Pedro

This morning my daughter and I drove into the town of Fuengirola intending on going to the market. We parked the car by the river in the west end of town, close to the 15th century Castillo de Sohail.

We crossed over the Rio Fuengirola and made our way along the beach promenade towards the old docks. Part way along the sea front we met a lovely Belgium lady who moved to Mijas about 7 months ago. She gave us directions to the old part of town which led to a lovely square. We never made the market.

The Square of Plaza de la Constitucion is a great place to relax and have coffee and people watch. It also has the principal church of the city.

While my daughter was buying some Christmas presents in a few shops I decided to explore the square and I visited the beautiful Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario. On the way back round the square I noticed an interesting gentleman sitting on one of the benches. So I managed to take a few candid shots of him without being noticed.

Also in the square is the Bar La Plaza where we decided to have a light Tapas lunch. Some patatas bravas and mini burgers washed down with a glass of a local beer did the trick for me. While in the bar we managed to make conversation with the barman and the waitress and I asked who was the gentleman in the square. When I showed the photograph in the camera, they said his name was Pedro and he been living rough on the street for over 10 years. They said he was a real character in the town, but a really nice man. They did not know how he came to live on the street but they thought he may have had a breakdown after a split with a woman. I felt a bit sad for Pedro but the waitress assured me that they help Pedro from time to time with some food parcels. Luckily the climate is a lot kinder in this part of the world.

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