[donqzen]

Arriving Malaga next week , staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US - and I love meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. Love to walk, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner about 7:00-ish, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd love to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten List of places I Must See / Must Do. Cheers!

 

[Pesky Wesky]

Arriving Malaga next week , staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US - and I love meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. Love to walk, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner about 7:00-ish, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd love to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten List of places I Must See / Must Do. Cheers!

Not in the area sorry, but sounds like a lovely 6 week plan. The only thing I would say is that I'm not sure about the eating plan. Are you planning to have a full lunch while you're out and about and having a sandwich for dinner (Un bocata/ bocadillo is pretty big). What I mean is dinner isn't usually served until 8pm at the earliest and more likely 9 or 10pm. Perhaps it's different down there due to tourism????????

 

[xabiaxica]

Not in the area sorry, but sounds like a lovely 6 week plan. The only thing I would say is that I'm not sure about the eating plan. Are you planning to have a full lunch while you're out and about and having a sandwich for dinner (Un bocata/ bocadillo is pretty big). What I mean is dinner isn't usually served until 8pm at the earliest and more likely 9 or 10pm. Perhaps it's different down there due to tourism????????

even here in tourist land (sorry donqzen nowhere near where you'll be though) it can be hard to get dinner before 8pm - even in high tourist season

The only places I can think of are the chinese buffet-style places (the one nearest me is brilliant though) & English places

Actually I have noticed that this year a few of the restaurants have shut down for the winter - they used to do this when we first arrived, (even the hotels were shut at Xmas the first year we were here!) but for the past few years they have stayed open

One has a bit of paper in the window that says they will open again in March!

There's an expensive baby goods shop too, that has closed for the month of January

 

[donqzen]

Hey!

I'm not sure why - given what I wrote - the Reply focus went so quickly to what time various meals are served.... but I appreciate the feedback. I'm a Night Owl and food is not a big deal for me - a couple pieces of fruit throughout the day, and I'm good; Don't eat breakfast or lunch, and the later dinner is served, for me, the better - - I just know that, having walked all late-morning and through the afternoon, I'm going to want to be parked on a bar stool or at a cafe table at some point to let my boots cool off! And if I have to drink beer until a given establishment starts serving the evening's meal - - - poor me, eh?

Getting ready to come over - have air tickets now: will arrive Malaga AGP 10 February and go directly to the B&B I'll be staying at for at least six weeks near Comares. Too tired now to deal w/ any more logistics, but will select/reserve a rental car from someone, somewhere tomorrow. The 2-piece day/back pack combo from REI that I thought was going to be perfect for this trip arrived today and is a total bust - shipping it back tomorrow; the detachable day pack isn't even big enough to hold my laptop. Buying euros here to bring along is proving a little trickier than in '05 when I prepared for my Italy trip: some new laws resulting from $$$-laundering - can only buy about US$600-worth/day b4 leaving.

I see you're in Javea (is that "ha-VAY-ya" or "HA-vay-ya"?)...actually, one thing I hope to accomplish on this trip is to drive along the coast between Malaga and Barcelona to check out the marinas in the hopes of finding one I like, perhaps in a small-ish port, as opposed to a larger city.... If, for whatever reason, I find the prospect of home-ownership in Andalucia not to my liking, another option for me is to buy a sailboat (I have owned 3 here in the Great Lakes) and live onboard. Even if I decide to buy a home (which I would have to say now is more likely) I'd like to end up with a boat as well. So, anyway, I may well be passing through/near Javea on my way to Barcelona. So keep in touch - maybe there'll be a chance to meet up, and you can show me around the shoreline a little.

even here in tourist land (sorry donqzen nowhere near where you'll be though) it can be hard to get dinner before 8pm - even in high tourist season

The only places I can think of are the chinese buffet-style places (the one nearest me is brilliant though) & English places

Actually I have noticed that this year a few of the restaurants have shut down for the winter - they used to do this when we first arrived, (even the hotels were shut at Xmas the first year we were here!) but for the past few years they have stayed open

One has a bit of paper in the window that says they will open again in March!

There's an expensive baby goods shop too, that has closed for the month of January

 

[xabiaxica]

I'm not sure why - given what I wrote - the Reply focus went so quickly to what time various meals are served.... but I appreciate the feedback. I'm a Night Owl and food is not a big deal for me - a couple pieces of fruit throughout the day, and I'm good; Don't eat breakfast or lunch, and the later dinner is served, for me, the better - - I just know that, having walked all late-morning and through the afternoon, I'm going to want to be parked on a bar stool or at a cafe table at some point to let my boots cool off! And if I have to drink beer until a given establishment starts serving the evening's meal - - - poor me, eh?

Getting ready to come over - have air tickets now: will arrive Malaga AGP 10 February and go directly to the B&B I'll be staying at for at least six weeks near Comares. Too tired now to deal w/ any more logistics, but will select/reserve a rental car from someone, somewhere tomorrow. The 2-piece day/back pack combo from REI that I thought was going to be perfect for this trip arrived today and is a total bust - shipping it back tomorrow; the detachable day pack isn't even big enough to hold my laptop. Buying euros here to bring along is proving a little trickier than in '05 when I prepared for my Italy trip: some new laws resulting from $$$-laundering - can only buy about US$600-worth/day b4 leaving.

I see you're in Javea (is that "ha-VAY-ya" or "HA-vay-ya"?)...actually, one thing I hope to accomplish on this trip is to drive along the coast between Malaga and Barcelona to check out the marinas in the hopes of finding one I like, perhaps in a small-ish port, as opposed to a larger city.... If, for whatever reason, I find the prospect of home-ownership in Andalucia not to my liking, another option for me is to buy a sailboat (I have owned 3 here in the Great Lakes) and live onboard. Even if I decide to buy a home (which I would have to say now is more likely) I'd like to end up with a boat as well. So, anyway, I may well be passing through/near Javea on my way to Barcelona. So keep in touch - maybe there'll be a chance to meet up, and you can show me around the shoreline a little.

Jávea - now that I've put the tilde on you might know that it's 'Ha-veh-ya - or Cha -bee- ya (Xabia) the Valencian pronuciation

lots of Marinas - Denia is the big posh one near here - it recently had a lot of money spent on it

 

[Pesky Wesky]

I'm not sure why - given what I wrote - the Reply focus went so quickly to what time various meals are served.... but I appreciate the feedback. I'm a Night Owl and food is not a big deal for me - a couple pieces of fruit throughout the day, and I'm good; Don't eat breakfast or lunch, and the later dinner is served, for me, the better - - I just know that, having walked all late-morning and through the afternoon, I'm going to want to be parked on a bar stool or at a cafe table at some point to let my boots cool off! And if I have to drink beer until a given establishment starts serving the evening's meal - - - poor me, eh?

Just concerned that you would do just what you've described - walk all day, be tired and hungry and not get your grub when you wanted!

No seriously, just to get the replies going, but it doesn't look like many people have got anything to say about this area...

 

[donqzen]

Maybe it's this site? I only stumbled onto expatforum through a quick Search. Have found it has more traffic than spainexpat....but mayber there's a busier site I haven't found yet - - - ???? Gotta go - must be in Detroit in an hour. Asta la vista.

Just concerned that you would do just what you've described - walk all day, be tired and hungry and not get your grub when you wanted!

No seriously, just to get the replies going, but it doesn't look like many people have got anything to say about this area...

 

[Pesky Wesky]

Maybe it's this site? I only stumbled onto expatforum through a quick Search. Have found it has more traffic than spainexpat....but mayber there's a busier site I haven't found yet - - - ???? Gotta go - must be in Detroit in an hour. Asta la vista.

Well, when a man's gotta go a man's gotta go...

From what I've seen this is the busiest and more informative forum on Spain. Lots of people complain about *****iness on other sites... We have our moments, but in the main keep our grouchy side to the minimum

 

[donqzen]

Have confirmed the Big Three - air fare - through Expedia; Detroit-Philadelphia-London-Malaga... accommodation - Casa Granadina B&B near Comares... and rental car - through TonysRentaCar. I'm having a seamstress stitch an old towel into a big 'sock' for my laptop...as always, want to travel super-light, so, w/ this laptop cusion/sleeve/whatever, it can go right in my day pack, eliminating the laptop's case, and keeping everything to just a day pack, and a small travel bag. Found out yesterday that Spain is "blocked"...meaning, I can't use my debit card there.... hmmmmm... Posted a notice @ TravBuddy seeking folks to travel with or meet along the way. Have reservation in for 2-hr shuttle from my home town to/from DTW. So I'm checking off stuff on The List. Haven't had time to read from my copy of "Spanish for Dummies" tho!!

Well, when a man's gotta go a man's gotta go...

From what I've seen this is the busiest and more informative forum on Spain. Lots of people complain about *****iness on other sites... We have our moments, but in the main keep our grouchy side to the minimum