Estepona at night

I've praised Estepona before but what a great place it really is at night, particularly in the summer. We went out last night with some friends and minus kids (very rare treat for us) to a chirringuito in Estepona. Apart from the fact that the food was excellent there was just such an atmosphere along the main "paseo maritimo" with a late-night market there, loads of people out with their kids and such a mild evening.

We left at around midnight but it was only just starting to kick off! At this time of year it's just too hot to be indoors at night so everyone just heads our to stroll along the "paseo". Estepona is great for kids at night as there is an absolutely huge children's park there to keep them entertained for hours.

If you still haven't checked out Estepona on an evening then I really urge you to check it out...you won't be disappointed (market is on a Friday night if you like that sort of thing).

Bahia Park

A couple of days ago when it was fiesta in Manilva and the temperatures were too intense, we headed off to Bahia Park in Algeciras (by the way only the Spanish version of their website is working). It's a water park which is particularly good for little kids. And what a fantastic time we had.

A family of 4 pays 39 Euros for the day. You can then rent an umbrella and 2 sun beds for 4 Euros (you need this) and you can also hire the floats to use on some of the rides for (I think) 8 Euros each. There are some good restaurants there and there's even a huge ball park for kids to play in. They can play in there for 1 and a half hours for 3 Euros and they're quite safe there, so the parents can go off and have some fun on their own!

You must also take cash as although you can pay by card to get in you cannot use a card to pay for anything once inside. There are lockers which you can use, but once again there is a small fee for this too.

It really is a great little park. The adult rides are a bit tame, I had to go on the kamikaze ride twice as the first time round I just felt it wasn't scary enough, but for kids it's excellent.

Just make sure that if you do go....take A LOT of sun cream. You'd be amazed how easy it is to burn at these places, and you need to keep reapplying it. Be warned!

Manilva activities

There's something about actually living in a Spanish village. We're lucky enough to live in a great place called "Manilva". We live in a new development in the actual village. The great thing about this place is that despite the trditional image of quite white-washed villages, there always seems to be something going on here. There are many traditions and festivals that keep the village alive especially during the summer months. The town hall has even produced a glossy magazine with all the planned fiestas and activities for the summer months....it's great!

We went to bed quite late last night and were hoping that the kids would have a lie in...they did but we were woken at 8 this morning by the Manilva band! Today is a holiday here as they celebrate the "Verbena de Santa Ana". To be honest, I'm not sure what it's actually all about but there's lots of activities planned for the day.

But, for us it's just way too hot today to hang around the village (it looks like it's going to hit 40 degrees...ouch). The kids would go mad! So instead were taking them to an excellent water park in Aljeciras. Should be fun for all (me included!).

Eye on Spain is 2 today

We officially launched Eye on Spain on 12 July 2004. Seems a long time ago now and what a two years it's been. It's had it's ups and downs and to be honest more downs than ups.

Setting up a business is never straight forward and although I thought I'd planned the business well before we moved to Spain, we were caught out on many points, not least of all the fact that we didn't have a phone line for the first year! We took a phone line for granted in England and never even considered the fact that we may not get a phone line here. I ended up working out of a cyber cafe for a few months...not the best way to launch an Internet business.

However, it truly has been an invaluable experience and I'm glad we did it. We've met all sorts of characters in the process (some very dodgy ones too) and we were very naieve at the beginning. I really think I could write a book about my experiences here as so much has happened in these two years. I wonder if there are any publishers out there that want to pay me lots of money for my story...? Probably not!

I am really pleased with the way Eye on Spain is growing. With over 7000 members it's becoming really interesting and people are really enjoying the facilities on the site. There's so much I want to change and improve so the next 6 months is going to be quite hectic as we've got some excellent ideas to really grow the site.

I wonder where we'll be in another 2 years time?

Anyway, it's 2 in the morning now, and need to get some sleep. Taking the day off as it's also my partner Susan's birthday so we're off to spend some money!

Ta ra for now.

Siestas soon become part of life

I have to say that the one thing that the Spanish have got very wrong are office working hours. Generally most people go to work from 10 - 2 and then go back 5 - 8. Fortunately I work for myself so I'm not affected by it but it must be SO hard to go back to work for just 3 hours having just had a 3 hour lunch and siesta.

Although my own working hours are much more flexible there is one aspect of Spanish working life that I just can't do without any more....a siesta!

At about 2:30 to 3 o'clock I really start to feel very sluggish. The lure of the sofa or the bed is too much and I easily succumb to it, resting my head for an hour or so. Luckily my partner and kids all feel the same way and we truly relish the afternoon siesta.

The only problem is that when you finally come round you tend to feel awful. It always takes a good 10 minutes to really get back to life, but after that you truly feel refreshed and ready to work or enjoy the afternoon. Even just a 10 minute nap is sometimes enough to recharge the batteries.

So if you're not yet into the siesta mindset then I strongly suggest you give it a go...the only problem is that once you've tried it there's no going back!

Las Ferias

One of the things I truly love about the summer in Spain is the "ferias". The ferias appear at most of the towns and cities during the summer months and are simply fantastic, both for kids and parents alike.

On Thursday night (yes, it's taken me a bit of time to get round to writing about it!) we made our way to the feria in Estepona. We didn't get there until 10:30 in the evening with our twin four-year-olds. You see things don't really start to kick off until that time. The feria in Estepona is particularly big but it's big enough. There are plenty of rides for the kids (at 2.50 Euros per ride...per child) and even braved it myslef to go on a new death-defying ride (it was excellent but a bit sickly!).

However, the main thing about the ferias is the atmosphere. It's buzzing and as the evenings are hot it's a great place to spend an evening. You can buy churros with chocolate but we went for the "buñuelos" with chocolate which are wonderful mini donoughts....you have to try them.

Normally there is someone selling barbecued octopus too (you have GOT to try this) but he wasn't there when we went, which was a shame.

Anway, we had a great time and left the feria at around 2 in the morning...and there were still people arriving.

So when you're over this summer check out where the ferias are and make sure you go to at least one, it will really be worth your while.