Sunday 4th November 2018

Today we wen to the Arts and Crafts Market at Sotogrande. After breakfast we set off for the short distance to Sotogrande which is between Manilva and Gibraltar quite neat the town of San Roque. The market is held on Sundays in the marina of Sotogrande.

Sotogrande is an upmarket development where a lot of wealthy people live:

From Wikipedia:
"Sotogrande is the largest privately owned residential development in Andalusia. Originally a gated community, it is located in the municipality of San Roque, Cádiz, Spain and is composed of a 20 square kilometres (8 sq mi) stretch from the Mediterranean Sea 25 km east of Gibraltar, back into the foothills of Sierra Almenara, providing contrasting views of sea, hills, cork forests and green fairways, including the Rock of Gibraltar and Morocco.

Some of the richest and most powerful families of Spain and the United Kingdom have summer homes in Sotogrande. Current and past regulars and inhabitants of Sotogrande include Peter Caruana, former Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, current Chief Minister of Gibraltar,Tony Blair, Emilio Botín, Ana Rosa Quintana, Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mike Gwilym, as well as HRH Prince Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, the most legitimate pretender to the throne of France."

Despite the above, the area is not that imposing although the collection of yachts in the marina does suggest some quite heavy investment. The marina is surrounded by apartments and rather smart shops. On the quay of the marina on Sundays, stalls sell mostly women's clothing as well as some art in the form of jewelry, painting and sculpture and a few other products. Paivi did find some clothes which she bought but there was really little of interest for sale.

The marina at Sotogrande which houses expensive boats and yachts and around which the Sunday craft market is located

The cafe with the rather crude name at which we had coffee

The 'wheels' of choice in Sotogrande

We walked around to the other side of the marina where we found a small restaurant/coffee shop called the 'Hairy Lemon'. Here we stopped for a cup of coffee and watched the world go by for a while.

Leaving here we returned to Manilva via the coast road.

After we got home, we went to the nearby swimming pool which is part of the development. The pool is just down the road from Bill and Paivi's house and is for the exclusive use of the residents. It is accessed with a key and is located in very nice grounds with sun loungers and other facilities including changing rooms and showers.

Bill and I risked the pool which was rather cold so we did not stay in very long. However it was a nice sunny day and even if a bit breezy, the sun was strong enough to be warm enough to sit out on the sun loungers.

A couple of chilly bathers

Quite soon we returned back to the house and went up to the top floor with a gin and tonic, some potato chips and olives and enjoyed the late afternoon sun and views out of the Mediterranean, possibly as far Marbella which could be as much as 40 miles away.

Later we had dinner in cooked by Bill which was, as usual extremely tasty.