We enjoyed our visit to Spain last year for Christmas holidays so much, that we went back to the same general area again this year. This time, we were about 45 minutes west of Malaga in a small town called Coín. The town itself was not so special, but it was a center for the region and so was a great place to base ourselves for the holiday.

In Coín, we did a home sit for a Belgian couple, in their home and AirBNB called La Casa Con Vista.

Check this video of our digs.

The house was on a hill which allowed us some magnificent views of the local area.

The deck was a great place to start the day with a coffee and a view of the early morning sunshine.

Then, we were off to walk Dakota, either in the local neighbourhood up and down the hills …

… or we would venture further to walk up and down the local dried up river bed (rio seco).

Then we were off to explore for the day …

… before returning to the deck in the afternoons to sit and have a lovely glass of Spanish rioja, and enjoy the spectacular sunshine.

On our first venture forth, we actually stayed pretty close to home. We bought lots of food, coffee, rioja and a few estrellas. Then we went for lunch.

As you can see the weather was perfect for …

… tapas. Who can resist some salty filetitos washed down with some refreshing cervezas?

Then we went back to enjoy the deck and play backgammon.

In the evenings, the temperature dropped into single digitals (Celsius that is) and so we would burn olive firewood in their wood stove at night.

Over the next few days, we explored a few of the areas that we did not get to last time, including Marbella …

… and the lovely restaurants and shops in the old quarter of the city.

In the area along the coast behind Marbella and along the Costa Del Sol, there are some excellent parks and a few mountain-side towns that have great views over the coast.

Mijas is one such town. It was full of leather works and restaurants, and oddly, donkeys. Apparently, there is a mine in the area in which they used the donkeys to cart out whatever they were mining. Now you can take a donkey ride through the town.

All along the edge of the town, there were amazing views down to the coast.

Further inland, we were able to to visit a few other beautiful towns …

… and see some amazing views here and there of the olive orchards and orange groves.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Ronda.

Ronda has a very long history going back to neolithic times. It was an important town in the Roman Empire and has been settled continuously for several thousand years.
As you walk through the town and around the outskirts, you can see that it is set on an outcropping from the local hills and so very easily defensible from invaders.

 

While exploring, we stopped in a precariously perched hotel for lunch.

On another day, we were passing by a town which has as its claim to fame, some nearby fields where Julius Caesar defeated the last of the republican forces before returning to Rome to become Dictator.

We mainly stopped to do a shout out to a friend named LaMonda, and who asked us to stop by. “Lamonda …”

We spent Christmas eve wandering around Malaga, which as we knew from last year, goes all out to decorate and spread goodwill among men and women.

After stopping for lunch, we wandered the streets shopping for pastries to eat on Christmas morning …

… and to view some of the sights and sites of the old city.

The day trips were all exciting, but the days at La Casa Con Vista were pretty great as well. What a great place to laze about and eat Spanish pastries all day.

We will leave you with a short video of some highlights.