Sunday 28th October 2018

After a slow start to the day and a leisurely breakfast, we took the car to the market at Sabanilles. There was a long queue to get into the parking lot and we missed the entrance and almost by accident went on up the hill to the real village of Manilva where the local people, not the ex-pats, live. This is a charming small village with murals on some of the walls and also great views of the local countryside far out to sea.

Returning back to the market, we found a parking spot and walked around the market where there were all sorts of wares for sale, some new and some used. There were tools, toys, clothes, bric-a-brac and some small amounts of food. The market covers a large area and was quite crowded with, mostly Spanish buyers. There was much old household goods which was obviously the result of people clearing out their houses of unwanted contents.

After browsing around the market for about an hour, we left and drove up to the top of a hill where there was a view of the golf course which was meant to be attached to a luxury hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel developers went bankrupt and the hotel was left half finished. The site has now been fenced off because much of the valuable parts of the building have been stolen by thieves. The golf course is however still operating and it is a switchback course with many hills and some very long holes. The course is well groomed and looks very attractive. There was a foursome on the tee which we overlooked and they turned out to be Finnish. Nearby there are some new single family houses being built and we inspected the site of one of them which has an 'Infinity' swimming pool. At this point the golfers asked us if we were the owners of this half-built house and he lied by saying we were and we were moving in next April!! This impressed the Finnish golfers no end!!


The views from this vantage point is pretty spectacular and you can see as far as Gibraltar and beyond. Still the whole area is heavily spotted with apartment complexes and homes which are mostly for non-Spanish. There is much development in progress and it will be interesting to see if the market is still open to such a great amount of development and supply of accommodation. Is there still a sufficient flow of people from Northern Europe and elsewhere to move to Southern Spain and occupy these burgeoning developments? Time will tell. I wonder if there is enough infrastructure to sustain this increasing influx of population.

The golf course above Manilva

The shell of the house with the 'Infinity' pool that Bill 'claimed to have bought!!!!

Some views from above Manilva overlooking the golf course which was to be part of a luxury hotel complex. The hotel was never completed and stands now an idle shell not enhancing the neighborhood.

Although there was a heavy squall with high winds and heavy rain for a short while in the early evening, the weather cleared to give us a chilly, breezy but fine evening. We walked down the hill to a Spanish restaurant called Restaurant Macues which is the best real Spanish restaurant in Puerto de la Duquesa. This restaurant which is a favorite with touring golfers, is very pleasant and we arrived at opening time of 7 p.m.

We had a good meal of fish, pasta, Iberian pork washed down with some very good vino de casa.