Marbella Promenade
Monday was a public holiday in Andalucia so we headed to the Marbella promenade for a walk, busy with lots of families. Plenty of apartments right on the sea front for rental. A great time of year for retired people to come out and escape the horrible UK weather.
Stopped in Garum for one of their fabulous baked cheesecakes. I did take a photo but managed to delete it, sorry!
Marbella Promenade
Sky Boxes
If you need a new sky box around the Marbella area or want to install SKY tv then call TV One on 951310437/607320751. They are prompt and reliable. A new sky HD box with a lot of memory is now around 350 euros, in the UK £200. You get free delivery to Spain with Amazon.
Orange Square Marbella
Took a stroll late this afternoon around the Orange Square in Marbella, a location that many people seem to miss when they come for a visit to Marbella. There were still some orange blossom buds left on the trees and so the air was filled with the delicate scent of orange blossom…heavenly! Though Erika disagreed and said it smelt “like cheap perfume….”
Quite a few new restaurants have opened up and as well as the quintessential cafe con leche, we had a spot of window shopping on route…..
English Theatre in Marbella
There is a production tonight at 8pm ( tickets at the door and tomorrow at 7pm at the Palacio de Congresos in Marbella. The production is a Spanish play that has been translated into English and is performed by an International group in English. Tickets are 15 euros for an adult and 8 euros for a student.
The play “Lady of the Dawn” is a great story. The scene opens with a mother in mouring, remembering how four years ago her eldest daughter drowned in the local river and how her body was never found. Her remaining children are forbidden from going to school as it would mean that they cross the very river that her daughter drowned in. Curtains are drawn and laughter is banned from the house.
One night a stranger appears, “Death” in disguise and she promises the grandfather than in seven months she will return to the family……
A really creepy story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The group hope to put on more productions in Marbella and I will certainly be keeping my eye out for them so that I can enjoy one of their productions again.
The opening night was yesterday and it saw us all being invited to a glass of wine and sushi canapes after the show to meet the cast. Who says Marbella has no culture…..
A beautiful day, sun and snow
We had a great day out in Sierra Nevada on Thursday. We left Marbella around 8.30am and had a good three hours on the slopes. It took a while for us to get organised with ski lessons, ski passes and then the ski hire equipment but we did it.
The weather was absolutely amazing, clear blue skies and without sounding too eco warrior-ish, you could not help but look at the snowy mountains against the blue canvas and think that we really do have the most beautiful planet.
Tips if you are heading to Sierra Nevada are:
1 Take a couple of bars of chocolate with you to keep your sugar levels up and altitude sickness at bay. It is over 2500metres and headaches and nausea are more common that you think. Drink lots of water.
2. Hire your equipment where the cable car ends, not in the village, then you won’t have to carry skis, ski poles and trudge in heavy ski boots.
3. At the top near the restaurant there are lockers. These are a good idea as they are cheap and it means you can take off layers of clothes if you get hot and then put them back on if you find the temperatures drops.
4. Book your ski lessons ahead of time. There is a British Ski School but we used another company and many of the ski instructors speak English if that is what you require. Private lessons are around 38 euros per hour. About 43 euros for 2 people and group lessons are cheaper still. The cable car and chair lift passes were 42 euros for an adult and you pay 3 euros deposit for the lift card. You ge this back when you return to the village and there are special machines that do this refund for you. Children’s ski passes are cheaper if they are 11 years or younger. Parking for the day in the underground car park right in the village was 13 euros.
Other off piste activities include an ice-skating rink and we saw a fun looking sledge that went very fast down a track. There is a nursery if you have young children and want to leave them somewhere warm where they are cared for near the entrance of the cable car, whilst you ski.
It took 2 hrs 15 minutes going from Marbella to Sierra Nevada and it took us 2 and a half hours to get back. Ski slopes and chair lifts were fairly quiet as the Spanish children do not have half term, so going mid week was a good idea.
Marina Del Este, La Herradura
Sometimes it is nice just to get in the car and travel to an area away from the Costa del Sol coastline. Exploring is fun and today we headed towards La Herradura and the Marina Del Este, just past Nerja.
Marina del Este and a pizza from the restaurant there. The Vegetarian one was the best we had. Great service.
A bit shivery in the wind on the beach at La Herradura, but a beautiful day.
The waiter threw a piece of pizza into the marina and so before long we were all following suit. I’m not sure if it was good for the restaurant to have clients throwing pizza into the marina but one chap really enjoyed it.
A seagull managed three pieces of pizza and then left the rest to the fish. Marina del Este has a blue flag for its quality water. At least it did before we emptied our plates into it…..
Marina Del Este was very pretty with its rocky bays and very little development. The Marina had a total of three restaurants and it was very peaceful there. La Herradura was more busy with more development and choice of restaurants but still very quiet. Pretty coastline with pebbled beach.
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things and….
“Well I have just watched the DVD of Knowing, with the family, very bad idea and when Virginia’s friends highly recommend a film again I will make sure I stick my fingers in my ears. Virginia has had trouble going to bed worried that I may spontaneously combust in the night, Conrad is making whispering noises so Erika was scurrying under the duvet and hubby has gone to watch something “light” just in case it is the end of the world….”
Well I’ve reached for the internet to find some of my favourite things and then “I don’t feel….so bad.”
Window shopping, found this, on my wish, wish, wish, list…..
http://www.mysugarland.co.uk/shop/category/jewellery/ruby-tuesday-green-teacup-necklace
Hope I wake up to see sunshine tomorrow…..and not flames.
Lady of the Dawn in Marbella
Virginia has been busy rehearsing for her wee part in Lady of the Dawn which is on in Marbella in the Congressos on the 25th February until the 27th February. It starts at 8pm and although I’m not sure how much the tickets are, you can book them by calling 607 73 74 82.
It is on in English and should be a nice evening…..rather than watching Ant and Dec on tv.
Kids know best…
All week I cook fresh food for the children. Today after my trip to Iceland in Puerto Banus I gave them big fat oven chips, baked beans and chicken fingers in breadcrumbs.
“Mum, lovely meal” and “yummmmm” was the verdict. Clean plates.
Forget healthy eating, green vegetables and olive oil.
Kids know best…..
Terra Sana Golden Mile, Nueva Andalucia, Puerto Banus
We went for lunch today in Terra Sana on the Golden Mile and although the food was good the presentation wasn’t up to its usual high standards.
Just received an email from Terra Sana explaining that they currently have someone running the restaurants above but who is not paying the bills. As Adrian below has commented, why would a franchise hand over to someone without payment, without a contract being signed and everything legally correct? Decide for yourselves….
MESSAGE
Dear Customers:
In September our franchisee in Marbella (Stradane SL) made a big mistake:
selling the 3 Terra Sana restaurants in Marbella (Nueva Andalucía, Milla de Oro and Marina Banús) to a person named Ned Latif, who committed to maintain their good performance and to improve them with marketing, promotions, refurbishments, etc.
A few weeks after the deal, we started to realise that the supposed investors backing the transaction were not there. Our dismay increased when we saw that far from injecting new capital into the business, he stopped paying the current operating expenses such as rent, mortgages, leasings, etc. In addition, he tried to put employees, suppliers and the rest of the franchisees against our company, Terra Sana Franchising Company SL. Faced with this situation, Stradane SL filed for voluntary receivership, as this person took possession of the assets but is not paying his contractual obligations. We filed a lawsuit with an injunction to throw this “squatter”
out of our restaurants as soon as possible, as he is not willing to give them back to their lawful owner, despite not having paid A SINGLE EURO of the purchase price. Emotionally, we are going through the worst weeks in the history of Terra Sana.
We have always been honest and we think that sharing this problem with you is the right thing to do. We count on your support in the difficult times that these three restaurants are going through
We apologise for:
-The embarrassment of having allowed this person to be in contact with so many loyal customers of Terra Sana -The degradation of product quality and customer service, as this person does not respect the modus operandi of the franchise -The bad experiences you are encountering in these three restaurants lately.
-The sadness of having canceled some of your favourite activities, like the
organic market, the Cooking Club, the parties, the tree plantings, etc
We trust we will get the restaurants back soon and will keep you informed.
Meanwhile, we are comforted by the numerous support gestures we receive. Our families have been working with passion in the Terra Sana Project for more than 10 years. This is what people like Ned Latif cannot understand and cannot take away from us. We are grateful to the rest of our franchisees: La Cañada, Fuengirola, Laguna Village, Sotogrande, Málaga, Madrid. They continue working well, are part of the family and maintain the Terra Sana spirit. We hope to give you the good news soon of having your favourite restaurants in Marbella back in good hands and we will work hard to repair the damage caused by Ned Latif.
The deeper the roots, the strongest the branches. We feel proud of our deep roots. We know that honesty and truth will overcome any problem and with your support we will emerge from this one stronger.
With love,
Terra Sana Management