Spanish Spree - April 2009
Day 6: Nerja
We added our stop in Nerja specifically to have a relaxing day in the middle of our trip. We thought that with the busy-ness of the other days, a day of "nothing" would be a welcome treat.
We started our morning by sleeping in - a first for the vacation. We ventured upstairs to the rooftop terrace for a delicious homemade breakfast. The Spanish don't really eat breakfast...perhaps a pastry and a coffee...so some eggs were a real treat! The orange juice, fresh squeezed from local oranges, was by far the best I've ever had.
We started our morning by sleeping in - a first for the vacation. We ventured upstairs to the rooftop terrace for a delicious homemade breakfast. The Spanish don't really eat breakfast...perhaps a pastry and a coffee...so some eggs were a real treat! The orange juice, fresh squeezed from local oranges, was by far the best I've ever had.
We decided we would start the day by heading to the Donkey Sanctuary. We had read about it online and laughed at the idea, but after Ian told us it was a lot of fun, we thought we should go check it out. We got lost on our walk there but asked for directions from a very nice elderly woman. However, she thought we were referring to an entirely different destination and ended up leading us back toward our hotel, which we knew was incorrect. We thanked her for her help anyway, and ended up finding the donkey sanctuary on our own.
donkeys!
The Nerja Donkey Sanctuary is run by volunteers dedicated to rescuing, caring for and protecting donkeys, mules and horses. At the time of our visit, they also had goats, pigs, cats, and even a turkey!
The donkeys were very friendly and loved to be visited...especially when we offered a hunk of bread or a carrot. We had a really good time visiting with the animals.
The donkeys were very friendly and loved to be visited...especially when we offered a hunk of bread or a carrot. We had a really good time visiting with the animals.
henrietta the pig
One of the pigs at the sanctuary, Henrietta, loved to follow my mom around. They became fast friends! She would like to snuggle up around my mom's ankles and it was incredibly cute!
Now that we knew where we were, it was an easy walk to the bus stop. We wanted to visit the village of Frigiliana, just a few kilometers from Nerja. We had read online that Frigiliana is a must-see, but none of the websites mentioned why! So we wanted to discover it for ourselves.
The bus ride was quick and dropped us off at the bottom of town. My impression: Frigiliana is a picturesque village on a mountain. There are hundreds of white houses, painted to reflect the summer sun, and it's a very pretty town. Several of the houses had flowers hanging for decoration.
The conclusion: visit Frigiliana because it's picturesque and the people are friendly!
The bus ride was quick and dropped us off at the bottom of town. My impression: Frigiliana is a picturesque village on a mountain. There are hundreds of white houses, painted to reflect the summer sun, and it's a very pretty town. Several of the houses had flowers hanging for decoration.
The conclusion: visit Frigiliana because it's picturesque and the people are friendly!
The downside to Frigiliana is that there's not much to do. There are a few stores, some with souvenirs, others with handcrafts. Either way, we don't enjoy shopping, but if you did, even if you went in every store, it wouldn't take more than an hour or two. There were also a few stores sampling the vino dulce (sweet wine), a local treat! We walked uphill, further into the village, and stumbled upon a beautiful outdoor restaurant. There was enough shade to be pleasant, and from the top of the hill, you had a great view of the surrounding village.
After eating a "real" breakfast, neither of us was too hungry at lunch. We decided to order some vino dulce, along with some tapas to sample. We got small portions of Spanish olives, buñuelos del maiz (corn fritters, with a sweet and spicy chili sauce of sorts), and chorizo (spicy sausage). Everything was delicious, and if our stay in Nerja had been longer, I'm sure we would've returned to this location for another meal. We spent a long time just sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine - after all, this was our day of doing nothing!
Afterwards, we had some time to kill before our next bus ride. We were hoping to find some gelato to cool us off in the hot sun, but we couldn't find ice cream anywhere! Instead, we bought a Fanta Limon soda and just walked through the quiet village.
Our next stop was at the Caves of Nerja. While we've been in many caves before, we wouldn't see anything like them on this trip, so we thought it would be a nice change of pace. The inner cave was very big and quite impressive and we were glad we stopped for a short visit.
Afterwards, we had some time to kill before our next bus ride. We were hoping to find some gelato to cool us off in the hot sun, but we couldn't find ice cream anywhere! Instead, we bought a Fanta Limon soda and just walked through the quiet village.
Our next stop was at the Caves of Nerja. While we've been in many caves before, we wouldn't see anything like them on this trip, so we thought it would be a nice change of pace. The inner cave was very big and quite impressive and we were glad we stopped for a short visit.
Returning to Nerja, our next stop was to find an internet cafe. We wanted to check our emails and send some messages home. We found one easily, and spent about an hour catching up with the world back home. When we left, we owed less than 5 euro - a bargain for an hour use on two separate computers!
We decided that to end our evening, we would just stroll through town. We ended up dining al fresco once again and then returning to our room for a delightful night's sleep.
We decided that to end our evening, we would just stroll through town. We ended up dining al fresco once again and then returning to our room for a delightful night's sleep.