Our Spanish Hibernation 3:0

So, well into our second week in the Malaga winter bolt hole and it’s starting to feel like home. If you don’t look in too many cupboards in the spare rooms that is!

If we ever end up renting out a place Airbnb style (or similar), I would like to think the apartment would be presented in such way our guests can enjoy and instantly think of as their own for how ever long they stay. When we walked into this place, I could not see past the clutter. It was clean (we met the lovely Spanish ladies mopping it down when we arrived) but it felt like the owner and most of the previous renters were still living here.

The kitchen was a case in point. Drawers, shelves and cupboards full of dusty plates, mugs, pots and pans along with sundry kitchen devices – some working, some not. Half a cafetière was not going to help my caffeine addiction for sure.

And there were baskets with old sugar sachets, salt, pepper and a pile of half used jars of herbs and spices of an indeterminate age. I know they’re all dried, but …. no, that bottle of crushed chillis was going nowhere near my sizzling fajitas!!!

Anyway, all that has been boxed up along with the least appealing cutlery and half the crockery (there was about a dozen of everything). We have stashed it neatly in one of the cupboards in case one of the next guests would like to use them. So the kitchen now feels like ours.

Despite this, the place is a keeper and we have made it feel like home.It is a great size, very comfortable and so far very quiet. It is also conveniently a fifteen minute walk to the centre of town and a twenty minute stroll to the beach. There is a nice balcony to sit on with a morning coffee and enjoy a pleasant mountain view. It’s a cloudy old day today, but warm enough to sit out here without a coat.