"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.

The rather wonderful Cordoba

We'd read a bit about Cordoba and knew it must be rather nice as it had a Parador hotel there. We'd booked a couple of nights and were pretty happy to find a rather nice room with a balcony had been allocated:

The weather was nicer than that picture suggests by the way, fine for sitting outside enjoying a very British restorative cup of tea after the drive.  It was another relatively new build hotel but still had the "Parador character".

As it is a little bit out of the city centre, we braved the local bus service and headed downtown. The usual good bus service and low fares were only slightly spoiled by the fact that they did not allow you to tap on with a credit card. It was quite a shock digging out cash for the first time on our trip, all 2.60 Euros for the pair of us.  Rather good value we thought.

The city centre was very typical old Spanish:

although the delivery rider with his big yellow box is a reminder of current fashions. There is one must do thing in Cordoba of course. A visit to the Mosque-Cathedral. Have a look at their website for lots of background on the Mosque that became a Cathedral and has architectural elements from both religions, going back to the 6th centaury. 

Impressive outside:

and stunning inside, both in scale and the detail of the decorations:

with an almost ethereal feel to the arched open spaces:

The areas where the original Muslim style and decoration survive seem so incongruous in a Cathedral: 

but have been beautifully restored. We were most amused by the rather specific project funding displayed for one renovation activity:

We would love to know how / why they costed it to that level of detail and how much it finally cost. The buildings are designated as a UNESCO world heritage site and we saw why as we wandered around:

After a most enjoyable cultural feast, we wandered over another elderly bridge:

and found a surprisingly good restaurant for a small lunch on the other bank. Great service from a waiter who had worked and lived in the UK until Covid with a great sense of humour, good food and rather good coffee too. The only slightly weird bit was the ceiling decoration: 

It was a little bit intimidating but didn't steal any food.