Introducing....Torre del Mar

On my morning walk today, I took loads of photos and decided that I would do a post of our local town as it is a really attractive place, I thought people might like to see it.  I sometimes wonder if when some people think of the Costa del Sol, so they visualise drunk tourists, British fish and chip shops and noisy discos!  Fortunately Torre del Mar is not a bit like that!

Torre del Mar is our nearest town and is situated 28km east of Malaga on the coast.  It has a population of approx 20,000 and is a very popular holiday resort with Spanish people.  It has the name Torre del Mar (tower of the sea) because it had many watchtowers along the coast during Roman and Moorish times. Today it has a 26m high lighthouse situated on the edge of the promenade.  During the 19th century, the area was the centre of the sugar industry whereas nowadays they grow mangoes, avocados, kiwis and salad crops, because of the  tropical climate.

The most outstanding feature is its sea front, which is about 2km long, and is apparently considered the longest in the Mediterranean! The beach is very wide, more than 50 meters in many places.  The whole promenade is planted with flowers and palm trees, making it a very attractive area to stroll along at any time of year.  This promenade is also lined with lots of seafood restaurants or chiringuitos as they are called here.  The photo below was taken at approx 9am this morning.

The town is busy and has LOADS of small shops, but this post is really just to show you the promenade area which is also very popular with joggers, people walking their dogs (as dogs are not allowed on the beach except for the 'dog beach') and cyclists who have their own cycle paths.

Most people start at one end of the prom and continue walking along to the busy fishing port of Caleta de Velez and then walk back to their original starting point, a distance of about 7km.  This is what Lucy, my Miniature Pinscher and I do when we choose this route for our morning walk.  We can watch the sunrise from our starting point, there are some beautiful sunrises seen from here.  Here is this mornings:

The temperature when we set out was a quite chilly 8C, but it soon warmed up and by the time we got to the end of our route it was 20C.....and that was at 10am!  It's why we have to set out earlyish as I don't want Lucy getting overheated.

All along the route there are different beach areas, special beaches allocated for different groups of people, or different activities.  The seniors beach has wooden gazebos with  picnic benches where older folk can be seen sitting chatting or playing dominoes!  Of course this time of the morning it's pretty empty except for a few people using the gym equipment on the seniors beach.

There are several areas with play equipment especially for children....

There is even a 'Biblio Playa' which means 'book beach' and you can see below the lovely wooden benches and armchair where I suspect local teachers bring groups of their pupils for reading...what a lovely environment to have a reading class!!

And safety too is big here.....there are First Aid and lifeguard stations all along the beach, including this one, which would be hard to miss!!!

All the way along the prom there are examples of local art.  What would normally be the plain back walls of the fishermens buildings, are covered with art!

Here are some examples, some are laminated, whilst others are made from ceramic tiles: (unfortunately because of the laminate there is a lot of reflection!)

I guess you can't have art without a contribution from probably the most famous Malagueño, Pablo Picasso....a ceramic tile version of his famous painting Guernica.

Even the public bathrooms are attractively decorated, and although I haven't got photos here, take my word for it, they are incredibly clean!!

These two below were taken a different day.....I missed them this morning!!! Must have been half asleep :)

Plus statues and fountains:

The fountain below is either new or having a makeover, you can see the workmen are still working on it,  the star shaped pool is completely tiled in tiny mosaic tiles!

This fountain is dedicated to the Virgen of Carmen, who is the patron saint of the town, and also the patron saint of mariners and seafarers!

 Also along the promenade is the lighthouse mentioned above, as well as the bandstand where they often have live music in the summertime!

Finally at the very easterly end of the promenade, so the town of Torre del Mar joins the area of Caleta de Velez where there is a busy fishing port and marina....

It is when we reach this point that we turn back and do the whole walk in reverse!

"Yes Lucy, we only have to walk back to about here.........!!!!!"

 
Well I hope you have enjoyed our little walk along the promenade at Torre del Mar!!

Thanks very much for visiting, have a lovely weekend!

Hugs Sharon x

Looking for a new home.....

I have a Zwergnase Junior Avery from 2017 who is looking for a new home.  She has never been undressed or even had her hairstyle combed or changed in any way.  Absolutely excellent condition and comes with her travel bag and will be packed securely for her journey to her new home.

Avery has been here since new, I bought her directly from the Zwergnase company in Germany at the end of 2016.  She will come fully dressed in her navy blue, red and white polkadot outfit which includes a shoulder bag and the Zwergnase 'trademark' over sized suede boots.  If you don't want the outfit and prefer the doll to arrive nude, we can adjust the price accordingly.

Avery has long thick wigged deep brown hair and handpainted blue eyes, she also has a sprinkling of freckles over her nose and cheeks.  

Here are some photos that I took last year:

I am asking 135 euros for the dressed doll and am open to offers.  I am also open to trades with people who I know well or who have good feedback on doll forums.  I am looking for another Kidz n Cats doll to customise!!  I would prefer the doll to come with it's default outfit as I do like the KnC clothing, but if the outfit is not available then that's fine too.  I would also consider a doll by Sylvia Natterer. 

Please email me if you're interested in either purchase or trade on:

dambuster0662@gmail.com

Thanks very much for reading, have a lovely day :)

Feliz Año Nuevo ~ Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody, and I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate it, or if not, that you have had a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season!

I had a nice but quiet Christmas here in Malaga with Brian, my mum and my brother John, who were both over here for two weeks from the 18th December.  They came a bit earlier this year so it seemed that Christmas started early, which of course meant that I wasn't prepared for it!!  Anyway, it was lovely to have them here with us.

I ended 2017 a lot lighter than I started it, and a lot fitter too.  I have now lost 50 pounds or 23 kilos, since the end of June and 17.5 centimetres off the circumference of my waist.  I'm feeling so much better about myself and my confidence has started to return.  I continue with my morning walks with Lucy, our Miniature Pinscher, and still enjoy my aquagym classes at the local municipal pool, although we are currently on holiday from classes until after The Three Kings (5th January), which means we all start back next Tuesday.  I admit that I've missed the classes because as well as being good exercise, they are also a fun time spent with a nice bunch of ladies!

On the dolly front, I have been busy customising a Kidz n Cats doll called Alice who arrived here just before Christmas.  I bought her with the sole intention of giving her a new look as I really enjoy that part of the doll hobby.  I finished her yesterday and am pleased with how she has turned out.  Here are a few photos of her:

It is very windy today as you can see from the first photo below!

The only problem is now that I've finished working on her, I want to do more!!! 

As well as the above custom, I'm itching to get back to sewing.  At the large local craft show at the beginning of December I bought some really nice fat quarters and also I had a gift of a bunch of great fabric from a dear friend of mine in Australia, so I'm really keen to make something for my girls.  So hopefully I will get started very soon.

Apart from that, I have decided that although I don't usually 'do' New Year's Resolutions, as I always fall by the wayside before the end of January, this year I'm going to try to keep more up to date with my blog!!!  Yes, I've been terrible about keeping up with posting for months now, so wish me luck with that!  And also, I am going to try to keep up with the blogs I follow too, I'm so sorry that I don't always comment on blog posts these days, I just don't know where the time goes to....sometimes I don't switch my laptop on for days on end, so I'm hoping to remedy that too :)

Finally, I just wanted to thank you all for continuing to look out for my blog posts despite them being so scarce these days, I very much appreciate your continued interest and your kind comments.  I promise to do my best to post more this year!

Big hugs and a really great 2018!!!!
Sharon xxx