While we're away, I try to maintain a balance of staying informed about issues at home, thanks to the NY Times and the Portland Press Herald and other online sources, while keeping my head primarily where my body is, firmly ensconced in Spain at the moment. It's a struggle, being a political aficionado and with internet news available, 24/7. Lately, the Democrats' Presidential candidate conundrums, as well as the coronavirus concerns are taking up quite a lot of our attention. It appears that the Dems may be finally getting organized, thankfully. As for the virus, we are not panicking about it, just maintaining diligent hand washing and keeping an eye on the ever-changing news of its spread. We have discussed cutting our trip short - but not seriously at this point. At the same time, we want to be responsible travelers and will do the "right thing", if indicated. Thinking of our plans for the next few weeks, Bruce has done a bit of research on France's response and discovered that they are prepared for the virus with kits and care. A little different from what we read about the US preparedness, with the CDC having been gutted in the past 3 years. Could there be a connection between our political concerns and our healthcare concerns ??
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