Monday 29th October 2018 - Mijas and Fuengirola
The day dawned bright and sunny. Our trips today would be to Mijas. a small town, slightly inland in the hills above the coast with great views of the Costa del Sol and beyond. Ultimately we would end up in Fuengirola where Paivi had a dentist appointment with a Finish dentist!!
We drove along the coastal motorway and then struck in land to Mijas which proved to be very crowded on this day with many bus tours and tourist visitors. As t was such a beautiful day and the town is very scenic and 'cute' it was not so surprising that it was a popular destination. We had some difficulty finding a parking spot and circled the town's narrows streets a couple of times before settling on a multi-story car park which was fairly full but the sign at the entrance witched from 'compleatado' to 'libra' as each car departed and a space became available. After a short wait, we were allowed in and found a spot to park. Going up in the elevator, we exited into a square where there were lines of donkeys tied up. Some were 'donkey taxis' and could be ridden around the streets and some attached to small carts in which you could ride around the town. Although looking forlorn by nature, some of these donkeys did not look very happy at all and there did not seem to be many takers for their services. I wondered how large tourists could ride these frail looking beasts. Later, in a local free newspaper I found that the mayor of Mijas as plans to restrict the 'donkey taxi' activities by various means in the interests of the animals but the local animal rights groups want the whole practice to be stopped altogether. They allege that the donkeys are abused and kept in very poor conditions in their stables. The donkeys are a tourist attraction and bring many people to the small town so there is some conflict on their future which will need to be resolved.
To satisfy some of the portlier tourists needs to ride a donkey, the local Lions Club have commissioned a life-size bronze donkey in the square where tourists can mount it and have their photographs taken.
From one end of the square, there was a balcony where wonderful views of the surrounding countryside, the shore and Mediterranean Sea could be viewed. There was also a cafe where I had an excellent cappuccino and fresh orange juice.
The square also had a rather nice world map where friendships with other countries were portrayed.
We retrieved the car and set off for the funicular cable car at Benalmadena, a small town just west of Malaga. This cable car called the Teleférico Benalmádena, which starts close the entrance to the Tivoli Amusement Park on the outskirts of Benalmadena goes up to the near top of Mount Calamorro which rises to over 800 meters behind the town. The cable car takes passengers to just under 800 meters and there is a path to the very top for the intrepid.
We bought tickets for the cable car ride and were soon standing on the platform where the cars slid past. We boarded the small four-seat cars and started off up the mountain. To say the ride was spectacular, was a serious understatement. As it ascends, the views become ever more amazing. It crosses above the motorway and on up until Malaga to the east and Gibraltar to the west come into view. The planes landing at Malaga airport seem to be below you. Most of the way up, we passed over developments of apartments, houses, many with swimming pools and the scrubby rock face of the mountain.
At the summit, where the cable car ends, there are paths to various 'miradores' for views in all directions. There is also a park where, in the season, there are falconry demonstrations at certain times of the day, although not when we were there.
The paths to the 'miradores' were rocky but well-kept and had handrails for the less sturdy of us.
In the absence of the falcons, there was a rather bizarre collection of fowl wandering aimlessly around the cable car station.
To ensure that we had adequate time to get to Fuengirola to meet Paivi's appointment we waited the short while to get the descending cable car and were soon back at ground level again.
Then it was off to drive the short distance to Fuengirola and find the dentist's office. The office is situated in an area called Santa Fé de los Boliches, often just shortened to 'Los Boliches'. It is a series of narrows streets close by the sea front where there are shops and restaurants.
We drove along the coastal motorway and then struck in land to Mijas which proved to be very crowded on this day with many bus tours and tourist visitors. As t was such a beautiful day and the town is very scenic and 'cute' it was not so surprising that it was a popular destination. We had some difficulty finding a parking spot and circled the town's narrows streets a couple of times before settling on a multi-story car park which was fairly full but the sign at the entrance witched from 'compleatado' to 'libra' as each car departed and a space became available. After a short wait, we were allowed in and found a spot to park. Going up in the elevator, we exited into a square where there were lines of donkeys tied up. Some were 'donkey taxis' and could be ridden around the streets and some attached to small carts in which you could ride around the town. Although looking forlorn by nature, some of these donkeys did not look very happy at all and there did not seem to be many takers for their services. I wondered how large tourists could ride these frail looking beasts. Later, in a local free newspaper I found that the mayor of Mijas as plans to restrict the 'donkey taxi' activities by various means in the interests of the animals but the local animal rights groups want the whole practice to be stopped altogether. They allege that the donkeys are abused and kept in very poor conditions in their stables. The donkeys are a tourist attraction and bring many people to the small town so there is some conflict on their future which will need to be resolved.
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| The donkeys of Mijas |
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| Well, we had to ride too!!!! |
The square also had a rather nice world map where friendships with other countries were portrayed.
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| The Mijas 'friendship' map |
We retrieved the car and set off for the funicular cable car at Benalmadena, a small town just west of Malaga. This cable car called the Teleférico Benalmádena, which starts close the entrance to the Tivoli Amusement Park on the outskirts of Benalmadena goes up to the near top of Mount Calamorro which rises to over 800 meters behind the town. The cable car takes passengers to just under 800 meters and there is a path to the very top for the intrepid.
We bought tickets for the cable car ride and were soon standing on the platform where the cars slid past. We boarded the small four-seat cars and started off up the mountain. To say the ride was spectacular, was a serious understatement. As it ascends, the views become ever more amazing. It crosses above the motorway and on up until Malaga to the east and Gibraltar to the west come into view. The planes landing at Malaga airport seem to be below you. Most of the way up, we passed over developments of apartments, houses, many with swimming pools and the scrubby rock face of the mountain.
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| Our ride up in the cable car. |
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| Views from the near-top of Mount Calamorro including planes landing at Malaga airport and Gibraltar on the distance |
The paths to the 'miradores' were rocky but well-kept and had handrails for the less sturdy of us.
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| Negotiating the rocky path to the 'miradores' |
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| The 'fowls' of Calamorro!! |
Then it was off to drive the short distance to Fuengirola and find the dentist's office. The office is situated in an area called Santa Fé de los Boliches, often just shortened to 'Los Boliches'. It is a series of narrows streets close by the sea front where there are shops and restaurants.
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| One of the small supermarkets in Los Boliches rather obviously targeted to the ex-pat British community.
We found the dentist's office and left Paivi there for treatment and walked the short distance to the sea front where we found a tea shop and had a sandwich and drink. Paivi was finished in a very short time and soon joined us for food and drink with her restored tooth. Fuengirola seems to be a pleasant town with many apartment buildings, restaurants and shops lining the beachfront promenade, a sandy beach and some character to the small streets of the town. It is 'home' to many Scandinavians and British living both on long-term and short-term basis and many of the cafe menus are in Spanish, English and Finnish and cater for the ethnic foods of the ex-pats.
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| The sea-front at Fuengirola
We left Fuengirola and drove into the setting sun back towards Manilva. We stopped along the way to get some sunset shots and then again at the Mercador to stock up on some food for dinner that evening. I decide that it was my turn to cook and purchased some pork loin, butternut squash and other ingredients to make some pork loin in a cider and apple reduction.
The dinner turned out quite reasonably although the cider and apple reduction to which I added some 'piquant' sauce proved to be a little too piquant for some tastes as I think I added a bit too much of the hot sauce to it.
Then we ended the evening by watching Manchester City play Tottenham Hotspur in the UK Premier Football League on Bill's i-Pad and retired to bed. It is worth noting that the match was played at Wembley in London, the day after the NFL had played there (Eagles and Jaguars), and the pitch still had the NFL markings and was in sub-standard condition making it hard, sometimes for the players to control the ball.
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