Iznajar

We are entering the final stage of our trip today, we leave Dave in Malaga and join Dave and Lindsay in Iznajar. You can never have too many Daves.

It's standing room only on the train into Malaga, and we chat to a British couple from Chester who have been coming here since the 1960s. This would have been in Franco's time, so I ask them what it was like then. Very different. The police were everywhere, and public displays of affection were banned.

We plan to leave the rucksack in the station's left luggage office, but it is closed. Not sure what you would do if you needed to retrieve your bags. A bit of internet research reveals a bag drop a few hundred metres away, so we go there and drop off most of our bags.

Lindsay has recommended a visit to the market, which is nearby and we visit next. It's somewhat disappointing, very few stalls are open and the building is fairly non-descript

Then it's a bus into the city centre and to the cathedral. Where we find a long slow moving queue. Our bus to Salinas departs at 3pm, and we are meeting Dave and Anne for lunch. Anne is on a Mediterranean cruise and had arrived in the port earlier in the morning. Dave had met her, and taken her on a trip to the castle.

So we decided our lives were too short to spend in the cathedral queue and went for a wander through the streets and to secure a table for lunch. Dave had recommended El Gallo Ronco, which we found and sat ourselves down with a glass of white wine

Dave and Anne soon joined us for some tapas and another two bottles of wine. 

Too soon we had to bid our farewells and head for the bus station. We were looking for somewhere to buy wine to take to Lindsay and Dave. We spot what looks like a market building, and divert our path to visit it.

This is clearly the market we were supposed to visit this morning, but unfortunately was beginning to close for the day and only a few stalls were still open. However, wine was procured.

We then went to the luggage store and the bus station. I have never known Vera to walk so quickly. The bus was waiting for us, as expected, in bay 34. 

We had front row seats and drove the bus to the town of Salinas, through interesting and mountainous scenery. We were dropped off on the edge of the town, and I wondered what would happen next as there had been no pre-arranged meeting point. Within a minute, before I can phone Lindsay for instructions, a car pulls up and Lindsay and Dave pick us up

We stop for a walk around Iznajar, their local village.

It is so picturesque with its winding narrow streets, geraniums in blue painted pots, and views over the surrounding countryside

Lindsay and Dave's house is amazing, and something of a maze. Steps are everywhere and no two rooms seem to be on the same level

Vera unpacking

The pool is a refreshing 22 degrees, cold when you get in, but soon feeling comfortable

I water the young lettuce and tomatoes

Lindsay goes to her book club, we go with Dave for some food in Iznajar

Later, back at the Palau, the stars are bright and clear in the night sky

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