A warm winter in Andalucia, Spain Nov/Dec, 2018

The cute we village of Iznate, as seen from our road
(Lily in frame)

We were excited to be starting a four month sit in the south of Spain.  We needed to be in Europe so at least this was going to be a relatively warm place to be.  We don't have room for winter clothes in our rucksacks .....!

We arrived to be greeted by our four of our six charges.

Maribel & Lily (wearing the jersey Clare knitted for her)

Tiffany and Titus

Maribel and Titus are a brother and sister combo of Norwegian Forest Cat X Maine Coon.  They liked to come on our  doggy poop walks down the road, providing another layer of entertainment to the adventure.  Tiffany, the standard poodle, is the same age as the cats (7yrs).  Lily was shoved under the gate as a tiny puppy when the others were only four months old.  Boy, did she fall on her feet ;-) We have not often had the pleasure of caring for cats and dogs that get on so well together.  There is usually some kind of power play going on with pets who live together, especially between cats and dogs.  But not this very amenable quartet.  What a joy they are!

We were also caring for the holiday resort owned by our homeowners a 20min drive from the house.  The resort, closed for the winter, had actually sold by the time we got there but we were required to pop over every second day to feed the two cats and take care of the pool until take over mid December.

Sister act ... Cleo and Delilah

Flexibility is a key part of our lifestyle, so when hand over date came and went without confirmation of the sale, we simply continued our visits.  The cats were a delight and there were plenty of quiet lanes to walk the dogs.  Not to mention the fact that avocado season was in full swing and we were surrounded by orchards.  Yum, yum!! Oh, and mangoes .... did we mention the mangoes?!!  The hills in which we were staying were traditionally planted in olives and almonds.  These are slowly being replaced by avocados and mangoes.  It seems that with the advancement in irrigation systems it is now more lucrative to grow these alternate crops.  We don't mind at all.

Mangoes and pomegranates

There is an abundance of orange and lemon trees locally also.  In fact they even grow them on the sides of the roads in all the villages.  Unfortunately, the ones we tried from the roadside were not very nice.  But they do make a pretty picture.

We were lucky enough to be only a 15 minute drive to the coast, the Costa del Sol on the Mediterranean.  This was fortunate as Tiffany, especially, loved nothing more than fetching her ball at the beach.

A frequent trip to the dog park in Velez-Malaga, our nearest shopping centre, was also part of our weekly routine for socialisation and ball fetching.

On a Thursday after the dog park we would walk down to the weekly market to buy our fruit and veg.  The local green beans, cherimoya, pomegranates, clementines (small oranges), olives, salted almonds, fennel, aubergines and peppers were always fresh, cheap and plentiful.

James was most delighted with his purchase of a serrano ham .....

Titus was equally as delighted!

We made a regular trip up to Lake Vinuela for a romp around too.  Both the girls loved to get their feet wet.

Thirsty work all this rushing about the place

Other days we just wandered around the quiet roads in and out of the very pretty village of Iznate.

Tiffany likes to drink from the tap at the top
of our road

After our 'walk of the day' we were all delighted to retreat to the pool deck to soak up the sunny days.

 

Keeping a lookout

Always up for a bit more water play

When the sun went down, there was always the comfort of family time on the sofa before bed.

 

Did someone say bedtime?

Room for one more?!?!

Thus we came to the end of 2018 amoung all this domestic bliss.  Funny how easy it is to slot into someone else's house and responsibilities so happily.  Just one of the things we love about our (unusual) lifestyle.

A reflection on 2018 ..... 8 countries, 13 house sits, 16 dogs, 13 cats, a bunch of cows and sheep and a few chickens. Phew!  It's been a busy one. We have also travelled by plane, train, automobile, many buses, quad bike, many tuk tuks, a couple of cable cars, and a few boats of varying sizes and capabilities .... by air, sea, river, lake and land.

[cue Contented sigh]

The rain in Spain .... - Nov/Dec 2018

Typical tapas bar, Barcelona

Our journey from Buenos Aires to Barcelona was fairly uneventful.  The funniest thing to happen was that we bought heaps of food in BA before we left thinking we had a cheap flight with no frills.  Having just polished off some lovely sandwiches and snacks, the flight attendant came around to serve our dinner!!  Hmmm, seems James had forgotten he had upgraded the flight on some deal or other.  Never mind, our snacks were much nicer than the airline food. 

Arriving in Barcelona, we took the bus into town quite close to our hostel so only had to walk a short way with our full rucksacks.  James is really great at researching the cheap way into town so that we don't get ripped off with inflated taxi fees, which is typical at most airports.

 We were staying in the Plaza Espana area which had the central underground line running through it, which made getting places really cheap and easy. Venturing out on our first night to check out our hood, we found a crowd forming a queue at a bar across the road from us.  Not wanting to miss a trick, we googled it to see if we should be there too.  The reviews were dreadful.  Pretty much a tourist trap with an undeserved reputation of somewhere you must visit in the area.  Thanks, Google, good to know.  Moving on.  Dislike queues anyway ;-)

We only had two days in Barcelona.  So much to do!  First was Las Ramblas.  We arrived a little early for the stalls to all be set up but James did mention that the whole area had become a lot more touristy than when he was last here ... around 20 years ago!  To escape the light rain that started to fall we ducked into the market. Again, quite touristy these days but fascinating nonetheless. 

Up the top of the road we were reminded of the terrible tragedy which took place here in August 2017 when a young man drove a van into pedestrians, killing 14 and injuring 130+.  Moving on quite quickly .....

Off we went to see some of the amazing architecture on offer here .... Gaudi of course!

We walked to Casa Batllo, not letting a little light rain thwart our enthusiasm.

The building beside it is very pretty too, so much detail to the facade.

Then, of course, La Segrada Familia started in 1882 and still under construction.  If you ever see a photo of this amazing building without cranes and scaffolding, trust us, it's photo-shopped.  This detracts not a jot from the detail on every surface.  You can stand and stare at the same place for half an hour and still see something new.  Beyond comprehension really!

 

A bit closer to home we came upon the MNAC museum

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic

These rather imposing columns

James has never looked so short!

And the Arenas de Barcelona, which is a disused bullring turned shopping mall

At the top of which we found this cool interactive floor which changed colours depending on the pressure placed.  The children were having a ball on it!

Although Barcelona was a flying visit on our way to our next house-sit in Andalucia, it was well worth the stopover.