Happy Valentine's Day from Almeria

We saw this beautiful mural just randomly on a wall in Almeria yesterday

Mural on a wall in Almeria 

and I knew it would make a great illustration for this Valentine's Day post. Unfortunately my phone, and therefore my camera, was out of action as the battery was flat again, so Dave kindly captured the sight for us. It's actually still an hour before The Day here in Spain, but I'll publish early so followers via Bloglovin will get the pretty flower in their morning 'daily digest' email :-)

Our return to Almeria on a half-day trip was primarily to visit the Cinema Museum. This museum is housed in a restored old house, Casa Santa Isabel, some way out of the city centre, and contains the very room in which John Lennon stayed whilst filming How I Won The War and writing Strawberry Fields Forever. Actually, despite the myriad of films that were made in the surrounding area, that connection is pretty much the entire pull of the Cinema Museum. Which is a shame! The house has been nicely restored, but all the woodwork and paint is obviously very recent so there's no real sense of history. I would have thought that a requisite for a museum. One room does have a gorgeous selection of photographs - landscapes where films were made and locals who were in said films. Otherwise it's all a bit smoke and mirrors with limited content and we got round easily in less than 45 minutes without feeling as though we were rushing. The newness of the museum, and the money spent on its exterior, does suggest the beginnings of a greater work so perhaps the collection will become more extensive with time. In its favour, it is a cheap diversion. €3 for adults and a bargain €2 for Poor Old Pensioners!

The emergency seeking of a Valentine's Day card provided our impetus for the next hour or so and we wandered the main streets from the museum back towards and along the Avenue De Mediterraneo. (Slight smugness on my part as, for once, it wasn't me unprepared. I got my card for Dave way back in Hastings last year!) I got a very different sense of Almeria from this side of town to the picturesque touristy centre we saw last week. It is interesting to step away from the expected in order to briefly experience the parts of a city where its occupants live and work. There are dozens of new apartment blocks, but also open spaces, playgrounds and parks. After being saved by Papeleria La Cometa, we chose to raid a bakery and eat a snack lunch in one of the parks before attempting to find the car. Parking in the vicinity of the Cinema Museum would have fine, had we known. Instead around Carrefour and Mercadona, where we thought it should have been a breeze, there was hardly a space to be had! Anyway, if you're ever around that way, I can heartily recommend the iPan Croissanteria and the friendly saleswoman was right - the chocolate covered croissants are much better when filled with fresh cream! The tuna empanadilla is pretty good too.

Super lovely news to finish up with! While editing this post, I noticed a couple of blog visits via the book publishers Guernica Editions in Canada. I've just read and reviewed one of their books Rust Is A Form Of Fire by Joe Fiorito - great book, review post here - and Guernica have only gone and put my review out on their blog too! How cool is that?!

¡Happy Valentine's Day!

Street art flower in Almeria, Spain
by Stephanie_Jane
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