Lagos life

Sad as we were to leave the lovely Puerto Banus apartment, it had to be done. Our plan was to head to Portugal, with a stop on the way in  a rather lovely Hilton hotel. When we booked it, we expected a typical Doubletree standard  hotel, which is always fine. This was way better than expected, great rooms, lovely staff. If you are in the area have a look at hotel weblink and consider staying there. We wish we'd booked more than the one night.

The following day we headed over the border, after topping up with fuel that was getting ever more expensive - thank you Mr Trump. Spanish diesel was still cheaper then Portuguese though. We'd booked an apartment in Lagos for a week and were very much looking forward to exploring the area. We had visited briefly last year to meet up with another Nordhavn 47 owner who was overwintering in the marina there. As we had plenty of time to spare before the check-in, we made a little detour and stopped off at Vila Real de Santo Antonio, just over the border into Portugal.

Wandering around the town we were impressed / confused in equal measure by the sculptures dotted around the place:

This one was kind of advertising the shop behind:

We needed a coffee stop and when in Portugal, you have to go native:

The first of many to come we hoped. 

It was a good stop off, sunny as you can see and we walked around the main square and town area, soaking up the Sunday vibe from the locals and what seemed to be way too many UK visitors as well. There is one huge unappealing motorhome site (basically a gravel car park) that was full to the brim. Popular place to overwinter it seems.

Arriving at the apartment in Lagos was a pleasant surprise. Very comfortable place, excellent car park underneath it, well kitted out too. A short walk from the marina and town centre, comfortable and apart from a chilly kitchen, very cosy. We plan to use it again in future.

The bikes were busy once more, taking us to a lovely beach on the west side of the town:

with some beach art too:

On the way back we stumbled upon a rather special café come bistro kind of place. We cycled to it because it had an excellent on-line set of reviews and they were so right.  A nice outside seating area:

excellent brunch type food (the shakshuka eggs were outstanding), friendly service and good coffee too. Have a look at this Sunrays kitchen weblink to get an idea of what is on offer.  The crew looked suitably happy:

We forced ourselves to another visit later in the week under the mistaken belief that the cycle ride there and back would burn off any calories consumed. 

On Sunday in the town centre we bumped into one of those odd religious processions that seems to feature not only the clergy but local scout / guide equivalents, some strange effigies and any other local group that wants to be represented:

Carrying of the cross was well depicted:

and the town turned out en-masse as per this little video clip:

Bike trips to the east were along a mix of gravel tracks:

and rather nice pathways through the local golf course although avoiding the buggies driven by homicidal golfers was tricky:

By foot, the walk in to town was via the marina:

We liked the town centre and harbour area, spoiled only by the number of stalls advertising tourist boat trips and similar. Still lovely though:

In the spotlessly tidy town centre were a few odd statues once more:

and the regulation sports equipment shop majoring on Cristiano Ronaldo. They are ubiquitous. No idea what they will do when he retires. We happily walked, cycled, ate and drank our way around the area. Loved it and some of the people we chatted to as well. the area seemed to have become a haven for Americans who wanted to take advantage of 10 years in a low tax environment. If we could, we might be tempted too. Brexit prevents that. Great place to live.

"Scum in the sun" - we were allowed into Puerto Banus again

After the serious culture and massive history of Cordoba, we did a strange swap and headed to the money and lifestyle focussed Puerto Banus. We were so fortunate, being able to borrow an apartment there once again that is owned by very kind folks we know from Hythe marina.

Our motorway stop enroute was wildly expensive as you can see:

The total bill being slightly less than that for one flat white from Costa at an M4 service area. 

We happily arrived at the rather lovely apartment after a little discussion with the concierge as someone had used the parking space allocated to our friends. Explaining it to a guy who spoke marginally more English than we speak Spanish was fun, but he offered us another spot in the underground garage. That probably caused other knock on issues during our week there but we were happy.

Wine and nibbles on the balcony celebrated our arrival:

The area just smells of and flaunts money. We mentioned last year how the cars around the marina area were a proper mix of luxury limos and supercars, some with tasteless colour schemes too. Hence the title of this post - we felt like proper "Scum in the sun". For those of you who never watched the Rab C Nesbitt  TV series, we can only say that you've missed out. The first episodes were back in 1990 so getting old now like us, but having lived in Scotland for a while, we found them very amusing.  Scum in the sun - have a look at this video clip link. For non-native English speakers, good luck with the accent and special vocabulary. For the Captain's Bavarian friends - this probably sounds as strange to you as Bayerisch did to me.

Thanks to the orange gentleman's decision to attack Iran, crude oil prices went bananas overnight. We were amazed to see that Spanish fuel prices went up even faster than in the UK.  Overnight, from around 1.28 to 1.58 Euro for diesel, quite a % hike. Naturally the filling stations in Puerto Banus were a tad more expensive than in other areas. 

We'd taken our folding bikes with us and the waterfront paths were the ideal place to use them. They got plenty of use during our week there. We'd never braved Marbella before, thinking that it was a bit like the truly grim Benidorm. However, the owners of the apartment had told us that the old town was well worth a visit, so we did:

Quite a floral display, we did wonder how they watered the plants at the top of the wall.

The old town had a fair smattering of lovely old buildings and lanes, with some rather ornate entrance doors too:

The niche thing  was interesting too:

and here is the actual niche, high up on the building:

When not out on the bikes or walking, we were very happy to use one of the two terraces at the apartment and just enjoy the peace and quiet and the rather good garden view:

Heading to the west from Puerto Banus the bikes took us to the next town along where we sat outside a rather alternative coffee shop:

Roasted does great coffee, and charges well for it too. During the week we sat outside and enjoyed their wares. Sunday was a very different experience. The place was crammed with bright young things, who occupied themselves dancing, being half dressed and making lots of noisy chatter. It really was a "how can I show you that I am better than you / prettier than you / hotter than you" gathering. 

Luckily, being old and wrinkly we were just ignored. The clientele seemed not to be buying coffee, just filling the place up and preening themselves so how profitable the weekend opening is for Roasted is up for debate.

Our week in Puerto Banus was just great. We got some exercise, visited some new places and chilled. Perfect.