A Peep-show for 20 cents? I know just the place!

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Marianne under Axarquía, Places, Slice of Life

The Moor and his Parrot

Mechanical theatre

Carmen and Dolores

Near to the entrance of the old part of the village of Frigiliana is this rather splendid coin-in-the-slot “mechanical theatre”, known as La Casita de Información y La Fantasía (The House of Information and Fantasy). You might remember these old-fashioned machines from when you were a child – you know the kind, where your coin makes the clown inside laugh manically?

Well, the one in Frigiliana isn’t an old machine, but a more modern version, crafted in the old-style way by a collaboration of artists known as Arte-matico de Bernado y Amigos.

There are two quite large mechanical theatres back-to-back within the casita, both featuring marionettes, with one entitled “The Moor and his Parrot” and the other “Carmen and Dolores”. If you were to put your 1 Euro coin into the slot (it’s 2 Euros if you’re a millionaire!), the former will talk about the history of Frigiliana, whilst Carmen and Dolores, depicting two old ladies from the village, chat together about “the good old days”.

So, what about the peep-show, I hear your scream?

Look out for this blue door on Calle Alta (and notice the sign on the wall up the side street)

Well, you’ll have to climb up the steps to the upper part of Frigiliana and, as you wander along Calle Alta, keep a look out for this blue door.

Can you see the peep-holes?

The Wonder of Life peep-show, Frigiliana

This blue door gives you a choice of peep-shows

The Magic Crystal peep-show, Frigiliana

The Marvellous Seaview peep-show, Frigiliana

This time you have a choice of two peep-shows in the door – El Milagro de La Vida (The Wonder of Life) or La Esfera Mágica de Cristal (The Magic Crystal), and the good news is, that even if you are a millionaire, the price is just 20 cents!

The third show, to the right of the blue door will set you back 50 cents (also with no additional cost for rich folk) and this is called The Marvellous Seaview (Merveilleuse vue sur mer).

The sign for the Harem peep-show, Frigiliana

The sign for the Fantastic Harem peep-show

The Fantastic Harem peep-show

Did you notice the sign on the wall, up the side street beside the blue door?

Well, here is the fourth (and final) peep-show in the upper part of Frigiliana village – The Fantastic Harem (Harem Fantastico). This time, for us poor folk, the cost is 50 cents, (there is a reduced rate of 20 cents – but it’s not very clear how you qualify for that), whilst once again, the millionaires have to pay one Euro.

So there you have it!

What’s the cheapest peep-show YOU’VE ever seen? On second thoughts – don’t answer that!

The wildflowers are spectacular right now!

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Marianne under Axarquía

All over the Axarquía region, the hills are alive with colourful wildflowers – purple lavender, pink Convulvulus, red poppies and so many more!

Just look at these wild sweet peas 🙂

Don’t forget your camera!

Torre del Mar: The Sun has Got His Hat On!

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Marianne under Axarquía, Places

We’ve had a lot of cloud and rain during the past week. Fortunately, Mr. Sunshine is never too far away, so this morning when he popped through the clouds, I hot-footed it down to Torre del Mar for a walk along the promenade.

There is a lovely paved promenade at Torre del Mar, with beautiful gardens running alongside, and I’d only been walking for a few minutes when I came across this stunning flower on a banana plant.

Isn’t it magnificent?

A little further on, as I approached the Sailing Club, I moved from the paved promenade onto the hard, compacted sandy path on the beach, for a better view of the many boats stored at the club.

(You can see the clouds still threatening, over the mountains in the distance and indeed, as I write this, the rain has returned).

Known as the Sendero Litoral, this sandy path runs from the Rio Vélez delta to the port at Caleta de Vélez – a distance of 3.4 kilometres, and is popular with walkers and joggers.

Do YOU have a favourite place where you love to walk when you get the chance?

Parking Blues in a white Andalucian village

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Marianne under Axarquía, Laws and Customs, Slice of Life

Look out for these street signs!

It’s the same the world over!

Finding a parking space is getting more and more difficult, no matter where you live. You might have thought it would be an easy matter to park your car in any one of the pretty white villages in the Axarquía but, in some of them, it’s almost impossible.

The difficulty seems to arise because there is no time restriction. Once you’ve parked your vehicle, you can stay as long as you like – which is all very well when you can actually find a space in the first place!

Two years ago, to try to alleviate this problem, the town hall in Torrox introduced Blue Parking Zones (Zona Azul) around the centre of the village. This means that during certain times of the day, if you park where there are blue lines painted on the ground, you need to display a parking disc with the time correctly set to coincide with your arrival time.

Buy one these parking discs for €1, from local shops

The reusable parking discs can be purchased from most of the shops in the village for a one-off payment of €1. Once you have your disc, each time you park in the Blue Zone during ‘working hours’ (Monday to Friday, 9am – 2pm & 5pm – 8pm) you need to set the time on your disc to your time of arrival and the gap on the disc will indicate when you need to leave. You must display your disc, clearly visible, on the dashboard of your vehicle.

Within Torrox village, you are restricted to ONE hour of free parking. Outside of these times, including weekends, there is no restriction. This means that if you arrive at 1.30pm on any weekday afternoon, you can safely park until 5.30pm without a problem.

Of course, if you overstay your allotted time, or fail to display a disc, you will be faced with a hefty financial penalty.

All pretty straightforward you might think.

Parking within the blue parking zone

The Blue Parking restrictions were extended to certain areas of the coastal area of Torrox Costa, last summer. On the coast, parking is restricted Monday to Friday, 10am – 10pm and on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm. The scheme apparently works the same way as in the village, with the difference being that on the coast you are entitled to park for TWO hours free, instead of one.

This means, I presume, that you will need to purchase a different parking disc for €1 from a shop in Torrox Costa, as the gap indicating your allotted parking time (two hours) on the disc would be different from the one you can use in Torrox village (one hour).

With me so far?

Different Blue Zone parking signs at Torrox Costa

What is confusing (to me, at least) is the extra part at the bottom of the sign that indicates that during July and August the maximum time for parking is two hours. Does this mean outside of the restricted hours, too? Or that you are only allowed to park once (for two hours) and then you have to clear off?

Confused? I know I am!

Of course, there have been some disgruntled drivers who object to the timed parking restrictions but, from a personal point of view I think the Blue Zone parking scheme works very well within Torrox village, as I really appreciate being able to always find a parking space since the system was introduced. However, the scheme down on the coast at Torrox Costa is pretty confusing.