Nerja

May 18, 2024

David opened the blinds first thing this morning and right away noticed a wet courtyard below our second-floor room. Could it be? Might it have rained overnight? A quick look at the dry landscape answered the question. No, it had not rained. They do a nightly washdown of the tiled expanses between our hotel and the Teatro Romano and they did it all so quietly that we didn’t hear a thing.

We were scheduled for the 8:30 breakfast, so we headed over to the breakfast room overlooking the Roman Theatre to enjoy the full buffet. It included everything we needed and also what we didn’t need but loved, ricotta cheesecake. Did we have it? Oh, yes, we did and it was delicious.

Uh, oh. We are going to need a new coffee machine when we get home. And, cheesecake for breakfast.

We missed out on the market and the cathedral yesterday so decided to fit those two stops in after breakfast. First up, the Mercado Centrale de Atarazanas. The massive stained glass at the back wall of the market represents the monuments of Malaga. The market stands where there was once a Moorish shipyard, hence the image of ships in a harbour in the stained glass.

The seafood was incredibly fresh and abundant.

I love to grow different varieties of tomatoes each year, so my eyes light up whenever I see unusual tomatoes. The tomatoes in the second ohoto below are enormous. The cut one must be 7” across.

I was tempted to nick a few seeds off that cut tomato, the biggest I have ever seen.

We couldn’t turn down those cherries so bought a big handful for our lunch.

Those kebabs were about 16” long and the cubes of meat were huge.

What a great way to offer meat and cheese to your customers.

Patates bravas with fried eggs, Iberico ham and herbs. Yummy.

Lemons are so abundant here, that it almost seems redundant to sell them.

We picked up a couple of croissant sandwiches and cherries for lunch down the road today and then we headed for the Malaga Cathedral. Luckily, there was no queue and I was able to go straight in. I took a few minutes to wander around and then lit a candle in memory of David’s brother, who we lost recently.

A candle for John. May he rest in peace.

By the time we were all packed up and ready to ride it was already 11:15. It’s later than we like to get going, but today’s ride is flat and so we felt it warranted the time to have a last look around. Malaga is a magnet for people from all around the world and from what I can see, it has adapted well to having so many visitors with its wide pedestrianized streets and top-notch cycle paths, not to mention hundreds and hundreds of bars and restaurants. We headed directly to the cycle path and rode east along the coast.

I am not much of a fan of cycle paths, mostly because few of them are this good. Today, we enjoyed riding on the path for a considerable distance.

The temperatures today hovered in the low 20’s making it ideal for cycling, especially with a nice tailwind to help shuffle us along.

This fitness station was being actively used by both men and women on this Saturday mornig .

The bull in the hill is a reminder we are in sherry country.

Here is the video summary of our cycle today. It will be the flattest ride of the whole trip.

We cruised in to Nerja around 3:30 pm and rolled up to our Hostal with ease. It so happens that this one was pretty easy but, this year I have plotted the ride to and from our destination every day to alleviate the daily goose chase to locate our accommodation.

One of the many watchtoweres that dot the coastline here.

Someone got creative when planting these palms.

When the cycle path ran out, it was replaced with a hard-packed trail. The traffic was so light, we used the roadway.

Nerja suprised us in its size and its popularity. The bulk of the tourists cram themselves into the small neighbourhood near the Balcon. We got cleaned up and then decided to walk for a dinner drink and try to get sunset picture. We ended up with dinner, but we weren't fast enough on the draw for the sunset. Maybe tomorrow.

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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 307 km (191 miles)

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Patty BarronYou have landed in another great spot, for sure.
After having looked-up Nerja, Balcon de Europa & Mirador del Bendito , you would have a very hard time dislodging me from this place.
Moving on is one of the hardest things to do when there is more travel on the itinerary. Being in the moment & appreciating every new experience does help, ( as you both seem to know & practice!)
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6 months ago

Anne AnastasiouWhat a lovely ride along the coast. Great pics and video. I love the song. Who is the artist? So glad the weather continues to be perfect for you.
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6 months ago

David MathersTo Anne AnastasiouHi Anne, Glad you like the video and the song…it has a nice little ukulele strum. The song is ‘Back to the Earth’ by Jason Mraz. Have a great day!
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6 months ago

Rachael AndersonI really loved Nerja and Berja when we were there! You got some respally great photos!
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5 months ago