Doña Lola

It's good to come here for a week every year.

2 photos, Saturday night above and Sunday morning below, both from our balcony. 

Unfortunately, Sunday started gray and damp.

We are so used to seeing a beautiful clear blue sky.

The 'Welcome Meeting' was held indoors followed by the paella demonstration...

...but for us it was a traditional English Sunday lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at Henley's restaurant, one of the local restaurants.

Coming to the Costa del Sol gives us the opportunity to sample true British cuisine...

...so the next day, Monday, the evening meal was in...

...the Indian restaurant, The Spice Lounge - wonderful! 

There are no Indian restaurants near where we live...

...and this one had 3 chefs; 1 for the rice, 1 for the naan bread and 1 for the meats and sauces!

To make things even better there is now a creperie and ice cream shop, The Gelato Factory, next door where we could order the sweet course from.

I've been taking this photo of 'Margaret in the window' for some 28 years now. This year the fig tree, which usually gets into the shot, had been severely pruned...

...but the other trees seen from our apartment window are maturing nicely.

Across the road via the footbridge for a morning coffee. 

I remember when you could walk across that road.

 It was called 'the highway of death' but I have no idea why. 

Now it is the very busy and fast Autovia del Mediterráneo, the A7.

The main reason to cross the road is to visit the supermarket which caters for the British in the area...

...and to buy some frozen kippers. Another delicacy we are deprived of unless our visitors from the UK bring them across.

Wednesday evening to the Plaza Beach Restaurant on site. This is their 'house salad' which we shared...

...followed by...

...chicken in pepper sauce for Margaret,...

...and a steak solomillo with a very generous mushroom sauce for me...

...followed by hot apple pie and ice cream - one of my favourite desserts.

The next night, Thursday, was Fish'n'Chips with mushy peas at Devine's restaurant... 

...where their delicious cod and chips are served in a wire basket as if they were just made in them...

...where not only do you get great food but also very friendly service...

...topped off with pudding and ice cream - well, we are on holiday! I am coming to the conclusion that despite the fact that I can lose weight when we are at home I put it back when we go on holiday and for the last year or so we seem to be having rather a lot of holidays.

It's Friday morning and we join a group from the resort for a walk along the beach to 
Cabo Pino - at least it sheds a few of those extra calories!

This walk takes us into the district of Marbella from the district of Mijas Costa.

The route in the Mijas Costa part is via a super new wooden pathway which ends abruptly as we enter the Marbella area and we struggle along the beach for the last part of the journey.

Just think of all those extra calories burned up on such difficult terrain!

Back on site, the gardens are quite spectacular and a credit to the head gardener who has recently retired. His successor has brought with him some innovative ideas and is making his mark. We wish him every success.

'Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time'. I can vouch for that. 
Doing nothing is most enjoyable.

At least it gave me the opportunity to look at the trees!

Friday evening and our final meal on site. For Margaret a prawn and avocado salad and for me deep fried Camembert for starters...

...followed by a chicken kebab for Margaret and Emperador for me. A return to international and Spanish cuisine but we have wide and varied tastes and like 

to visit different restaurants during our stay.

We are certainly looking forward to our holiday at Doña Lola next year.