Derek Carr's Holiday in Spain 2006

In September this year, my mom, my cousin Margaret and I went for a week to Grangefield Oasis Club, Riviera (almost next to the famous Miraflores golf course) on the Mijas Costa. It's about half way between Fuengirola and Marbella on the Costa del Sol. Here's my photos and my take on the holiday.

First the photos of the Club itself, and Riviera. It's a great place, really living in an exotic garden, with two swimming pools:




	Riviera, road to the sea: This is the best view of the the road to the sea from Grangefield. We are about half way between the Club and the sea here. The supermarkets and centre of the 'village' are at the bottom of this hill.

Now the trips to Ojen and Mijas in the mountains, La Cala de Mijas, Fuengirola, Benalmedina, and Marbella on the coast.

The Mountains behind the Mijas Costa


View of Ojen In the mountains at the back of the coast there are a number of so-called white villages. Mijas is most well-known of them, but Ojen is perhaps the most typical.	Old chapel, Mijas


Ojen sign and palm I loved the composition of this wayside marker at the viewing lay-by for Ojen.	Mijas main street and horsedrawn carriage	Fountain, Alcazaba Mijas


The free hat and paella party, Mijas When we got to Mijas, a bit of a fiesta was going on, and they were giving out free hats, sangria and paella. The queue was too long and we forgot about the food and drink, but got hats and a fan.	Old chapel park, Mijas

View over Mijas	Buddhist Stupa, Benalmadina

The Coast of Mijas Costa


Schoolboy, La Cala La Cala was our nearest seaside town. There are more photos in the 2004 travel pages. Here we are in the back streets, with a young schoolboy returning at the end of his day.	Front, La Cala

Fuengirola, Sohail castle tower This location overlooking the Fuengirola river has been occupied for over 3,000 years. They have found Phoenician, Greek and Roman remains here. This is the tower of the medieval castle.	Old tree (olive) Sohail castle park The castle dates from the 12th century and was built by the Almoravides. It has eight walls, reinforced by the same number of towers. This ancient olive tree is in the park below the castle, where the ancient towns were.

Benalmadina marina	Porto Banus

San Pedro d'Alcantara

San Pedro d'Alcantara is a small town on the coast between Marbella and Estepona. It's an important road junction where road inland leads to Ronda and on to Madrid.


Eucalyptus grove, San Pedro d'Alcantara. Eucalyptus trees grow all over this area. I liked this grove though. It's right next to an ancient Roman villa site.	South beach, San Pedro d'Alcantara. This was more-or-less behind me as I took the last photo of the Eucalyptus.

Fishing boats, San Pedro d'Alcantara	Fishing boats, San Pedro d'Alcantara

Marbella


This remarkable Elephant shower is not the only one on Marbella beach.	Marbella old town chemist sign	Official building (~town hall~) Marbella old town


Pretty tree, Marbella. I'd like to know what kind of tree this is. I think it might be an acacia or false acacia.	Avenue of flowering trees, Marbella

Orange Square, Marbella old town. All the trees here are orange trees, but they are only decorative.	Police parade, Marbella old town. While we there, we came across this procession. Apparently, it was the day of patron saint of the police, so they had this parade outside the main church.

Torremolinos


Gardens, Torremolinos front Our last day. We packed up and left Grangefield, going for the day to Torremolinos, up the coast, and quite near the airport.	Beach grove, Torremolinos

Derek and mom, Torremolinos front. All dressed up ready to return to England, but still looking very much on holiday.	Grilled sardines, Torremolinos front. No, not our lunch that day.

This page last updated: 10 December 2011