Tour Guide

That's right.  I had a surprise visit Saturday from my cousin "out-law" (I'm assured this is the technical term for X in-laws). ;)  He and his nephew were in Marbella (ritzy fritzy-ville on the Costa del Sol) and had an unexpected free day.  They were hoping to see a bit of the "real" Spain; I dare say, they came to the right place/person.  I showed them around La Roda a little and then we headed to the next town over, Estepa.

Estepa is a beautiful town, much more "Spanish" looking than La Roda.  As you come up to in on the free way, you can see the ruins of a fortress on the hill and the typical casas blancas cascading down from there as church steeples rise up through the maze of tiled rooves.  It is a place worth visiting, for sure, and being just 10 minutes from home made it that much more attractive for short-notice tour guiding.

Some friends of ours from La Roda recently moved to Estepa and so I got in touch with them, too, hoping they would be up for playing tour guides.  I know a little about the town, but not enough to make wandering around the kind of interesting visit that it could be.  It's always best to get that kind of history from the locals. My friends were good sports and after the three of us had made our way to the convent on the hill (the church dates to the 16th century) and ordered some sweets from the nuns there, we met up with my friends for a dose of Estepeña culture accompanied by coffee and drinks.

It was a wonderful afternoon/evening.  I learned much more about Estepa and my guests thouroughly enjoyed getting some history and a glimpse of "real-life" in Spain.  We ended our visit in a tapas bar in town. Apparently the tapas in Marbella, aside from bad, are also quite expensive (big surprise).  We ordered some fabulous grilled squid with green sauce, fresh anchovies in lemon, Iberian fillete and ham...  You get the idea.  We redeemed Spanish cuisine and all within our budget! ;)

Once we were back in La Roda, of course we made the obligatory stop at Pub California.  That's right--the first (x)family member to have a drink in the new bar! :)  They headed out of town around 12 midnight...although I offered a bed, they turned it down since the next morning they were planning to get up early for a visit to Gibraltar.

It was a great visit.  As one of my friends in Estepa points out, unexpected get-togethers are nearly always the most fun!  It's true.