Nerja and Frigiliana

Last Sunday I went on a day trip with my program to Nerja and Frigiliana. Nerja is a small beach town on the Costa del Sol. It’s in the province of Malaga, where the city of Malaga is also located. It’s about a two hour bus ride from Granada and you have to drive through Almuñecar, where I went to the beach during my first few weeks here, to get to Nerja. 

The first thing we did in Nerja was go to El Balcón de Europa (The Balcony of Europe). It was pretty much exactly what the name implies - a giant balcony that looks over the Mediterranean Sea. The view was stunning! According to Daniel, one of the men on the CEA staff who also happens to live near me, you can see Africa from the balcony on days when the sky is very clear.

After we finished ogling at the view from the balcony, we went to lunch at an outdoors restaurant called Restaurante AYO, where they served us seafood paella, a traditional Spanish dish of rice, vegetables, and seafood. Paella can also be made with meat, which I actually prefer. The paella at the restaurant was ok, but Aloana’s paella is ten times better. Here’s the GIANT pan of paella we saw as we were walking into the restaurant:

Once lunch was over, we walked to Burriana Beach, which we had been able to see from El Balcón de Europa. It was much sandier (and less rocky) than the other beaches we’ve been to so far. I didn’t bring my bathing suit because it had been so cold the days before that I figured I would freeze if I wore it. The weather ended up being gorgeous, but most people had the same mentality I did so I wasn’t the only one on the beach wearing inappropriate beach clothes. 

My friend and I left the beach a little early because we were hot and wanted gelato. We found this really cute ice cream shop and got that instead. I, of course, got chocolate ice cream, which I managed to spill all over the bottom of my cream colored shirt. I finished eating the ice cream (I have my priorities straight) and then addressed my shirt. I was worried it would stain so I basically climbed into the bathroom sink (which you could see from the seating area of the ice cream shop) to get the chocolate stain out. Surprisingly enough, it worked, but later on in the day, I looked at my shirt and noticed that my jeans had rubbed blue onto the part where it was wet. I washed it by hand when I got home and the stain came out, but the whole thing was pretty hilarious. I should probably take it as a sign that I need to stop eating gelato, although if I’m being honest, I won’t. 

The ice cream incident happened right before we got back onto the bus to go to Frigiliana, a beach town even smaller than Nerja. Frigiliana is called a “white town” because all of the buildings are white. The town is also known for the blue doors on a lot of the houses and the hanging flower pots on the outside walls of the buildings. 

Frigiliana was absolutely beautiful. We did a tour of the city that ended with some sort of archeology museum. We were also able to climb up to some open terraces to get a panoramic view of the town. Our tour guide was a really cute old man who looked even more touristy than we did, even though he’s from Frigiliana. He spoke to us in English which was frustrating because it would have been easier to follow if he had spoken in Spanish. 

We only spent a few hours in Frigiliana before we packed into the bus again and went home to Granada. When we returned, Granada was hopping because it was La Festividad de Nuestra Señora la Virgen de las Angustias (The Festival of Our Lady the Virgin of Sorrows). We were actually back in time to see the parade, but none of us went because were so tired from the rest of our adventures.