My Week in Review to the 21st January

After having recently commented about the virtues of NetGalley restraint on an Avalinah's Books blog post, I started this week by completing ignoring my own advice and going on a book requesting splurge! You can look forward to Literary Flits reviews of Entangled Lives by Imran Omer (Pakistan), Cow by Beat Sterchi (Switzerland), Cote d'Estoril by Dejan Tiago-Stankovic (Serbia), Ponti by Sharlene Teo (Singapore) and Maybe Esther by Katja Petrowskaja (Ukraine) over the coming months.

I also blogged my 600th post over on Literary Flits on Saturday: What She Left by Rosie Fiore.

In my non-book life, we've had a couple of grey days this week, but mostly superbly sunny days. The photographs illustrating this post were all taken in Aguilas, a nearby town that I hadn't visited before and which Dave only briefly saw some eighteen years ago. We strolled along the seafront admiring the statues and the street art. I loved the painted staircases such as this one pictured here. It was difficult to get good pictures as most of the others were partly shaded, but they all have a nautical theme.

Another staircase we loved was the Gaudi-esque mosaiced steps over by the El Hornillo beach. It reminded us of visiting Park Guell in Barcelona many years ago now!

El Hornillo itself is a dramatic sight. The old railway used to carry cargo trains out alongside waiting ships. It is no longer in use and the ironwork towering up from the sea looks almost unreal.

Recommendations if you visit Aguilas yourself: the Samoa cafe on the promenade has good coffee and large plate glass windows along their terrace. Perfect for people-watching and toasty warm. For our lunch we had a great €8pp Menu Del Dia at Sidreria El Navio. Friendly service, generous portions of good food and that price included three courses, bread, a drink and a coffee each. We were almost too full to walk back to the car!

After our somewhat scary walk last week, we changed our minds about setting out on the Grand Randonee loop from above Azohia. We walked up to the Torre de Santa Elena which is pretty impressive especially against that clear blue sky. To continue our walk in one direction we were then faced with a sheer(ish) wall to climb! Deciding to go the other way round, after about half an hour, our path vanished over a cliff edge! We decided to cut our losses and satisfy ourselves with just an hour's walk and seeing the tower!

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Currently reading

Waiting for the Barbarians

by J.M. Coetzee

tagged: currently-reading, fiction-africa, and charity-shop-find