I am not very well travelled, especially since I have moved to the UK. Most of my trips were back to Budapest, to see family. So, just like when I first moved to the UK I came to a brand new territory, I also missed the standard Spanish holidays everyone else was doing around me.
Flying over the bare landscape of Andalucia on an August afternoon was a revelation and the heat that welcomed us (alongside with a cloud of merciless mosquitos) was a shock to our system.
A barren landscape with a distant reservoir
Within days we found out that my husband suffered from Skeeter syndrome (very allergic to mosquito bites) and that pharmacies in Spain were very expensive.
Jeremy covered up
The heat was relentless, but at the same time everything was beautiful, the blue sky, the glorious cascades of bright flowers against whitewashed walls, the beach with mosaic benches, the gliders descending from the breathtakingly steep mountains....
Our first glimpse of Velilla beach on the day of arrival
Calle Romantica
The view down from Calle Romantica
One of the many benches depicting life in Almuñecar
The flat we rented out was spacious like a palace for the two of us and just three minutes from the beach, also with its own community pool, but the bathtub upstairs had a severe leak... I was thankful that all my packing was so waterproof, as our newly arrived belongings were profusely showered by the first baths we took enjoying our newly-found luxury.
The community pool - our flat was one of the many across the road
Velilla, where we lived was the town's holiday area, about 45 minutes walk from the centre. It was very busy until 15th September, but then suddenly the whole place became a ghost town when the holidayers went home. The pool we were entitled to use had closed, our favourite ice-cream and pancake outlet were about to shut for winter too.
The bus timetable changed from infrequent to nearly non-existent, and the bathtub-fix turned out to be cosmetic, still profusely leaking and no hope for a plumber, so after three months we were on the move again. By the end of the Autumn half term we found ourselves in a beautiful flat in the city centre, opposite Lidl (hallelujah!), with a view from our balcony I will never forget.
View from the balcony - the silhouette of the old town
Soon we equipped ourselves with two gorgeous ginger kittens, Solomon and Zac, they brought us so much joy!
The kittens...
In the warm Autumn weather I was still braving the sea; the last time I dipped in was in December (well, that was very tingling indeed, but still warm enough to dry in the sunshine).
...and the mermaid, after swimming in Nerja, October
Almuñecar itself has a lot to offer too, with history going back to the Romans and of course the Moors. The rocky outcrop (once connected with the castle) with the cross, El Peñon, the old town and the beaches.
Roman salt factory with St Miguel Castle in the background
El Peñon - teens practicing a dangerous sport
St Cristobal beach and El Peñon
The Roman aquaduct with the dramatic backdrop
We couldn't drive, having no car and no prospect of a driving license, but we did take trips to neighbouring towns, explored Granada, Salobreña, Motril, Nerja and later Malaga too.
Granada - a view of the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada behind
Malaga - steeped in history, a city with many faces - we loved it
Motril street art
Salobreña with snow covered mountains in the background (24 degrees here)
We made friends, mostly through our regular visits to the language exchange nights (intercambios) in a local pub, I joined the local choir and my husband became part of a theatre group that grew out of the language exchange and was intentionally international.
El Coro del Ciudad de Almuñecar
The school itself - on a steep hill - was a welcoming and friendly community. The help for our administration issues, our flat, our cats, friends, neighbours, including the lovely local Chinese shopkeepers, whose children I taught, all came through people who I worked with. The students were lovely and teaching was fun; despite the frequent problems with technology, loads and loads of report writing and way too many stairs to climb sometimes 10 times a day, I really loved the school.
The school entrance on the top...
...my classroom on the bottom.
Zoom out from the school to see the height
For a while I commuted on a newly acquired electric bike, until the bike misbehaved and I had a massive fall and was banned from further cycling. The Spanish roads don't all have a barrier and I had a lucky escape when I fall, avoided falling down a steep precipice, but it was walking and snatching lifts from colleagues afterwards. The views were worth the effort any day.
My views on my daily commute, the mountains...
...and the sea.
Except for the days of the dust, the Calima. Then it was two days thick orange fog followed by two days of pouring rain, washing off the dust in thick orange streams, making my climb up the hill quite adventurous.
Orange sky during the calima
Our evenings after school most often ended on the seaside, watching waves and sunsets.
We could trace the months of the year from the sun's position at El Peñon
Spring came with the sound of brass bands practicing for their Easter procession every night under our balcony in the neighbouring car park. The Easter celebrations themselves were just endless, and due to our central position we were able to study the many minute details of the ceremonies and admire the floats.
Band practice in the night under the trees
And this is the result- Easter Procession in town
The same car park was used as a marketplace twice a week, the Sunday market - a junk and second-hand sale attracted many folks and provided endless wonders of things old and even older.
The academic year went really fast and ended with one month spent teaching music in the Summer camp and going out with a blast of a closing concert.
Learning fun songs with the oldest age group
My original idea of summer holiday on a budget - a circular tour of the important towns of Andalucia - had to be cancelled when I got an invitation for my son's COVID- delayed graduation in August in Nottingham. But I was looking forward to seeing my children sooner than planned.
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