Life is funny sometimes. I read this post on a Sunday and was in Nerja for the day the next day. Dad, daughter and I packed up quickly Monday morning and arrived at Grandma’s house in time for a late lunch. In the space of a few hours, I practiced my fledgling Spanish, chatted with a cousin visiting from Copenhagen who made me think of my day trip last summer (how has a year passed already?!) and ate some of the best lemon pepper chicken with homemade mayo out on the front porch. That’s what summer’s supposed to be like, right? Eating until you could sleep followed by a trip to the beach and reading in the sun. Cause if it is, I’ve got this cased.
Nerja is known as the ‘Balcón de Europa‘ and is, as with everywhere I’ve been around here, completely stunning. There are several beaches along the city. Once upon a time, they used to be connected through connecting pathways, but a lot of them have blocks up and you have to walk through the city to get to several of the individual beaches. I know this personally because, since I’m me and somehow end up in these situations, found myself having walked ten minutes along one of these paths to get back to the beach we were spending the afternoon at, only to be faced with a big, yellow ‘BEWARE’ sign. Which I, naturally, managed to get around, climbed over a bunch of fallen rocks, was helped by a couple of local girls who were doing the same thing when I couldn’t both carry my bag and climb down and, after wading in the rising tide, finally made it back. I promise I don’t go looking for these things, they find me and I feel it would be rude to not go along for the ride.
The city itself is lovely. With curving streets and tables packed along the street outside of restaurants and beach goers with towels slung around their necks, damp shirts over bathing suits getting ice cream or taking photos with the statue of King Alfonso XII, it’s charming and big enough to feel you can explore a bit but not too big that it feels overwhelming. Along the main beach, there are restaurants with the seafood displayed in glass cases and signs for horchata and ice cream every few feet. And really, what else do you need?
I have an invitation to go back before I leave at the end of the summer, and I’m hoping to make it. The water is deeper and the waves roll a bit harder than they do over at our beach. The beach is smaller and the umbrellas of beach goers seem to huddle together with their brightly coloured tops creating a rainbow against the sand when you look at it from above. There are restaurants almost hiding in the bushes of the smaller beaches and there’s the smell of smoke from the fires where they grill sardines. (To be fair, that’s pretty much every beach around here and it is wonderful.) Plus there’s lunch on the back porch at a table with miss matched chairs. How can I say no to that?
Things I’m Loving:
+Returning home after long term travel – (Preparing myself.)
+ I want this wall – (That fabric makes me happy.)
+ This lovely house – (Give me brick walls.)
+ I want these greeting cards – (Who wouldn’t love to get one in the mail?!)
Blue Eyed Sight 