This Spanish Life

Bolonia
Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Today is a cold, wet, grey, miserable day. On days like this my thoughts frequently turn to sunnier, warmer times in an attempt to shrug off the gloom. Today is no exception. I've been thinking about Bolonia, our family's favourite beach-day destination. Living on the Costa del Sol we obviously have no shortage of beaches to visit so it is testament to the beauty of the Costa de la Luz that given the choice we venture that way whenever we can.

Bolonia is a small town in Cádiz, just past Tarifa and it has lots to offer. Whenever we go there we always take a left turn when we get to the town. Incidentally if you follow the road to the right instead then you will come to the Baelo Claudia Roman ruins which are very interesting to have a look around. It is well worth a look if you are wanting something other than just a day at the beach. Making a left turn at the town though will take you along a road lined with cafes, small shops and holiday apartments on one side and a variety of chiringuitos and restaurants on the other. To follow in our footsteps you need to drive all the way to the end of the road. It only takes a few minutes, it's not far. This is where we park our car, unload all the beach paraphernalia and the children and we head off along the track to the beach.

In our pre-children days we would often walk further along the beach some way. This is where we stumbled upon the nudist beach one time and we were treated to the vision of a naked man doing tai chi. Now I have no problem with nudist beaches and I have no problem with tai chi but the two combined didn't make especially harmonious bedfellows. Consequently, on that occasion we carried on further along the beach and as far as I can recall that was the last time we explored that far because soon after came the arrival of our first child and we just didn't have the available arms or inclination to carry beach paraphernalia, a baby and the extensive paraphernalia required by him on a hike along the beach! So now we stick to the more accessible beaches. These are still natural and wild though. So much so that it is common to see cows and horses roaming along the beach or lying down in groups on the sand which is a rather spectacular sight.

Another thing that we love about the beach in Bolonia is that on certain days at high tide the sea rushes up, over and then down the beach to create a large lagoon on the other side, near the rocky grassland. This is great for adults and children alike, but especially young children who can paddle and splash in the warm, shallow water without fear of getting out of their depth or being washed over by waves. My boys love floating on body boards there and building dams across the lagoon using the plentiful supply of rocks nearby in an attempt to stem the flow of the water. One day we dug a channel linking the sea to the lagoon and we watched the water rushing from one side to the other. Many people even stopped and took photos of it! It was great fun.

Due to the frequent very windy conditions there are several things you might possibly see at Bolonia and I'm not just referring to the rogue parasols that have been swept up and launched at speed by the wind blowing along the length of the beach. These are usually swiftly followed by beach goers trying to retrieve the parasol and also other helpful strangers who will always help you in your quest! This has happened to us many times and luckily so far there have been no injuries sustained by any unwitting sunbather and we have always succeeded in reclaiming our errant parasols. We did once lose a favourite frisbee though on a particularly windy day. It had been thrown at the water's edge but took a diversion out to sea and rapidly travelled beyond our reach. So do take care if you are there on a windy day! Wind surfers and paragliders can frequently be seen taking advantage of the wind and they provide some entertainment as they range from accomplished experts to first time novices, both offering their own brand of entertainment! You often see divers too who trudge through the surf armed with air tanks and harpoons only to emerge some time later with a bountiful supply of fish.

After a day on the sand (and sometimes even midway through, especially if we are accompanied by my mother!) it is always lovely to retire to the nearest chiringuito for a restorative glass of wine or beer or whatever takes your fancy.

We usually go to the chiringuito La Cabaña mainly because it is the nearest one to our favourite beach spot, but also because we like it there a lot. I can't think of a better, more relaxing end to a hectic beach day with the children than sitting outside in a warm breeze, looking out to sea and watching the sun set. This chiringuito does lovely food too in case you're feeling a bit peckish after your exertions!

The only down side of going to Bolonia is the potential for horrendous traffic on the way there and back during the busy Summer months. It doesn't always happen but we have been unlucky enough to be stuck in incredibly slow moving traffic for hours in the past. One time it was so bad that we even turned around and travelled out of our way,heading towards Medina Sidonia for an hour just to get to the motorway in order to turn around and drive the two hours it took us to get back along the traffic-free motorway! However, despite the heavy volume of traffic that you can often see on the way there, Bolonia itself never seems too over crowded, especially at our end of the beach. Of course it gets busy but never overwhelmingly so.

Bolonia has a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere and you can meet some interesting people there. I once saw a lady walking along the beach who every now and then would stop and write something in the sand, take a photo and then move on. As I watched her I became curious to know what she was doing so I went over to ask. It turned out that she was writing some quotes in the sand for her mother who wasn't able to get to the beach anymore because she was ill and so she was writing things like 'te quiero mama' and 'siempre pensado a ti' and then take a photograph of this to send to her. What a wonderful thing to do!

Often on the way there, or on the way back if there is time, we will turn off just down the road a little at Punta Paloma which is quite a little adventure in itself. After a short drive the road becomes covered in sand, so much so that you have to be careful that your car doesn't get stuck! It is fun to park at the side of the road and climb up the very steep hill of sand. When you reach the top you are rewarded by the sight of the sand dunes spread out below you reaching down to the sea. It is a lovely but energetic walk down to the water and then back up, especially great for children who can tear around and play in the sand. It can also be fun to try and find your way back to the point where you originally climbed up. We usually manage to surface quite a distance away from where we parked! Or maybe we just have a bad sense of direction!

For those of you who have been to Bolonia I'm probably preaching to the converted, but if you haven't been before then I would urge you to visit. It is a fantastic place to spend a day or, even better, make a holiday of it and stay in one of the holiday apartments there. And once you have visited please let me know what you think. If you are already a fan of Bolonia then I would be very interested to hear about your own favourite places to go there using the comments box below. Please do get in touch!

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San Pedro golf club
Tuesday, January 13, 2015

At the weekend we decided to give golf a try.

During the Summer my friend Jenni had kindly given us two sets of golf clubs that her own children had outgrown; actual, proper, metal golf clubs for children. The only set that we had owned previously was a set from Toys R Us, a cheap, plastic set with rather flimsy, lightweight clubs that would invariably crumple and buckle on impact whenever one of the plastic balls was hit causing tears of despair in my children and subsequently a rather rapid finish to any round of golf. Consequently, the prospect of having actual, proper golf clubs filled the boys with much excitement and filled myself with something approaching dread as I considered the potential for injury. However, buoyed on by memories of the fun we had playing golf while on holiday in the UK this Summer we packed up our clubs and set off to the driving range of San Pedro Golf Club.

On arrival I was relieved to see that the place was relatively quiet. The thought of Sam and Henry armed with golf clubs, randomly swinging at golf balls in close proximity to unwitting fellow golfers and spectators made me more than a little apprehensive, so the fact that the number of potential victims was quite small was of some comfort.

The golf club itself is very welcoming of children, and as well as the driving range there are also a couple of putting greens, one grass and one astro turf (which is the better surface for the wilder swings of younger children like Henry) aswell as a practice bunker which is also suitable for the 'less controlled' learners.

We went to the desk inside the club house, which housed a range of trophies and awards for the boys to admire, and we paid for two tokens which bought us 50 balls. It only cost 1 euro for a bucket of 25 balls and there is a wide range golf clubs that you can borrow too if you don't have your own, at no extra charge.

Having located the ball dispensing machine in a little outhouse, we put in our first token and 25 balls immediately came spilling and bouncing noisily out and scattered all over the floor. In our excitement we had neglected to notice the stacks of baskets next to the machine which more together, wiser people would have known to put under the machine in order to catch the balls. Instead we had to scrabble around on the floor collecting the balls wherever they had settled, including in the wet, filthy, rubbish strewn area underneath the machine, which was especially pleasant. We tried to locate them all before anyone came in and noticed our amateurish error. Collecting the next 25 balls was a much simpler, quieter procedure and before we knew it we were ready to play.

Walking along through the driving range we chose a spot as far away from everybody else as we possibly could. Just behind us was one of the little putting greens with nine little holes to practice on. So while Sam was merrily swinging away at golf balls on the driving range with his customary wild aim, frequently shouting out commentary (oblivious to any requests to please be a bit quieter and calmer) such as "LOOK! THAT ONE WENT ALL THE WAY TO THE WATER SPRINKLER!" and "LOOK! THAT ONE WENT ALL THE WAY TO THE NUMBER 20 SIGN!", Henry took a ball and the biggest wedge he could find from the bag of clubs and he made his way over to the putting green.

I had tried to explain to him that he needed a putter for the putting green rather than a wedge, but he had made up his mind and wasn't about to listen to any caddy advice from the likes of me. Anyway, he was quite happy, also swinging away wildly despite my efforts to show him how to make smaller and gentler shots, shots that didn't involve the ball whizzing over the putting green boundary and ricocheting noisily off of a hut nearby, attracting bemused glances from our fellow sportsmen.

A very short time later a gentleman came up to us and said something which we couldn't quite hear due to someone giving a particularly loud shout of "LOOK! THAT ONE WENT ALL THE WAY OVER TO THAT TREE!". The gentleman kindly repeated himself and explained that the wedge wasn't a club that we should be using on the putting green as it would be digging up all sorts of holes in the grass, which as you may recall I had tried to explain to Henry at the time he initially chose his weapon, I mean club! So we went back to the bag, retrieved a putter and Henry resumed his 'putting'.

I showed him how each hole had a number and asked him to choose one of the holes to try and get the ball into, using little shots, not big ones. So he chose hole number 4 and set about hitting the ball towards it as I offered words of encouragement and enthusiastic whoops whenever he got near to the hole, before promptly whacking it away in the opposite direction. After 20 or so hits the ball finally settled right on the edge of the hole and Henry tapped the ball in with his hand. I tried to tell him that he should have used the club for that but I don't think he heard me as at that moment somebody shouted "LOOK! THAT BALL HIT THAT OTHER BALL!" Nevertheless, Henry and I enjoyed a mutual celebration of the ball going in the hole and Henry looked up at me proudly and asked "Will I get one of the trophies now Mummy?" Well, I think that's what he said, as at that moment somebody shouted "LOOK! ALL THE BALLS HAVE GONE NOW, CAN WE HAVE ICE CREAM?"

That seemed like a very good idea and so we retired to the cafe to have ice cream and drinks. The cafe has inside and outside seating and was an ideal place to sit and watch the people on the driving range while we had our drinks. Sam was full of smiles and happily exclaimed "I like playing golf!" Well, I think that's what he said as at that moment somebody shouted out "I NEED A POO!" and of course that was Henry.

As we sat and finished our drinks we watched as the driving range filled up quickly with newly arrived golfers, thankful that we had arrived at an earlier, quieter time with considerably less witnesses to our performance and I silently pondered the likelihood of us ever being allowed back in at a future date.

The San Pedro golf club is a great place to spend a few happy hours and it is ideal for children too. And for anyone that decides to take it a bit more seriously there is tuition available for both adults and children. I'm not sure that we are quite at that stage yet but who knows, maybe one day............?

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A day out in Trujillo.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015

My family and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend a day in Trujillo over Christmas. Trujillo is a lovely town in the province of Cácares in Extremadura. We had travelled there from Sierra de la Orellana where we were staying for a few days and the journey only took about an hour, although it seemed more like several hours seeing as my children insisted on 'passing the time' with a game of 'I Spy'. When the answers include such random, unguessable things as 'bird line', 'bottom' and 'Mars' it tends to have a rather more time-lengthening effect. But in reality, and in less trying company, the journey would be really rather picturesque and relaxing.

As is usually the case when we arrive at a new place we spend quite some time driving around trying to get our bearings, which frequently involves having minor panics and visions of getting stuck while driving along some unnervingly and increasingly narrow back streets which are so common in the older parts of Spanish towns. Eventually, we will give up and decide to park in the first place we find and will then set off on foot instead, which is exactly what happened in Trujillo. We drove into the closest underground car park and edged slowly down the ramp trying to see how much it charged for parking. Unfortunately we were so distracted by this that we didn't notice we were actually edging down the exit ramp and a little chap in a high visibility jacket was forced to hurry out of his booth towards us, gesturing that we were on the wrong side of the road and needed to move before a car drove into us and no doubt thinking us rather simple. Luckily we parked with no further incident and once we were bundled up in our coats, scarves, hats and gloves we emerged out into the cold sunshine ready to explore.

First of all we headed to Plaza Mayor which is a big, open square edged with bars and restaurants. Seeing as we were there during the Christmas/Three Kings season there was a belén and lots of Christmas lights which made it all very festive. Leading off from the plaza there are lots of little roads that take you either off up into the old town or along small shopping streets. Our plan was to set off and look for the castle which we found after climbing our way up some beautiful cobbled streets. As we reached the top I found myself laden down with everybody else's hats, scarves, coats and gloves which we had gradually shed as we over heated from the combination of physical exertion and the unexpectedly warm sun. As always seems to be the way for us we got to the castle and it was shut and we had an hour and a quarter until it reopened. That seemed a good excuse to stop somewhere for a drink.

We walked back down to the plaza stopping at a little tourist shop on the way and trying to persuade the children that no, they really wouldn't benefit from having a wooden sword emblazoned with the word 'Trujillo' on it, and that no, we really didn't believe that they wouldn't hit each other with them no matter how much they tried to convince us otherwise. And so after lots of panicked, in stereo utterances of 'don't touch that!" as the boys moved from one display of fragile ceramic ornaments to another we moved on to the next little shop which seemed much less precarious in that it sold cheese and chorizo and other edible specialities of the province. As we walked in the shop Henry shouted out, "what's that smell?" swiftly followed by "yuck, it smells yucky!". Feeling that perhaps we needed to make amends for our less than acceptable entrance we thought we would buy some locally made sweets. We had a choice of cherry or acorn flavour and due to me having had a very unpleasant experience once involving a bottle of acorn liqueur I decided that cherry would be the better option, despite Henry's calls of "pine cones mummy, can we have the pine cone sweets?" We made our purchase and left, working our way back down to a park near to where we had parked and where the boys could play, we could have a drink and I could deposit the several sheep's worth of woollen garments that I was still carting round with me back in the car.

Eventually we returned up to the castle where one half of our family spent a very enjoyable time walking around the walls at the top of the castle enjoying the views while the other half of us succumbed to panic attacks and vertigo and rushed off on their jelly legs to get back down to ground level! The low gaps in the walls at the top gave me a few heart stopping moments as Henry tried to get closer to the edge! So be warned if you are going there with little children.

After visiting the castle we wandered down to and around the town again and came across a sign advertising a planetarium that offered free viewings. Having never knowingly passed up a freebie we went to have a look and a happy, planetty looking type chap told us that the next show would start in 5 minutes so we went in to the domed tent that had big inflatable seating going all around the edge. We lay back as the show started which was all about the solar system. As massive projections of planets, meteor showers and space craft moved over our heads I could have easily fallen asleep in the dark, comfy tent if it hadn't been for Sam asking 'what's that?" and Henry asking "can I sit on your lap?" at regular intervals. The show finished after 20 minutes and despite being invited to watch another one that would be starting soon we decided to leave and head back down to the car. It was getting late and we still had the prospect of the drive home to come to terms with.

We got back to the garage and checked if anyone needed to go to the toilet before we left. "No", they assured us in unison, they were both fine. So I paid for the parking and we went to get in the car. "I need a wee!" called out Henry. "Me too!" called out Sam. Oh dear, well, the ticket was valid for 15 minutes from paying so we rushed off to the toilet. After the customary debate over why they have to go in the ladies' when they are with me they eventually went into the cubicle together. One minute later I heard "mummy, I can't open the door!" Great. With time ticking away I eventually managed to calm Sam down and coach him to turn the lock in the right direction and then we were free and racing to get back to the car before our parking ticket became invalid. The little chap in the high visibility jacket seemed mighty relieved when we were able to exit the garage without endangering ourselves or other drivers and we headed off for home. I won't inflict details of the journey home on you, suffice to say that we did play 'I Spy' again for what seemed like hours and that our jolly family tradition of choosing only objects that can't actually be spied continued with gusto.

We had a very lovely day in Trujillo though. It is a very friendly, picturesque place and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is in the area and who has the chance to go.

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