Treasures of Andalucia

My 2nd ever group holiday was in November 2010 when I did the Treasures of Andalucia holiday with Just You

Its certainly one I can recommend if you are like me and enjoy nice excurrsions, I opted for them all which left us with only one free day. I spent it exploring the local area but others in the group decided to go to Malaga and i believe others went to Marbella using public transport.

Home for the week was Hotel TRH Mijas in the pituresque village of the same name, it sits in the mountains overlooking the beach resort of Fuengirola. It was November so of course the beach was deserted and the hotel had a nice outdoor pool but again it just wasn't the weather. Don't get me wrong it was nice enough to walk and explore without the need for the winter woolies.

Our tour manager was Clair who is English but lives in Spain, she does this holiday on a regular basis so anyone reading and done this trip will more than likely met her, she is very good.

Also thought the hotel was ideal and the staff were very pleasant, just a nice place. Food was typical Mediterranean hotel buffet stuff have had better but also had much worse, it did the job.


One of my favorite excurrsions was to Rhonda an lovely medievil town famous for its bullring. Its set on a mountain top with superb views.
Was really nice to wander around,visit a couple of small museums and chill out in the coffee shops.

 Bit of a story in Rhonda though we lost one of our passengers Callum who decided he'd rather have a beer than catch the bus back. We waited and searched for ages before leaving without him. He was a nice guy but a total charactor and reunited with us a day and half later.


An highlight to many on the holiday was the trip to the Alhambra Palace but it seems to be one of them places that divides opinion, can't despute its architecture and the gardens are impressive but the lack of artifacts were a dissapointment to me. Would much rather visit some UK attractions such as Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, etc.



The trip also included part of the day in Granada itself which seems quite an interesting place itself, quite a modern city.









Another day we visited the muntain village of Frigiliana which was very similar to Mijas but then to the coastal town of Nerja. Loved it there and would probably be where i choose to stay if  i visit this part of Spain again.
Sadly one of the Ladies in our group had a accident slipping and breaking her ankle and spent the rest of the holiday in hospital. Its my understanding she was put on her flight home to East Midlands airport but I didn't see her because went with the earlier Manchester group.
It created more problems for Clair who was backwards and forwards between hospital visits and the group (was 45 of us), still she found a suitable person in the group to run the quiz night a lovely gentleman, yes I volunteered.
Seriously if anyone reads this blog that knows the young lady concerned it would be nice to hear how she got on and if she has had a holiday since, must have been aweful in a foreign hospital not knowing anyone.

Still my favorite trip is another that splits opinion but i consider Gibralter an highlight. Of course the British influence and the history are of much more importance to me. Was good to be able to visit the Trafalger Cemetary among other places.
Decent Grub for lunch in a British Pub, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud if my memory serves me right of coarse swilled down with a pint of John Smiths.

Still no trip to the rock would be of interest without meeting the little fellas, yes the Apes are just fun to watch, this one had stolen a carton of orange and it was fascinating wathing him tear it bit by bit so he could drink without spilling much, then he opened a packet of crisps, just could watch them all day.




 Often on these group hols we make a number of friends that we keep in touch with but eventually the emails, texts, phone calls, etc dry up. Well I made one good friend on this trip that I've kept in touch with and although we live at opposite ends of the country we chat on phone on a regular basis. Have met a few times so its all good, nothing wrong making friends on these trips.