Life in Las Alpujarras - July 2007

July has been an interesting month at Casa Escocia. The start of the month saw the arrival of Mary and Sarah who came out to enjoy a bit of sunshine after a bleak start to the summer in Scotland. They had a great week and Sarah certainly enjoyed the village pool and the water fights!! Glad you had a good time and I'm sure we'll see you back out again.

Kate and Drew were our next guests, both keen mountain bikers and keen drivers! They took the ferry across to Santander and drove down through the middle of Spain in a day arriving late at Casa Escocia. Good effort guys! They enjoyed the drive mind you and bringing their own vehicle allowed them to carry lots of stuff with them including their own mountain bikes. They were so keen to get out on the bikes that they even got themselves a starring role in the Sunshine Breaks movie premier Mountain Biking in Traditional Spain which can be viewed on either our Mountain Biking in Spain page or on Youtube. It was a pleasure to meet you guys and hopefully it won't be too long before we get back together for some more MTB action.

We also visited the Dominio Buenavista Bodega for educational purposes only I may add!! A Bodega is the Spanish term for a winery and the wine produced here is very nice indeed. We were shown around the wonderful set up just outside of Ugijar (about 10 minutes from Casa Escocia) and they are quite rightly proud of their produce. We had to sample a few of the bottles to ensure the quality was of the standard we were being told, which it was! Thanks to our friend Karen for her translation skills, much appreciated.

Then it was off to Granada city for me and a week of intensive Spanish lessons at the Escuela Montalban. This was a fantastic place and if you are thinking about learning the language then I can highly recommend this school. They run intensive courses for whatever standard your language is at. I only had time for a one week course but at least now I'm fluent (I wish!!). Thanks to Jose, a great teacher and despite my complete lack of anything resembling the native tongue I was able to communicate enough to share a few stories, have a good laugh and actually learn and improve my Spanish. The set up at the school is very relaxed yet the lessons are intense and you progress very quickly. They can also arrange a choice of accommodation for you to stay in.

Don't forget Sunshine Breaks will soon have our own luxury accommodation available in Granada city to rent.

Back at Casa Escocia we welcomed the Disher family to our humble abode. Pauline, Tommy and the kids had a brilliant time and we all enjoyed their company. The choose a great time to visit as the 21st Cultural Fiesta was on in Valor. This is a week of theatre, music, sport and the infamous Foam Party! A few extracts of the foam party were caught on camera and put on the new Sunshine Breaks Video Collection on Youtube. Click on the link and watch for the particularly good aim that young Grant has as he got his mother Pauline right on the nose!!

The Dishers also made it down the coast for a dip in the Med at Almerimar. This is a resort but a very nice one where the sea on one side of the harbour after an initial deep part shallows out and is fantastic for kids as it stays shallow for a good distance into the bay.

All guests at Casa Escocia comment on Mary's cooking abilities. She always makes the most of local produce and in July here in Las Alpujarras the cherries, water melons, courgettes, peaches and plums have all been ripe and made it onto delicious Mary's menu.

Anyway, I think that is enough about July. We're into August and already it's shaping up to being a good month here in this wonderful part of the world.

Until next month, adios.

Casa Escocia is the Mountain Base for Sunshine Breaks http://www.sunshinebreaks.com/