Periana, Spain - Day 3 🥘

This blog is brought to you by Ellie.

This morning I woke up, blinking sleep out of my eyes, at 7am. I fell straight back to sleep and when I next woke, three Spanish hours had passed like magic.

It seemed everyone was rising late this morning, a sure sign we have started to relax. When my parents, brother Samuel and Ruth arrived, they were given a short tour by the owner and a sizeable bag of oranges. We enjoyed their juice this morning with our breakfast on the pool terrace before settling in for a day doing... not a whole heck of a lot! We all had more childish fun in the pool and experienced varying degrees of sunbathing success. I have a pasty complexion and am not good at tolerating heat but Barry loves it and gets an instant tan. Luckily the temperature is slightly more tolerable today and I lasted longer than usual in the sun.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time. As dad says, "time flies when you're doing bugger all". We broke for lunch, tucking into barbequed cheeseburgers, tomato & mozzarella, salad and crusty bread. Mother and father would spend the rest of the day relaxing by the pool (as they deserve), but the four of us kiddos were hankering for a mini-adventure, so we bundled into the car and braved the steep roads over to the shops to top up supplies (mostly sweets) and then headed back into the town of Periana. We parked up next to a walkway along the valley and took photos, as one must. The landscape is beautiful here, rolling hills spotted with olive trees as far as the eye can see. Henning couldn't believe how many olive trees he could see.

A quick look for vultures proved fruitless but we continued our stroll up into the town. We were on the hunt for a bar or café to sit outside of, like the locals do. We reached the bustling (empty) town centre, stopping off at another viewpoint before heading down a hill where we found a bit more life. We knew we were successful when we came across a large tree-shaded area with tables looking out over the valley. We almost didn't have to discuss it, just looking at each other and nodding "this is it, lads".

Comfortably seated, the nice waitress came over to take our order. Barry and brother Samuel ordered a Cruz Campo each. Ruth asked for a "limonada", to which the waitress replied, "Fanta límon?". Ruth reverted to her universal language of French in a panic, replying "Oui". Luckily the nice lady didn't seem to notice as I also ordered a Fanta límon, but we did have a giggle about it as she walked away with our order taken.

Whilst waiting for the drinks, we noticed a sleepy cat in the shade of the wall, causing us cat lovers to devolve into squealing messes. Ruth approached with caution and he was very happy to received gentle head pats. She named him Javier and he was our new best friend. He seemed quite poorly and very grubby, but he was a sweet boy who just needed a bath. Eventually after realising we had no morsels to give him, he meandered around the other tables and then disappeared. Goodbye, sweet Javier!

We spent a fair while relaxing in a cool breeze before brother Samuel bravely asked the lady for "la quenta, por favor". It was time to head back to the car, which had a cool box in the boot that needed to get home. It was at this time that Barry lost his ever-loving mind and told us that he was going to walk back to the villa. We may have stared in horror for a moment but soon accepted that this is the Barry way and he would not be dissuaded. To be fair, it is mostly downhill from here and approximately a 45 minute walk. So really it's not that Barry is mad, it's that the rest of us are lazy. I am used to this behaviour from my fiancé by now, so we waved him off and headed back up the hill to the car. We drove past Barry on the way back, ensuring his safety before letting him eat our dust.

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent chilling by the pool with an Aperol spritz in hand, which was quite acceptable. Barry soon made it back to join us. On the menu for this evening was Paella, which I helped mother to make. We enjoyed it immensely with bread & olive oil and a healthy amount of beer and wine, then spent the evening chatting away until it got dark. The neighbour popped by with Dolly the dog, who delighted in our attention and cuddles.

It's been a lovely relaxing day today, but tomorrow we venture into Granada for some good old fashioned sightseeing! Watch this space, Amigos.