Following my successful first trip out to Southern Spain in February, I couldn’t wait to come out again, this time in the company of my girlfriend Elisha. We love travelling together so this seemed a perfect way to spend our time off around Easter, with good weather guaranteed and the makings of an all-round enjoyable holiday, relaxing and exploring more of the local area.
We had only planned out a couple of days with different places to visit which left us flexible depending on the weather and if my parents had any plans of their own. Within the first 2 days we had spent time around the pool enjoying the sun and a day in Marbella visiting its lovely old town, beach and harbour areas.
Day number 3 saw us visit somewhere new, in the resort of Fuengirola which is located between Marbella and Torremolinos on the coast. It’s a very interesting town given its location, being catered to large numbers of tourists in the summer but still having its own Spanish style in the streets, boasting a great beach and castle.
It turned out to be a lovely day, with fantastic weather, shopping and food. Food-wise, we opted for Vegan café ‘La Libelula’ where I had a three course meal for ten euros, which was fantastic and the best food of this trip. The town seemed to have a good atmosphere about it and I knew that I’d return (but that’s for another blog post).
The weekend was upon us and we decided to go further afield than the day before by travelling into Malaga and explore what the city had to offer. The answer was quite a lot!
The city centre has got a wonderful mix of new and old, it was great to spend some time around the cathedral, castle and roman theatre before heading to yet another beach. After having some time to relax we did some shopping and went for food before making the return journey to San Pedro.
Sunday saw my only football match of this trip, a very local Midday kick off in the Tercera Division (4th tier) between UD San Pedro and Antequera.
On paper this should have been a relatively easy win for the away team, given they were pushing for the play-offs and San Pedro were likely to be relegated, but it actually turned out to be anything but that. The ground is located outside of the town, but the additional space means that the club have got another full-sized pitch, a 9 a side pitch and a 5 a side pitch alongside the main stadium in the sports complex! I found it quite impressive for a part-time club to have all of these facilities available and as is quite typical for lower level Spanish football, they’re all 3G surfaces too.
Looking back on my travels, what I’ve loved about all the games and grounds I’ve now visited in Spain is that they’re all unique and this was certainly very different to my previous games watched and grounds visited in Gibraltar and Marbella. It had an old-fashioned feel about it with the big concrete stands occupying three sides of the ground, but it didn’t particularly feel run-down or anything else you might expect, instead it was enjoyable to see grounds that are still what they were like (apart from the plastic pitch) even before I was born. After paying our ten euros entry and walking around to get some photos then taking in the lovely views from the main stand, the game began and we would of course be cheering on our local team.
To the local’s delight and the surprise of most people in the ground, San Pedro took the lead quite early into the game through a penalty then doubled it mid way through the first half courtesy of some great counter-attacking play. The home team stuck to their game plan and it was working very well, much to the annoyance of those from Antequera. It remained 2-0 at half time.
As you’d expect, Antequera came out and attacked from the start of the second half and their efforts were rewarded from a corner which was volleyed in off a re-bound, making it very tense for the rest of the game. San Pedro were able to see it out (just about) and perhaps should have increased their lead late on, but it didn’t matter in the end. They claimed a 2-1 victory and the crowd were loving it, seeming like that could be the catalyst to guide them clear of relegation, but ultimately it didn’t quite make the impact.
Afterwards it was time to head back to Elisha and my Mum who were beside the pool, where we relaxed for the afternoon and were very pleased with what we’d witnessed.
Our finals days were spent locally around San Pedro and Estepona, enjoying the scenary, beaches and lifestyle that they offered. The great thing about Estepona in particular is that every time I went, it felt like I discovered new streets, shops, bars or restaurants which made me like it more and more. We were both very pleased with everywhere we’d been to visit and had a great time overall, thankfully we’d get chance to be back in Spain together again before the year was out.
As for my parents, my Dad’s birthday was approaching and he wanted to have a mini ‘holiday’ to celebrate it which gave me a good excuse to plan my next trip…
To be continued!
Chris Sharp
The Travelling Therapist 