Torrox Costa, Andalusia, Spain and Canary IslandsTorrox Costa – Nerja
Up and down
Today we started our stop on the
Costa del Sol (sin sol), a cloudy morning to leave the town. Ok so one thing which
I thought was a bit complicated: the lock box for the keys is outside the
apartment on floor 11, we need the keypad to leave the parking lot of the
building and outside on the road there is no parking… so Gine let Paul out, who
then put in 4-way-flash and hoped that all is ok, and then Gine went back up to
bring the keys back up. And then we are on the way:
In the Clouds in El Tocal
Once Gine saw the pictures of
this Nature Park, she thought we have to go there: as we turned off the road
went up into the mountains, once we left the main highway it really got up:
steep – lots of curves – hairpins… and up and up it went: and the clouds came
closer and closer until we were in the middle of them: as we turned off, we had
already nearly no visibility: there was a tiny little car in front of us… so we
both went slowly up. Once on the Visitor Info Parking lot: it was #1 zero
visibility #2 fairly cold and #3 slippery. We went in and talked to her, she
said we could do the 45 Min walk – but the visibility is not that great and the
pathway can be a bit slippery. As we went back out, we decided that it is not
really worth it, and that we will stop along the road at the cool rocks we saw.
Slowly we crawled down the road again: seeing glimpses through the cloud, when
we came to the Mirador we stopped,it was kind of cool walking through the
stones…
- It is said to have some of the most beautiful limestone formations in Europe
- Once a hundred million years ago it was under water, the earth crust movements forced it upwards into hills up to 1300m
- You can drive up to 1100m above sea level (no wonder we were in the clouds)
And then we drove all the
winding road back down again until we reached the ocean level again.
Waves at La Cala del Moral
Our next stop is in this little
town: so why do we stop – Gine said there are tunnels: tunnel de Cantal:
- The tunnels are in the cliff and go from la Cala del Moral to Rincon de la Victorio
- The tunnels were built in 1908 for a train – the train run until 1968
- The tunnel served as a refuge for those fleeing the bombing of Malaga during the Civil War
We followed like always Google
map, which brought us in a residential area “residents only”, good thing there
is lots of parking. We started and walked through the tunnels (I should mention
that Paul at some time decided to do some wave watching) and then on the way
back we walked on the outside of the cliffs to see more of the amazing waves.
It was cool as the waves crashed underneath you it was like a thunder in the
rock below. At the very end we came to a beautiful located outdoor gym, and yes
you can to your exercise with ocean view.
Sun in Torrox Costa
- As per internet it has the best climate in Europe and it is the crown jewel on the Costa del Sol and as per internet it is always warm (Paul said on which Planet)
As we arrived in Torrox Costa,
it was a bit difficult to find the office as it was not where google send us,
but we did find it and it is cool, it is a whole complex of Apartments: 7
buildings: we are in 7201: that means Building number 7, elevator # 2, Floor 0
(which would be ground floor) in Apartment #1: we drove into the complex –
after entering we drive into the parking garage of building 5/6 through it and
then into Building and park in our parking lot #7201 – then take the exit 7.2
with the elevator of 7.2 to floor 0. Once you understand the principle it’s
easy. Later we walked behind the buildings: where we met some cute little
kittys and you can look at the plants, pool and ocean (and you can’t get lost,
as we are entrance door 7.2)
Our Apartment is spectacular: no
busy roads, no high rises, view on nature and ocean – a gigantic balcony with lounge
chairs and table, a super nice living room – it is absolutely perfect. I think
this is our #1 winner so far.
Clean cloth!!
It’s again time to wash cloth:
as we do not speak Spanish but try to read sign language – we though it could
be a washer/dryer combination. It took a bit, but we got it started. Then Gine
thought ok take some of the cloth out and try the dryer cycle: only this ended
up with another wash cycle which lasted another 1.5 hours: I guess our
underwear will be super clean after being washed for 2.5 hours đŸ˜Š
Pizza in Torrox Costa
As per Paul it’s Pizza night and he choose “I
love Pizza” – first we thought it is too far, and Paul complained about not
close enough parking, but once we were there, it’s gorgeous – you are at the
walkway along the ocean with sun by the way – and then we had Pizza outside
with ocean view and the best: the pizza is only 4.50 Euro, can you believe it
and it was yummy. I mean we can’t even cook that cheap ourselves.
Unvoluntary sleeping in
This morning we woke up when
Paul’s phone called for his pills that means 8.30 – so why did Gine’s alarm did
not go off??? When checking the phone Gine discovered it set the time for 2
hours back… guess that explains that part, but it’s a bit annoying, as we
depend on the phone. So temporarily we set it on permanent time and hope that
helps. At least we are nice and relaxed this morning – which is perfect with
the sunshine outside: which invites us to have breakfast on the balcony.
Frigilana: the town in the
hills with a view
We leave then to head to this
cute little “white” (or at the moment not so white) town in the mountains:
- As per internet it’s not only a beautiful Spanish Village: they won a lot of awards for it: especially since it is kept so clean
- The white wash dates back to the 18th century when a plaque killed 40% of the population: to sterilize the town, everything got burned or slathered in lime to kill the germs: it turned out that the whitewash reflected the sun, keeping things cool: people liked it : today the houses must be white, the color of the trim is each ones choice
It was beautiful to drive up to
it: with the mountain views and some dotted white houses, once up we decided to
check first for free parking: and thought there is none, when we accidently
found one. Perfect. What’ should we say about this town: the views are
fantastic – from everywhere the viewpoint across of our parking lot – the Plaza
del Ingenio – behind the old factory – the viewpoint further up – or the
viewpoint we stopped when driving down: We really loved it: white houses and
the green mountains.
We did wander along some of the
cute streets: they have super nice cobbled streets, and steps – lots of
souvenir shops. We soon decided that the sun is peeking out, so we won’t
explore all the streets and rather go down to Nerja. But we did had to stop on
the way down at one more viewpoint.
Nerja: Balcon de Europe
Ok they say parking on the
streets is free – haha big joke, as there is no parking. That means we go into
the public parking spot (as well it’s good we decided not to stay in town with
free street parking), then Paul had to let of steam, as he thinks you should
not have to pay for parking – and he is not impressed with Europe as they
always want you to pay for parking.
Nevertheless, we came to the
narrow streets between the white houses and came to the big plaza, went along a
street to check it out a bit: yes, souvenir shops, restaurants and ice cream. As
we walked around the Igreja de San Salvador: Gine said let’s go in, Paul had
one glimpse and said it is not special enough for him, so he did some people
watching instead.
Our next stop is the Balcon of
Europe: which they say is a stunning viewpoint: I guess it is always what you
compare it with, as it is nice, I wouldn’t use the word stunning maybe
touristy??
- Nerja is Costa del Sol’s most popular beach town and not a budget destination it has the wealthier Germans, Brits and Scandinavians
- At the Balcon de Europe was once a fortress to check for ships. Along the coast were lookout towers stationed withing sight of one another to look for pirates: and yes, we saw several of those towers. Then they built a fort here to keep it from being captured by Napoleon: the cannons tumbled into the sea – two of them got salvaged and are now here: yes, we took a picture with them!!!
- Gine loved the statue of King Alfonso: who came here after the earthquake of 1884 – he was the one making sure that the town got dug out of the rubble
Once we did enough watching, we
decided to head down to the famous beach below Playa Calahonda: that is easier
said then done, as we first couldn’t find the entrance and walked by until we
turned and then found the archway to the walkway down: this is a beautiful
walkway with stunning stonework – Gine absolutely loved it (as per Paul it is
not in our budget): at the bottom was a cute little beach shack and then we
headed through some gigantic rocks: which are kind or stones in rocks, and
watched the waves come in, and walked through the wet sand a bit further,
except we did had to be careful as the water sometimes came quiet high up.
The Aqueduct in Nerja
Gine read about it and said we
have to see it: (isnt’ it amazing what Gine all reads and puts on our itinary)
- The Eagle Aqueduct or El Aquila got built in 1880 in roman style for irrigation and bring water to the old sugar factory: it is topped with a mudejar style spire
- It is 4 story high and made of brick arches: 37 by the way if you count
There is even a pull out: all we
had to do turn around in the circle stop and walk back on the bridge and we had
perfect view: later Gine discovered we actually looked at it from the back!!
When there, we discovered an old
bridge close by and decided to drive over it: parking right there and we
discovered we could walk to the Aqueduct and touch it. What was really
interesting on the side in the Canyon people put up little living spaces – we
wondered what kind of people live there.
Coffee on our balcony
As the clouds came in and it
didn’t look like sunshine we decided to do some shopping (as per Gine we spend
half our vacation in checking out what we should eat – as per Paul we spend
half our vacation in looking at some old staff). Heading back to our beautiful
balcony for coffee: and as we sit there to enjoy the view the sun came back
out… so let’s head to town:
Torrox Costa: we are heading
into town
We like this little town: as it
is not as touristy (I mean no tourist buses and big crowds here), and you can
find parking (really – yes it is unbelievable!!!), we walked along the
promenade towards the lighthouse with some gorgeous views on the ocean and the
sun coming out (by the way we also checked out eating places!!) and when Paul
joked about that there is no history we came by a sign: and see there is an old
roman salting factory đŸ˜Š. Around the lighthouse were some benches in
the sunshine: perfect we can soak up a bit sun now. Heading back we went onto
the glass-bottom lookout or lookdown (if you get the dirt away) and we could
see some of the old historic roman salting basins.
And to top off our day we had
Chinese noodle dish!! Yes, we were eating out again.
2025-05-22