Mad about Sushi

Now I usually put my food fads down to the time of the year or the fact that if I can´t get something I want it all the more. I remember when I first came to Spain 14 years ago and it was nearly impossible to get cheddar cheese or salad cream or HP sauce (unless you went to Gib on the old road) which took 2 hours at least. But my latest craving is for sushi, and I find it amazing that more supermarkets don´t sell it fresh. When I worked in Murcia a couple of years ago, Carrefour used to sell delicious salmon and vegetable mixed sushi which was as good as you could find in any of the local Japanese restaurants. Served in a box with chopsticks, soy sauce and ginger pickle (yes I forgot the name of it) oh and wassabi of course. Of course sushi has to be fresh and this was as fresh as could be. I always find good sushi quite refreshing, almost as if you are eating goodness, which of course you are. Certain branches of Opencor sell boxed sushi but it is rather hit and miss as to how fresh it is, and I find it quite off-putting when all the little rice rolls are on their sides and look like they have been shaken up. Uniformed sushi that´s what we want! So any ideas on where to buy this -close to Fuengirola - would be good. Euromarket sell it at the weekend next to the fish counter, but I know it would sell like hot cakes if more of the big stores stocked it. A survey among my sushi loving friends proved this. El Corte Inglés used to stock it but it now seems to have gone AWOL along with the rest.

Sizzling Sunday Salsa

As the temperatures soar along the Costa, the best way to spend a day off is at one of the many beach bars dotted along the coast. If you want to try something different with some sexy salsa thrown in, the Rancho Cubano, beachside close to Pinomar, Marbella, is one of the top places to go on a Sunday. We went to celebrate a friend´s birthday last Sunday, and had a great time - well, we had a great time apart from the dire food on offer. The mojitos are fabulous, and at €5 a throw, are well priced for this part of the coast. To get in the mood, the drinks were flowing, and the platters of fresh fruit kept us all refreshed well into the evening (in fact the platters of fresh fruit would probably be your safest bet where the food is concerned), or eat before you go. The roast chicken was as hard as a table top, the chips were greasy and the mixed salad, well - do you really want to know? Put it this way, if you are not averse to slug type creatures, by all means order it. There enough said about the food. But being a birthday party our priorities were very much the music and mojitos, and both were superb. The live band play from around 5pm and once everyone has finished eating, the tables are cleared for dancing. There is something strangely sensual about tanned bodies in beachwear salsa dancing while the waves lap the shore behind the restaurant. The music was loud and the dancing was great fun. Even for those of us who are not natural dancers, you can´t resist joining in. Lasting for several hours, there is something distinctly sexy about sipping mojitos on the beach with a salsa band playing nearby. To get there (best to park on the approach road down to the beach and walk), from Calahonda, direction Marbella, exit the road at the English International College, and take first turn right through a very old and antequated tunnel - pip your horn a few times before entering. When you drive up the slope turn first right and first left. Then right down to the beach and the Ranchon Cubano is about 200 metres to the left of this.

Malaga Airport

At a time when many residents of the Costa del Sol are moaning about the recession in Spain (a downturn I would prefer to call it) and the credit crunch in the UK, vast expansion of Malaga Airport will make it one of the most modern, well-equipped airports in Spain. Once the new terminal is open in 2009 (hopefully) the airport will be able to handle thousands more passengers and fly to many more destinations. Longer haul flights will be available without having to change in Madrid or the UK, and new car parks will reduce the parking problems which now exist. So for those of you who have lived on the Costa del Sol for a number of years and have come to dread a trip to the airport to pick up friends and family, 2009 and the completion of the works is something to look forward to. As in my last blog, the Maria Zambrano Train Station, Malaga is also a modern, totally reformed building, and is a great advert for travellers arriving in the city. There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the Costa del Sol and Malaga in particular - check out some of the new tapas bars and restaurants in the city centre - chic, and elegant with superb food. So keep positive, stop moaning and celebrate the many positives about this fabulous coast.

Sizzling Seville update

After braving the high summer temperatures of Seville last week, I have to report the journey went smoothly and without a hitch. And what a fantastic job the powers that be have made of the Maria Zambrano train station in Malaga. Last time I took a train from Malaga the station looked old, somewhat decrepit and badly in need of a facelift. The new station is bright and breezy, modern and is built around a shopping centre with some great outlets, cafés and bars where you can relax before the train arrives. We booked our tickets online from Malaga to Seville, took the journey code with us and it couldn´t have been easier to obtain the tickets. Apart from the main ticket office, there are several ticket machines dotted around where you can press in the code number given over the internet and your tickets are printed from the machine immediately. A highly efficient way to get tickets and you don´t have to queue. The train was comfortable, clean and cool, with a lot more leg room than you would find on Easyjet (yes I know a train is not an aeroplane but still ...........). There is a drinks and snack machine on board, and the journey was pleasant - arriving in Seville two and a half hours later. The local friendly bobby pointed us in the right direction of the Hotel Sevilla Center, and we checked in about 20 minutes later. Seville´s station is also modern and airy, and offers travellers plenty of places to eat and drink before the journey. All in all a great trip - and the tapas in Seville are better, and cheaper than most of those in Malaga. Try some of the bars around the Santa Cruz area of the city (close to the cathedral). We ate twice at the Tapas Robles Restaurant which was superb - artichoke hearts and smoked salmon, assorted wild mushrooms with garlic and fresh herbs, rosada provencale and the best tortilla española we have ever tasted. If you fancy a bit of home from home, there is also a superb Irish pub - Flaherty´s -round the corner with Guinness on draught! Oh and a word of caution - if you are taking a horse and carriage ride around the city don´t pay more than €40.00 - he told us the price was €50.00 when we had already been quoted the cheaper price round the corner. Not a massive deal but you will save a tenner to spend on more delicious tapas.

Dogsitters

Having become very attached to my pooch, Barney, after finding him near starving and tick-ridden by the lakes at El Chorro a few years ago, I hate leaving him when I go back to the UK for holidays, but can´t afford to take him with me and, after the last time, will not leave him in a dog´s home. I´m sure many of the licensed kennels are perfectly adequate, but I obviously chose the wrong one last time. When I went to pick him up 12 months ago, he was visibly thinner than before and filthy dirty. He was waiting in the heat in a large barred cage, and was so pleased to see me he nearly squeezed himself through the bars. He howled all the way home - more in protest at what I had put him through than excitement at seeing me I think, and he still howls now if he sees the suitcase come out. I am not one of those owners who thinks our pooches should be pampered or treated like babies, but a bit of kindness and comfort would not go amiss when he is away from me. Does anyone know of any private dog carers who may be able to take him for 10 days over Christmas? I have heard of a few people advertising in the local rags, but would rather go on recommendation.

Renfe - a pleasant surprise!

Having decided to brave Seville in mid-Summer, we also decided to take the train from Malaga to Seville and avoid the hassle of city driving - tempers can get frazzled in our car when we are hot and bothered and very slightly lost. Having looked on the Renfe website, www.renfe.es, I was pleased to see we could book online, and the whole operation took no more than 5 minutes. I can also get frazzled when trying to book or buy something online only to be confronted with page after page of questions to fill in -just stopping short of asking me what I had for breakfast. So it was all happy skippy with booking the tickets, then just after the credit card details had been accepted and the window pop-up was instructing me to print my tickets, my computer threw a wobbly and closed the page down. Hmm - I thought it was all going too swimmingly. Well luckily, Renfe admin had sent me a confirmation of booking with a reference so I spoke to the astonishingly helpful chap at the station (and was offered an English speaking operator if I preferred). He told me to take the booking reference to the station check in and our tickets would be waiting for us on the day of departure. Very helpful and very friendly - tomorrow we will see if it has worked! But all in all, having travelled on trains from Malaga to Seville and Madrid in the past, they are clean, cool and run on time - unlike the UK where delays and cancellations are hitting all time highs. So if you are planning to travel within Spain, consider checking out the Renfe Website - you will be pleasantly surprised by the prices too.

European health insurance card

Call me pessimistic, but whenever I have to go anywhere near a social security office, a post office, a payment office or any other building which deals with official paperwork, my hands begin to sweat and my stress levels rise as I try desperately to get in the right queue and take all the correct documentation with me. So what a pleasant surprise it was to get my European health insurance card within 30 minutes at the local social security office in Fuengirola recently. Stupidly (on my part) I have lived here for 14 years and never carried this card, or anything similar when visiting the UK. It´s scary to think that if I had required any medical attention in England during the frequent visits I have made over the years, I would have had to pay for it. So if you are working in Spain and paying social security payments every month, or if you are unemployed and receiving benefits, make sure you go down to the social security office with your Residencia,or other identification, and any paperwork which may be relevant, and they will print you out a European health insurance card while you wait. This covers you for medical treatment throughout Europe for 12 months, and will put your mind at rest if you are thinking of travelling in Europe.

Summer fun at Malaga Feria

I am usually of the opinion that if you´ve been to one feria, you´ve been to them all. They are often much of a muchness, and although I am always tempted to go to Marbella and Fuengirola ferias, there is one event for me that stands head and shoulders above the rest. The Feria de Malaga, which takes place between the 16th and 24th August this year boasts a fantastic atmosphere that you don´t find at similar, smaller events along the coast. Our family usually take the train from Fuengirola to the centre of Malaga, so we can happily indulge in too much fino without worrying about driving home. We always visit in the afternoons, and you only have to follow the crowds and the noise to find the hub of the festivities. The beauty of this event is that it doesn´t have a touristy feel to it, and is a much more passionate and intense affair than most of the annual celebrations west of the city. Hundreds of señoritas dance in the streets with their colourful flamenco dresses swirling around them, and don´t miss the horse procession on the first day of the feria, where the horsemen show of their riding skills on some of the most beautiful Andalucian horses you will ever see. This fair is all about eating, drinking, dancing and merry making, and you will always be made to feel welcome. We normally stagger back to the train station around 8pm, footsore, a little bit drunk and happy to have experienced another fabulous Malaga feria. So don your dancing shoes and your flamenco frock and boogie on down there this August.

Fantastic health care in Spain

A lot is written about the pros and cons of taking out private health insurance in Spain, but I just wanted to share a story with you about the fantastic care my aunty received in Malaga last year. She had felt ´bunged up´ and full of cold for over a month, and decided to have a blood test to make sure all was as it should be. She visited her social doctor who told her he wanted to take a sample from a polyp at the back of her nose and send it for testing. The biopsy results came back and revealed, after a scan, that she had a large cancerous tumour behind her nose, which was pushing on her brain. At first the specialist told Nina that they couldn´t operate as the tumour was so close to the brain, but after further consulation, she was called back to discuss the options. Only two neuro-surgeons in Spain could carry out this delicate op and luckily one of them was in Malaga, so she was booked in to the Carlos Haya Hospital a week later. The operation was carried out a few days later using laser surgery to remove the tumour, which took 5 hours. She was in intensive care for 4 days, where the attention and care was second to none, and she then returned to a 4-bed room, where she was looked after until she left 10 days later. At the age of 75, we were worried she may not survive the op, but the doctors assured us she was in good hands, and in reasonably good health, and although there were risks, there was little choice as to whether to go ahead with the op or not. A year later, she is completely clear of cancer, and continues to have check ups every 3 months in Malaga. It is easy to complain about the NHS in the UK, or indeed about Spain´s equivalent here, but I have the utmost respect and praise for everyone involved in her operation and recovery. She is contacted regularly, and was even offered cosmetic surgery from the neuro-surgeon, should it be required after the op. Thankfully that was not the case and she is now fighting fit and looking fantastic.

Big shoes

Having lived in Spain since 1994, I still find it incredible that it´s virtually impossible to buy a pair of women´s shoes in a size 8. Ok it may not be the average shoe size but neither is it so unusual - particularly among ex-pats who tend to be a big larger in general to the locals. I blame my mother - she always had big ´plates of meat´ as my dad so charmingly puts it, and she would have been as frustrated as I am trying to buy shoes in Spain. In fact ´big foot´ shoe shop may be a great business idea. I normally have to troop off to Gib to buy shoes at Marks and Spencer´s or wait until I go back to the UK and stock up. If you do manage to find the odd pair of ladies shoes on the Costa del Sol, they are either so wide, that they resemble a circus freak´s footware, or they are designed with older grannies in mind who want some comfortable loafers to shuffle round town in. Come on shoe shops - start to stock something trendy, modern and stylish in a size 8. It shouldn´t be too difficult as most most of the upmarket (and not so upmarket) shoe shops in the UK, Scandinavia and Germany all stock larger sizes. Spain is renowned for its fine leather goods and shoes - it´s time to look after us big foots, and to start stocking them in all sizes.

Steamy Seville in Summertime

It´s true that the temperatures soar to over 40 degrees in Seville during Summertime, but it´s one of the best times to visit in my opinion. Call me crazy or maybe I´ve gone a bit mad with the heat on the Costa, but we usually spend a weekend in June and August in this fabulous city, and we always have a great time. Although only a couple of hours by road from most of the coastal resorts, we take the train from Malaga so don´t have to worry about driving round the city. One of the best, and most reasonable hotels we have found is the Sevilla Center Hotel, situated just ten minutes walk from the Cathedral and the popular Santa Cruz district of the city. It is modern, clean, cool and convenient and we enjoyed an amazing 70% discount from normal price for a long weekend after booking online. After checking in at midday, we enjoyed a dip in the rooftop pool, then headed into the city for drinks and sightseeing. As many times as I have been inside the breathtaking Cathedral, and although I´m not religious, I can never get enough of this monument. It is amazing to think that this, the world´s fourth biggest Christian church was built without the aid of modern machinery. Moving on from here, we normally walk or take a horse and carriage (touristy but fun) down to the river, which splits the city from North to South. During the hot summer evenings many bars and restaurants open up alongside the river, and there is no better place to watch the world go by. No visit to Seville is complete without a tour of the tapas and flamenco bars, dotted liberally around the city. All in all, there is something sensual and passionate about Seville - so if you like it hot - try a visit during the summer when the streets come to life with music, dance and fabulous food.

Any good dentists?

I am one of those people who never go to the dentist until something hurts. Now I am trying to be brave and actually push myself into an earlier than scheduled visit as I have a hole in one of my back teeth that feels like the Grand Canyon of all cavities. Not that I´ve ever enjoyed visiting the dentist, ever since we used to go as kids and the drills they used then were more like the pneumatic variety rather than the whirry little things of today. But since I came to live in Spain I am yet to find a regular dentist with a good bedside manner (so to speak) and one who doesn´t charge the earth and terrify me into the bargain. I have tried many different nationalities of dentist and found a great Swedish guy in Fuengirola - who promptly retired after my first visit (I didn´t realise my molars were that shocking). The latest one I visited (mentioning no names) was highly recommended by a friend of mine (An ex-friend now I might add). I went for a clean and a check-up and stumbled out of there 40 minutes later resembling a victim of a chainsaw massacre, and 100 euros worse off. Ok maybe a slight exagerration but believe me there was blood. One of the other worse experiences was when I visited another unfriendly chap in Calahonda who told me he was only hurting me because my pain threshold was very low. ´Oh that´s ok then´ I thought, ´see if you can hurt me some more´. So next week I am going to brace myself for the next dental onslaught with a new, very highly recommended chap in Los Boliches. I will report back and let you know how I get on (if I live to tell the tale).

Refugio de Juanar Summer walks

Trying to stay reasonably fit throughout the summer, without collapsing with heat exhaustion, can be something of a struggle. I try to fit in early morning dog walks at the weekends before the sun is too high in the sky, and there is still some cool air to be had. One of my favourite places for walking throughout the year is the Refugio de Juanar close to Ojen. The actual hotel of the same name is situated within a nature reserve, and the local countryside and wild flowers are stunning. We like to get up here around 9am in the summer as Refugio de Juanar is only a 15 minute drive from Marbella (Ojen road from La Cañada Commercial Centre). There are lots of trails and climbs you can attempt from the hotel area, but in the heat of summer, we prefer a gentle stroll to the Mirador de Marbella which overlooks the town itself and offers some of the most amazing views you will find on the Costa del Sol. The walk is about 1.5 kilometres, and although slightly uphill on the way, unless you are majorly unfit, it is a pleasant stroll through the mountains. We did once climb to the top of La Concha (now that hurt), but I wouldn´t recommend it during the summer (not sure I would recommend it any time really but that´s another story). The Mirador de Marbella offers a superb viewing platform, where you can see much of the coastline and the Mediterranean below. After a gentle walk back to the hotel, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast on the shaded patio area, which was so quiet - all you could hear were the birds. Many Spanish residents spend a month or two at El Refugio to escape the hustle and bustle of summer on the coast, and it is easy to see why. The peace and quiet, and the magnificent scenery bring this calm oasis to life. The hotel is open to non- residents, and the restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To get there take the Ojen road from close to the La Cañada Shopping Centre. Pass all signs you see for Ojen on the right and approx. 6 kilometres from Marbella you will see a sign on the left for El Refugio de Juanar. Two kilometres down here you will find El Refugio.

Against my better judgement ....... Aqua Park!!

As temperatures continue to soar along the Costa del Sol (even the dog has gone floppy and refuses to walk further than the gate), I was faced with the uneviable task of entertaining 5 kids for the day. An assorted bunch of nieces, nephews and godchildren, aged between 8 and 16 were never going to all agree on a venue so we had a show of hands and the Aqua Park (Parque Aquatico Mijas) won. I should have rigged the vote I thought as we headed off for the infamous water wonderland near Fuengirola. We went early and entered the park around 10am. The admission price was €11 each for children aged 4-12, and €16 each for older kids and adults. Not too bad when you consider that they wanted to stay all day (Groan!). Attractions included some terrifyingly named slides such as the kamikaze and the body ski, which are not for the faint- hearted, but us gentler souls were also well catered for with the wave pool and jacuzzi areas. This is the first time I have been to Aqua Park for about ten years, and vast improvements have been made since then. The staff are helpful and friendly (strange but true), and a lot of emphasis is placed on the safety and comfort of the visitors. There is also now a games arcade, mini-golf and rock climbing wall to add to the fun, plus a café-bar so you can keep refreshed throughout the day. The park obviously gets packed during the summer season, but there is still plenty of room to spread out, hire a few sunbeds and relax by the pool while the children enjoy the facilities. Do remember to pack plenty of high factor sun tan lotion. Although there are plenty of shady areas, the children will probably want to spend 90% of the time on the slides. We had a great day out, and miraculously there were no tears, no arguments and most importantly no sunburn! The park is open from 10am-7pm in July and August, and until 6pm in the Spring and Autumn. To get there from Marbella direction, exit the N-340 just after Dunnes Stores on the left. Aqua Park is here on the right hand side.