Antequera

Friday - scrambled eggs again - ruined today though by the uncalled for inclusion of olives in the mix?!? The melon we've been having the last few days has been excellent however. Orange juice and hot chocolate, toast, breadrolls and croissants - all superb..

Having studied the map the night before, we proceed to take a wrong turning almost immediately and add around 30 minutes to our travel time - however, instead of driving along the shore of a nearby lake, we end up on top of a mountain overlooking it. Weather at this point is overcast - cue a glum face from Anne.

We arrive at Antequera at around 11.45 having taken two and a quarter hours - a pleasant journey though and, once again, passing through some spectacular scenery. This is a beautiful old town and by mid-day the sun is well and truly out and the temperature is hitting 25 celcius - Anne loves it - I'm keeping my hat on (again)...

Taking our cue from the tourist office at Plaza San Francisco having parked the car in a nearby multi storey, we settle at a street cafe for a coffee before setting off to explore the old town. The strange recommended route takes us along a couple of non-descript streets but finally we end up at the old church and castle which overlook the town.

Here we sit and sip a cool drink. 20cl of Pepsi/Pepsi Light with ice and lemon in these conditions makes you realise just why this drink is so popular. Suddenly Anne notices a strange discolouring around the bottom of her left trouser leg. First time on and somehow they've been splashed by bleach and ruined - well at least the toilet must've been clean - but that's little consolation - and this on top of her glasses falling to bits the night before.....

We walk up to the palace gardens taking plenty of photos including many of "The Big Face" - a very strange looking hill which sits in the middle of a flat plain outside the town as if deposited there from outer space.

Back down in the town it's 3 o'clock and, having failed miserably to find anywhere for lunch, we buy a couple of pre-packed salads and some crisps and juice from the supermarket. We collect the car and head back south to "El Torcal" a national park of very alien looking rock formations. However, it's at the top of a mountain and by the time we get there, the whole of the park is shrouded in cloud - visibility about 3 ft - which makes the drive a little precarious to say the least - we head back down into the sunshine, disappointed.

We take the main A road and motorway back to Nerja but have to switch off the classical station - large choral works are not as condusive to happy driving as string quartets...Anne finds a Spanish pop station and we drive along wondering what they're singing about...

I resist the urge to leave the motorway early to visit the huge hypermarket complex around 20 kilometres from Nerja and we arrive home in around 2 hours from Antequera.

I drop Anne off at the hotel and then take the car back early - I'm hardly likely to use it now before 9 am tomorrow morning. On the way back to the hotel I buy a couple of packets of Cadbury mini-eggs - one of which I scoff completely before joining Anne in the bar.

Dinner at the hotel then up to the Balcon for coffee..wonder what we'll do tomorrow - if it's sunny we'll sit by the pool reading - if not then we'll be in trouble...