We decided to have a day on the coast. We had a few things to buy that you can’t get up here in the mountains and we fancied eating seafood in a chiringuito and spending a bit of time on the beach.
Late start
We set off later than planned, but that was OK. We headed down the mountain to San Pedro de Alcántara and took the toll motorway to La Cañada, the huge “mall” in Marbella.
The toll was a massive 3.35€ for a pretty short stretch, but it was a lot quicker and we probably saved more than 3.35€ in fuel costs, because of the queues and slow-moving traffic on the “free” route.
We did our business in La Cañada:
I went to Leroy Merlin and didn’t buy a thing! Amazing! I’m normally a sucker for DIY stuff.
Rita got herself a pair of sandals from Marypaz, then we met up in the Al Campo hypermarket. I found a bargain T-shirt for 4.99€ and Rita bought some cat food, not available in Ronda, for Paulinchen, our kitten.
Then it was time to head to a beach for a swim, a sunbathe and something to eat, not necessarily in that order.
Beaches between Marbella and Málaga
We checked out a few beaches we didn’t know.
El Rosario was chock-a-block despite having only a narrow strip of sand.
Next stop was Cabopino. It was heaving with cars parked everywhere. We didn’t even find the beach.
We didn’t bother with Calahonda – we know it and it’s not our “cup of tea” - nor Costa Bella, where we used to go regularly years ago before we got a house with a pool. The trouble with Costa Bella is that it’s over-run with Germans. Rita, my German wife, didn’t move to Spain to be amongst her own people, just as I didn’t emigrate to hang around with English people!
By now we were not far from the sprawl of the Fuengirola/Mijas conurbation. We continued past Fuengirola and stopped in La Cala de Mijas where we got a free parking spot right by the beach. We like La Cala, despite it being full of Brits and Germans. The beach is long and wide, the swimming good and there’s a good choice of chiringuitos.
By now we were hungry, so we stopped in Ellas, a chiringuito I’ve eaten in previously. Rita couldn’t remember it. Wonder who I was with, then?
We ordered two beers to wet our whistles and two main courses to calm our hunger pangs. We ordered fish (merluza) and chips and a fritura de pescado with four types of fish: cazón en adobo, rosada, calamares and gambas. The idea was to share, which we did. Rita declared that fish and chips Mijas-style were, quote, “better than any fish and chips we’ve ever eaten in the UK”! Fair enough, she has a point! English fish and chips are very over-rated.
Beach and sea time
We hired a sun umbrella and two beds and took it in turns to swim and sunbathe. Next to us were a family from Liverpool who had "emigrated" to Formby in Sefton, where I worked as a schools adviser for 10 years.
The three girls are pupils at Formby High School, one of my old stomping grounds. I should point out that I had left Sefton LEA before they were born.
Home Run
When we left Mijas we decided to continue towards Málaga and pick up the road home via Ardales from the airport. A bit of a detour but it’s a fast route.
We passed some other beaches we know and like - Los Boliches, Benalmádena, Torremolinos (East) and Guadalmar – but we didn’t stop this time. We enjoyed ourselves in La Cala de Mijas, and it was time to get home to see to our baby kitten, Paulinchen, mentioned earlier.
After stopping to re-fuel the car – Gasolina 95 is 16 cents per litre cheaper than in Ronda – we got home as the sun was going down. I was too tired to go out for a drink, so I had a shower, ate some dinner and went to bed early.
Our Day Out?
It was great!
© Diary of a Nobody
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