Obras

... are everywhere in Almuñécar; it's the season to do them I suppose.

Mystère got let out this morning! Slim hopes of his pausing to explore the terrace vanished as he sprang nimbly over the wall and headed off to investigate the orchard below. His aim is always to find all the exits before doing anything else. He did appear periodically in the distance though, and in about an hour he was back on the terrace with a major adrenaline boost-- fluffed up and shivering with excitement.

Then Ines arrived to do some cleaning and he was promptly transformed into a trembling ball of fear and went to hide under a bed. Still, he's started to find his way around, and he'll have more adventures tomorrow.

S made one of his special Spanish salads for lunch: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado, prawns, smoked salmon, tiny broad beans so fresh it would have been a sin to cook them so they went in raw,. We eat so much salad in Spain. Then we disguised our helpings of "tarte tatin" (it needs the scare quotes) with dollops of Daniel's excellent ice cream, made on the premises.

We'd planned on a trip to the beach after that but as we ate lunch it clouded over and got a bit chilly (well ... maybe 14C). We wanted to go out anyway, so we drove into town and after a quick trip to the big Chinese bazaar to buy a few things, we walked along San Cristóbal (the main beach drag) to the Peñon and back to see what had changed. We already knew about the major road works along the seafront, but this little square is also suffering ... all its trees have been chopped down. To be fair, they have planted new ones round the edge, and I dare say it will look good when it's done.

Lighting conditions were not adequate to do justice to my favourite building, so here's the charming little Hotel Casablanca instead.