Cortijo Grande

On a very pleasant Friday morning I suggested to Chris that we might go for a drive so we set off for the Cortijo Grande. For anyone who has visited us here, the mountain range between our village and the coast is called the Cabrera, and in the lower regions of this range there is a golf course which is generally referred to as Cortijo Grande, though the name also covers the surrounding area including several very nice villas and a cluster of smaller homes, and apartments that are popular rentals for golf-minded holiday folk. It is a beautiful area with stunning views. Up further there is a village called Fatima, and above that, an area of housing known as Cabrera village. On a clear day, these houses can be seen from the campo where we walk the dogs. Cabrera village is a cluster of houses, duplexes and apartments all built in the moorish style, with terracotta walls and colourful domes and minarets. On our first holiday here after we decided we wanted to live here, (before we had sold our house in England, so we were only looking and geting ideas about the region we wanted to be in), an agent took us up to view a duplex there. Although we loved the area, the peace and the scenery, we both knew that we would not cope with the mountainous approach road on a regular basis. It isn't too hairy, and I am quite comfortable driving it for an occasional visit, but I would not like to do it every time I go out. We also felt that as the village is so small and mostly occupied by ex-pats, it might be a bit 'clicky', which isn't to our liking at all. However we decided to drive on up today and look at the houses now the building is all finished. We agreed that we had made the right decision about it. The houses are very nice, but very on top of one another (quite literally in some cases), the promised communal swimming pool has not materialised, and the surrounding trees and shrubs have grown sufficiently to mar the view from the lower houses. But it is still a beautiful place so here are a few photographs taken there this morning. The one with Chris just in the bottom corner, shows the row of houses that we looked at. After wandering around the village we drove back down to Cortijo Grande and stopped at a bar for a morning coffee which we drank in a very pretty garden. There was a lovely bush covered in yellow flowers that were almost like tiny roses. I have inserted a small close up in the corner of the picture, because they were so lovely. I have done the same thing with this picture of a pretty flowering tree that was in the carpark at Cabrera. I don't know what either of them are but they were both very lovely. While we sat enjoying our drink in the sunshine, we were surrounded by bird song so I had to include this photo. The tree was high above us and the birds were very like starlings but rather more musical that the UK ones. The tree looks a bit dead but it is a jacaranda which will be full of lilac blossom in a couple of weeks and then the leaves will come.

It was Cortijo Grande that took the worst of the big fires last summer. The restaurant there was destroyed when gas bottles exploded and many houses were badly damaged, though being primarily stone there wasn't too much to burn. but the smoke damage was extensive and many outbuildings were lost. This photo shows how the copious rain this spring has helped the vegetation to regenerate and apart from the blackened trees, it is looking quite good again. Isn't nature wonderful?!

While on the subject of plant life, here are a couple more pictures taken on the campo this morning. I have to show you this grass head because I just love the photo. It is almost like the head of an exotic bird. It grows in big clumps and looks so pretty. The pink flower was one I saw in bud last week and I thought it would be a common mallow, but now it is open it is more like a wild hollyhock. They are all along the road side and some are nearly as tall as me, with quite big flowers, though this one is somewhat smaller. I am sure it must be related to the hollyhock; even the leaves are very similar.

As you know, every Wednesday I go to sewing group in Turre. We meet together more for social reasons than anything else, but as we sit round tables chatting, we do anything from cross stitch to knitting, quilting, or papercraft. It is where I meet the lady who is teaching me lace making. It is a good way to make friends and learn about what is going on in the area. We meet any time after 10.00, and at around 12.30 we pack away and go to a local bar for a drink and tapas. Every few months we have lunch together instead, and that's what we did this week, so here is just some of my 'crafty' friends. Yvonne, front right, owns our local papercraft shop, and it was she who told me about this villa being on the market. Look at all those lovely salads. Makes us look a healthy lot doen't it.?They are actually just the starters, and we had a very good meal after them.

Don't forget you can click on any of these photos to see a full size version. Then use the back page arrow to close it and return to the blog.

Blue is the colour of .....

In my last post I mentioned how unusual it is to see a true blue flower, so I had to smile when I went for a walk the next day and found not one, but two vivid blue flowers. So here they are. The one on the left is like a little speedwell. It was small and grew quite close to the ground, but it was covered in these pretty deep blue flowers. The other one is a larger plant and I think comes from the same family as one that has been in bloom for some time, with both deep pink and purple flowers on it at the same time. This blue relative comes later. It looks lovely growing as it often does, intermingled with yellow coltsfoot, but woe betide anyone who tries to pick it. The tiny hairs which cover the stem and leaves are intensely irritating, so I know not to touch it.

The real reason for my walk was to look for an elusive bird which is sited all around this region from April til June, though it is more commonly seen a little further inland in the foothills. The bird in question is a bee-eater and it is so colourful that you could be forgiven for thinking it is a parrot. A few days ago, as I drove over the bridge on the back road to Turre, I saw a flash of blue fly past my window, and I thought it must be a bee-eater. I was quite excited as I have wanted to see one eversince I first read about them last year. So on Friday I parked along side the bridge and walked down into the rambla in the hope of finding one there. It was quite a surprise to find that the bottom of ther rambla was partially covered with trees and shrubs and there was a small river flowing through it. Although I was only 20m or so below the road on one side, on the other the sandy cliffs towered high above me, and the traffic seemed miles away. It was a little haven of peace, and understandably it teemed with flowers, birds and butterflies, and of course, lots of less desireable bugs as well. I had just about given up hope of spotting my bee eater when I saw a flash of blue on the wings of a bird high above me. It settled on the cliff face which is apparently where they make tunnels to build a nest in, and I knew I wasn't going to get any closer, so I aimed the camera and took a couple of shots. When I got home and zoomed in on the pictures I realised that I hadn't found a bee eater after all. Mine was much too blue. It was in fact a European roller, another beautiful bird in its own right, and I feel privileged to have glimpsed one. I would still like to see them both closer up, and maybe one day I will, but for now, here is my own photo. Click on it and you will see him quite well. The other two pictures need I say, are not mine. I took them from the internet so you could see why I am so keen to have a close encounter with them one day.

Now for a very different tale, that added some excitement to what would have otherwise been a very ordinary Saturday evening. We were just settling down to have our tea when we heard a car horn sounding just outside. When it was repeated several times, and then others joined in, we decided to go and investigate. As you will know from previous postings, when our new road was completed they made the right hand lane a one way passage up into the village, and the left hand lane, outside our house is a parking bay. There have been several near misses as cars chose to ignor the one way sign and try to whizz down when the road looks clear, so at first I thought there must have been an accident. Instead we found that a red car had parked in the driving lane, almost opposite our car in the parking lane, so no-one could drive through. We didn't know whose car it was so the first driver borrowed paper and pen from us to leave a message on the windscreen, and then we moved our car so that they could all squeeze round the parked one and get on their way. Then just as everyone was dispersing, a lady came out of the house opposite ours, climbed in the parked car and moved it so that it was standing diagonally across the lane, nearly up to the new planter, and she got out, calmly locked it and went back in her house. Of course, before long there was another queue of angry drivers tooting their horns because they wanted to get past. In the end she came out and moved it again just enough for them to get through, and then parked it there again. I couldn't believe it. As she got out of the car I raised my hands and just said "Por que?" or "Why". I didn't follow everything she said but I got the gist of it. She owns the house but doesn't live there and only visits occasionally. While she was away, the road had been done and the new pavement is now quite a bit higher then the original, leaving her with a step of about twenty centimeters into her drive, so she is now unable to park in her own grounds. However, if the workmen had built her a ramp she would not be able to close her gates, and as these are usually locked, she wouldn't have liked that. I pointed out the nearly empty parking lane on our side but she shook her head and marched indoors. I have a friend down the road who is more fluent in Spanish than I am, and together we turned away all the cars that tried to drive up. (I had no idea so many cars drive past our house on a Saturday evening!). Eventually a young man drove up that we knew and he phoned the guadia civil for us. They came quite quickly and we pointed out the house where the owner was, so in they went. She had some very heated words with them, but she was forced to move her car and park it properly. I don't really know the outcome, but I understand that she was fined and may have had other sanctions taken against her, but it had caused quite a stir. As you can see, the whole street was congregated outside our house, enjoying the excitement. It went on for a couple of hours, but once the car was moved, everyone drifted back home and things were soon back to normal. Fortunately no-one was hurt, and there was a funny side to it all. It was the sort of thing you wouldn't believe unless you had seen it happen!