Old and New Friends in Spain

Off we went last week to Spain. We flew from Bristol to Malaga on a £17 Ryanair flight. It was fine and got us there on time safely. The cabin staff looked bored, tired and disinterested but at that price we couldn't really complain.
Fiona and John were waiting for us at the airport and whisked us off to their villa in the hills above Torrox. We met them about 11 years ago on a sailing holiday in Turkey and hit it off. Fi and I had an adventure with the magazine Place in the Sun shortly after we first met and we both bought properties in Turkey. We haven't seen them for a few years so this was a lovely reunion. John's brother and partner joined us for the stay and they are lovely too so we had a great few days and lots of laughing.
We enjoyed a tour around the area and a night out at the Opera in Nerja. Their house is quirky with beautiful views and they were fabulous hosts. I hope they will let us go back!
For our last day Pat dropped us off in Malaga at a hotel which was free with my hotels.com rewards. The position was great near the marina and beach and just a short walk through a park full of parakeets to the old town.
This next bit was the highlight of my year. Over thirty years ago I shared a flat in Bristol with Ann, we had tons of fun there but as our lives moved on,we found blokes to share our lives with and sadly lost contact. I knew she had moved to Spain and had a son. She and her husband met up with Matt about 28 years ago when he had to rush out there to rescue my sick aunt and uncle in a Spanish intensive care hospital. After that though I didn't know where she was.
So anyway I found her on Facebook just a few weeks ago. She and her husband who I also knew from our Bristol crazy days met us in Malaga and we went for a tour of the Malaga port bars. They were both just the same and we had a lot of catching up to do. It was great. They now live on what sounds like half a mountain in the middle of nowhere which they bought, in very interesting circumstances. I hope that next visit I will spend a couple of nights with them. Here are some photos of our fantastic trip.

The view from our lovely room in Torrox at Fi and John's house.

The men doing men's stuff round the pool.

Lots of eating, drinking, chatting and laughing.

Nerja

Nerja

Nerja

Matt and John strolling in Torrox.

where have those 30 years gone?

My lovely friend Ann. I am so pleased I found her again.

Winter sun

We were both missing the sun and Matt was desperate for some warmish wind surfing so we booked the flights to Fuerteventura on Saturday and left on Wednesday. We stayed ahttp://www.melia.com/en/hotels/spain/fuerteventura/melia-gorriones/index.htmlt . We were so pleased with our choice, quite isolated and on Sotavento beach. It had lovely rooms, beautiful gardens, good food and entertainment. The weather was great, sunny and windy all week, around 23C. I was happy with a book by the pool or on the beach while Matt whizzed about. We had 2 non windsurfing days when we pootled about around the island in a hire car. Here are the photos of our trip.

Cute little stripey thing by the beach.

Renee Egli Windsurfing.

Sotavento Beach

Our hotel in a very beautiful, isolated spot.

I enjoyed the hotel gardens.

The unheated pool!

Beautiful white sand beaches at the north of the island.

This used to be the capital of the island.

Up in the mountains.

Rather large statues!

Some cute goats.