A 25 minute bus ride from Fuengirola brings us to Mijas, a village we knew nothing about other than there were frequent buses to it.  Turns out it’s a very quaint hill village with lot of tourist shops, including stores selling some beautiful buttery leather goods – coats, purses, satchels.  I had to avert my eyes!!

View from above Mijas where we started a hike up further into the hills

Everyone got the flower pot memo.  Blue,

Or red.  Your choice.

Very tidy (and color coordinated) people.

A Picasso sighting.

As we were leaving,  two tourist buses unloaded.   A delightful day trip. – Laura

The tourist bureau had a great map of hikes in the hills above Mijas, so off we went.  Three hours round trip, nothing too strenuous.  Hope to return & do a longer one.  Dave is most happy with his new hiking shoes.

Several marble quarries along the route.

That’s Fuengirola and the sea in the distance.

Lovely lines. – Laura

This was quite an impressive piece of work.  I left him a well deserved tip.  This was my first time to this section of the beach, so I don’t know if this is a multiple day effort or not.  You would think it would be, unless he had helpers.

Fires aren’t allowed on the beaches, but you can reserve and rent one of these metal, sand-filled ‘boats’, where fires/BBQs are allowed.   Mid-afternoon Saturday, and this group had just unloaded two vans worth of gear.  From the looks of it – chairs, cooking racks, etc – they were the set-up crew for a larger party.  Should have returned later that night to check it out, but we didn’t.

Fish-kabobs! (my name for them) roasting on an open fire.

Fish-kabobs II.

Saturday Swan outing on the Fuengirola River.

In  Malaga.  These palm trees, which are all over the city, are alive with green parakeet-like birds whose song was just wonderful. We could only see them when they were in flight, as they hid themselves well in the heart of the palms.  – Laura

Grocery stores in Spain and Malta are smaller, with a de-emphasis on pre-packaged food.   Meat shops abound where they’ll cut your chops or ribs to order.  Fish markets and produce shops are also common.  A practice I haven’t seen in the states is the locking up of grocery carts.

So, to use a cart, you insert a coin (a 50 cent piece) into the slot in the black box.  This releases the chain that links it to the cart in front of it.  When you’re finished with the cart, you reinsert the chain from another cart, which slides your coin back into your hand.  Result: no stray carts.  The smaller plastic hand baskets are ‘free’ to use, but will set off an alarm (personal experience) if you bring them through the checkout counter.  You leave them at the beginning of the checkout belt.  (They’re very tolerant of us rookies.  Either that or they’re cursing at me in Spanish with a smile 🙂

Walking to the market is the norm here, so these pull carts are common.   The larger markets provide a means to lock your cart up while you’re shopping. You retrieve it and load it up after check out, and you’re on your way. Our apartment includes one, but I haven’t used it yet, as our grocery lists are short plus the store in only 1 block away.

If you happen to have the pups with you, appears to be no problem to leave them tied up outside or inside the store while you gather your goodies. Laura