The Feria

Visisted the Feria in town Friday and Saturday nights...
Very busy, the rain on Saturday didnt deter many visitors.

Cafe Pandora

Another new Cafeteria has opened in town, luckily not very far from the house, near the Ayuntamiento. Will be good when we are out walking, for that thankfull drink before climbing back up the hill towards home!!

Real Feria de Ganado

This weekend brings the annual Animal Fair to Illora
It begins on Friday, and celebrations continue until Tuesday, with Sunday being the main event day, with horse trading and flamenco dancing being the highlights.
Of course, the weather forecast predicts heavy rain for most of the weekend!

Sierra Parapanda

We had a ride to the Sierra Parapanda mountain this afternoon, the road climbs up from behind our casa high into the hills,the scenery changing from olive trees to pine trees, a round route climbing back down via the country road to the El Charcon stream and Alomartes.

The summit of the Parapanda has a Radio Transmission Station, which can be seen from miles around, and the far reaching views are fantastic.

Summer in Illora

Summer is here in town..temperatures up to 42 degrees!

Breakfast in the sunshine today.....

The garden produce is doing very well, the seedless grapes are fantastic, "champagne" variety! and we have enormous tomatoes, slowly ripening in the sunshine.

From the Spanish local press...."131 new supermarkets SPAR will open in Andalusia during the period 2010-2012 and will begin tomorrow with a new establishment in the Granadina locality of Íllora.It is 200 meters square and it is a good sample of the change of style that Miquel Alimentació Grup wants to give. These are ideal for the families or homes that do not need to buy great amounts."

Went for my first visit on Saturday, (it took me three days to find the location of the new store - previously the Motorcyle Shop)
A little disappointed to find that it stocks only Spanish food...no English type products at all, although it does have a self service selection of meat and bread products...

I still wait for Tesco to arrive in town.........

Visit to Granada City

I decided to have a visit into the City... this week is the festival of Corpus Christi in Granada. Went in on the 9.15am autobus, direct from Illora to Granada for €2.10 each way, much easier than finding a parking place in one of underground car parks.
Lots of tourists, streets and shops all very busy..I didnt actually see the Corpus Christi procession, picture courtesy of google!

I took some pics of various street views..the architecture is amazing

Summer is on it's way!

Returned to Illora after a few weeks in the UK, and surprised to see the change in the garden.


Flowers are blooming, plants needing to be tied down, and very pleased to see tiny grapes forming on our new vine! Still unsure if they're the edible variety, might possibly be for winemaking - (cutting was taken from someone's plant)

Preparations are also underway at the Municipal swimming pool, which should open towards the end of June

Sevilla

We are just back from a fantastic visit to Sevilla, in the west of Spain.


A beautiful city, well known for its Seville oranges grown for making marmalade, magnificent historical buildings, many restaurants and bars, and lots of international tourists, even out of the summer season!

The Bullring

The Cathedral

Feliz Cumpleanos - Happy Birthday

On Sunday afternoon, we were invited to a party for our friends' daughters' 3rd birthday.

The birthday girl

The party was held in their garage, with a dozen or so children, and lots of adults..rather strange to see the party table all set with snacks and fizzy drinks, and to watch the adults take their seats and start to eat, while children were running around in the garage, playing.

Lots of cheese puffs, crisps and olives! followed by salami sandwiches, and the centre piece, the birthday cake, a concoction of chocolate mousse cake with lots and lots of squirty cream!

Drinks flowed...cola, fanta orange, cerveza and whisky! (not to mention one spanish chap who was drinking banana milkshake with added green creme de menthe liqueur!)

Yes, we did sing Happy Birthday to you....Feliz Cumpleanos a ti...

Andalucia Day

Today is a Bank Holiday here in Spain...Dia de Andalucia was 28th February, but as that was a Sunday, today is the holiday, with schools closed. It appears it is the custom to decorate balconies and fly the Andalucian flag, green and white...but have not seen any in our village.

We have been for a walk around the village this morning, lots of amazing architecture, old town houses, that are usually reformed into something very modern, however, there are several on and around the high street that have survived.

Spring has sprung...at last!

A lovely morning in Illora, at last, after weeks, the rain has stopped and we have sunshine!

Neighbours gossiping on street corners, ladies cleaning windows and sweeping their terraces, washing blowing on the line...