Knox Box of Miscellany

Dawn Knox – A rearranger of words into something hopefully meaningful…

Reg’s Nerja – #MuseItUp #DaffodilAndTheThinPlace

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Reg as a Mexican Bandit

Selfie of me as a Mexican Bandit

Well, you’ve got to, haven’t you? When someone is kind enough to provide a photo opportunity such as the Mexican Bandit in the photo, you just have to stick your face in the hole.

Sadly, my face didn’t fit but it was no reason to miss such a selfie.

The Mexican restaurant, Cielito Lindo is in Calle El Barrio, Nerja and the bandit outside isn’t the only photo opportunity associated with it. Apparently, if you go in the restaurant, they offer you a sombrero to wear while you eat. Not that I took advantage of this because eating a meal wearing a sombrero would have meant I was in solitary confinement under a hat.

But there’s more to Nerja than restaurants. The heart of the town is the Balcon de Europa, a beautiful promontory in the middle of the town. Originally a 9th century watchtower was on the site and used by the Moors to monitor and protect the coastline against pirates and smugglers. After being rebuilt in 1487, it was attacked by the British in 1812 and the two rusty cannon recovered years later can be found on the Balcon now (see photo of selfie on the cannon). In 1884, there was an earthquake, which damaged the balcony and King Alfonso XII visited Nerja to see the destruction. He admired the view and it was his comment that it was truly the ‘Balcon de Europa’, which gave the promontory its name. There is now a statue of King Alfonso standing on the Balcon.

Reg on a cannon

Selfie of me on one of the cannon

As well as the Balcon de Europa, the town boasts another attraction, which is the third most-visited tourist site in Spain after the Prado museum in Madrid and the Alhambra in Granada. It is the Caves of Nerja, which were discovered over fifty years ago by five boys from the nearby village of Maro. Although the inhabitants of Maro knew of the existence of a small cavity in the rock, no one had explored it until the five boys decided to chase a colony of bats into a crevice in the cavity. They discovered a narrow passage, which led into a much larger cave. Continuing deeper, the boys found the Hall of Phantoms (Sala de los Fantasmas), where they found two human skeletons which not surprisingly frightened them and they didn’t proceed any further. A few days later, they returned with two teachers and the exploration of the caves began.

The Old Boy and Old Girl have been to the caves a few years ago before I acquired them but as I’ve never been, I’ve no photos of them but if you want to see what they look like, click here to go to the Cuevas de Nerja website.

Reg on the tribute to the five boys who found the Caves of Nerja

Selfie up close and personal with the tribute to the five boys who found the Caves of Nerja

Speaking of the Old Girl, please buy her ebook ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’. To make things easy, just click here and go to the Muse It Up Publishing site. It will only cost you about £1.80 and it will really make her day. In fact, not only will it make her day, it will make some money for St. Nicholas Church, Laindon with Dunton, Essex, where apparently the story takes place. I haven’t read it myself but it’s had some excellent reviews and since learning to read is fairly high on my list of things to do, I’ll get round to it one day. In the meantime, if you read it, perhaps you could let me know what you think.

#MuseItUp #DaffodilAndTheThinPlace

 

 

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