I have been meaning to sort out a Panaramic view from our balcony for some time now and I have finally got round to it! Now unfortunately the problem with such a picture is that in order to see it on the blog I have to reduce the size so much that it isn’t really that clear. This is particularly ‘bad’ in this case as I have stitched together 9 images (could have used the wide angle to reduce the number but would have seemed even further away).

Click To Play

It was all a bit of a rush yesterday, but I did manage to get down and take some pictures and video of the Three Kings procession through the Marina. Of course I managed to park at the start of the procession so after following all the way round the Marina had to walk all the way back. This was actually interesting as there wasn’t a sweet to be seen on the ground…..

This was New Years Eve in the square at lunchtime. Very little was open but we bumped into some friends at La Plaza which was nice and buzzy, AND our intended coffee and tostada turned into beer, tinto and tapas! It also set the scene for the evening as we all agreed that Loch Ness was where we were going to end up to see in the New Year! This is definitely one of the things I like about being here … on most days you will come across someone you know, and particularly at this time of year, as with most of the Spanish bars shut, there are only so many places where people can be!

I took this a couple of weeks ago and particularly love the ‘flying saucer’ effect! Enjoy and have a fantastic Xmas everybody.

This is what I always refer to as the ‘Town Hall Square” in El Ejido. I was sitting having a coffee with a friend a few days ago, having ordered my Xmas turkey from Carnicero Fernandez, and decided the rather spectacular tree was definitely worth a photo. I didn’t actually get close enough to work out if the poinsettas were real, but it looks fantastic.

Further to my article: Meubles El Ejido, here’s a picture of my latest Xmas decoration just to get you all in the spirit! AND remember tomorrow is the start of advent SO I’ll be putting up my decorations. I like to get a whole month out of them each year.

Forget S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) living here in Spain! We have sunshine all Winter AND now snow. This picture was taken on Sunday morning. I think the snow fell that night. Beautiful!

I took these pictures standing on my balcony early one morning about a week ago. I thought the light was really interesting. To my right and over towards the mountains all was looking pretty sunny, apart from a large shadow. However to the left it felt like a completely different day with a very dark feel to it. The culpret was a large bank of grey cloud obscuring a lot of the sun and creating the big shadow on the first photograph.

Recently we took Chris´s parents to the Alcazaba (Old Castle) in Almeria which they loved. That same evening we were chilling out on the balcony admiring the sunset when Chris´s Dad noticed our very own little castle in the distance, and a ride up there was planned for the next day.

I always find it interesting that we often travel large distances to see some famous site but forget to check out what is on our own doorsteps.

This Wednesday, I introduced a friend who has just moved to Almerimar from another part of Spain to the El Ejido Mercadillo. She was very pleasantly surprised. It many ways it was just what she was expecting from other markets she had been to in Spain, but the size of the market and range of produce was new to her, and as I noticed for the first time this week, as well as a thriving cafe van, we also have a wooden toilet hut! What luxury!!!

This is a very traditional scene around Spain, the white villages set back in the mountain with just the one road in and the one road out. This was actually taken from the ‘back garden’ of our friends who live a very interesting life in the mountains with something like 14 cats and 7 dogs. Their place is only accessible via the roughest of dirt tracks, and really does have the most spectacular views.

You know how it is. You don’t see any red cars on the road, so you buy a red car to be different. Day after you buy it all you see on the road are red cars ………

Ever since I posted about our new logos and Alberto pointed out that traditionally the logo for Almerimar has been Seagulls I seem to have seen them all over the place on signs, cars and posters around the marina.

This particular match had some ‘history’ to it as it was between the local team El Ejido and a team from Burnley in the UK. The history is down to the fact that the coach of Burnley was the first coach of El Ejido until he went back to live in the UK. The two teams are good friends and this was the final group match to determine who went through to the knockout stages.

An aspect of living in Almerimar that I love a lot is the respect the people have; to the property, to the infrastructure and to the people.

Come the fiestas the whole family (3 or 4 generations) will party together, and you will regularly see large family gatherings in the restaurants.

One of the unexpected pleasures of life here is going out for an ice cream!I don’t mean buying an ice cream and walking along with it - but sitting down in a cafe and eating one. It is very rare that the spanish will eat or drink ‘on the go’, everything is to be enjoyed and not rushed.

I doubt it comes as any surprise that eating outdoors is a big part of the social scene here in Almerimar. What I think may pleasantly surprise is the range of options - Chines, Pizza, Paella, Tapas, a quick snack, or fine dining are all available.

© Chris Marshall
Sunday on the Beach

It is about this time of the year that the beaches start opening up for the summer. Over about a month the beach slowly awakens for the summer in terms of the services and facilities getting a fresh coat of paint, the beach restaurants getting re constructed, and then the people starting to use the beaches.

© Chris Marshall
7.30 pm in April, looking into the sun

I had planned to post a picture from San Juan but the strong winds sort of blew away a lot of the plans and it was a very quite evening all in all with most people seeming to hold their celebrations inside.

© Chris Marshall

Living ‘in’ a Marina there are, obviously, a lot of yachts. One thing that you quickly notice is that they don’t move much. We were really surprised when we first moved here not to see more of them out sailing. It was pointed out to us that in most cases the yachts are peoples home, so if they want to go sailing they have to make the boat sea worthy which can be a lot of hassle when you are only going out for an hour or so. Besides, I guess that if you have just sailed for months to get somewhere you don’t really want to go out for an afternoons sail.

© Chris Marshall
27th January 2005 - The day it snowed!

It was only a light covering, and it didn’t hang around for more than a couple of hours but it was very memorable. We had my parents staying with us at the time and we had planned to drive up into the mountains to the Snow Line about 60 minutes away, but somehow it didn’t seem worth it with the snow having come to us.