Merry Christmas ...

We spent a whole 10 days in Coin, 40 km above Malaga, together with Michas sister and partner. After the long time in the Vito, the apartment with its approx. 50 sqm seemed big to the four of us. The weather spoiled us with sunshine and 23°C. Hiking was a pleasure, even if not always easy. The hiking network is not as developed as ours and you should definitely form a task force for marking the hiking trails... We often got lost, walked through streams, clambered up slopes, crawled under barbed wire, along electric fences. Finally, when we had pavement under our feet again, we were faced with a decorative, large entrance gate... from the inside :-0 With the fierce guard dogs and the attentive surveillance cameras here, I didn't feel comfortable at all. Once again, we had to crawl under barbed wire... but that's what memories are made of :-) We were compensated with magnificent views and lots of nature.

But we also got back into city life. After Ronda, Granada and Malaga were still on the program. All very beautiful cities. Ronda spectacularly located on the rock as a 'robbers' nest', Granada with its legendary Alhambra, Malaga finally brought us some Christmas emotions. In Spain, Christmas is only celebrated on December 25th and apparently on the street with a magnificent light show in the evening. In general, Christmas in the shops and also on the facades of the houses is not nearly as intrusive as it is with us. We spent Christmas Eve with a garlic chicken and rosemary potatoes in our little house. We have felt richly gifted for 5 months and we had a few representatives of the Giebel family with us. All around a nice time! Before Cathi & Christoph left us, the relief came in the form of my dear hiking friend Ines. A short meeting with even more Giebels on December 26th and a delicious brunch should end the Christmas chapter.