En el campo

Birthday treats today! The wind dropped completely overnight, and the clouds and rain were gone. After breakfast we went for a short, steepish walk around the outskirts of Velez. We hadn't been up here before; it is a delightful patch of campo (countryside) with lush green terraces of olives, almonds and citrus trees, dotted with cortijos just isolated enough to be peaceful but within easy reach of the town -- I could fancy living in any one of them. Birds twittered, dogs barked, and cats sunbathed without a care in the world.

After this we headed straight for Nerja, for my "surprise" (not) birthday lunch at Oliva. We were here for S's birthday in May -- quite an achievement to be there for mine as well, given that it's 1,200 km from home. We had the tasting menu again and it was just as wonderful. Almost everything was different from last time, but luckily they still have the addictive herb butter.

The service was quite slow even by our French standards, so it was well after four when we came out, satisfied but not bloated. A bit late and a bit cool for sunbathing; we had a quick obligatory turn around the Balcon de Europa before heading home. It doesn't seem to matter what time of year you go to Nerja, it's always full of northern European tourists enjoying the sunshine. All my photos of the meal and of Nerja were useless, but see extra for one of my favoured roofline shots.

At home, jazz on Spotify and an early evening snack of jamón with cava out of my new vintage Babycham glasses (a birthday present ... they will be blipped!).