The Serenity of Riogordo

You may remember Frank from one of last year’s posts.

We couldn’t resist returning to see Frank and his beautiful ‘mum’ Rose.

This lovely home nestled in the hills and amongst the olive and almond trees is so charming and peaceful, we love coming here.

Additionally, each evening we look forward to seeing the goats and hearing the pleasant clanging of their bells.

Our responsibility is to care for Frank, the swimming pool and maintain the garden by watering plants etc.

Let me tell you some more about Frank:

• Firstly, he’s  a cheeky character.
• Frank  has his own cat-flap, but come evening you will hear him scratching at the front door to be let in, only to be meowing 15 minutes later to go out again.
• Another peculiar habit of Frank is that he drinks from a glass.
• He’s very chatty and loves following you around the garden and rolling around in the dirt. So un-like cat behaviour.
• Frank needs to have sunscreen applied  to his ears each morning. A task he loathes and he entertains us as he sprints away as soon as we put him down.
• He’s enjoys sitting on your lap, getting petted and then purrs so loudly it’s difficult to hear the telly.

Other than that, he’s perfect.

Our typical day,  besides feeding, cuddling and grooming Frank to brush off the dirt and leaves from his coat is caring for the garden and ensuring the pool is in pristine condition.

Rose has a beautiful garden full of colour with flowers, fruit trees and grape vines. Glenn can’t help himself getting into the garden to do some pruning and my ‘expertise’ is pulling out weeds.

I almost forgot to mention, each morning I pick a few oranges from the orange tree and squeeze myself a glass of fresh orange juice to have with my breakfast. Generally the rest of the day is up to us to explore or sit around and soak up the beautiful Spanish spring weather.

There are many lovely towns to visit nearby and this, being a return sit to Riogordo, we decided to visit Malaga and Torre del Mar again.

We caught the local bus into Malaga and joined a free walking tour. We love participating on walking tours as the guide is normally a local person and they love telling you about their home town. Did you know that Picasso was born in Malaga?

After the tour we had a Menu del dia (menu of the day). Three course lunch with a drink for $12 – great value. We had the Malaga speciality dish, Boquerones Fritos (fried anchovies) –  delicious!  I have to confess though, we didn’t know that was what we had  ordered!! We then walked off lunch visiting the Castillo (castle) before catching the bus back to Riogordo.

The day we visited Torre was, unbeknownst to us, a public holiday. Last time we visited Torre on a weekday it was almost deserted, but today it was very different and busy with families spending time together – walking along the beach promenade and having lunch, just like us.

When Rose returned from her holiday we had already left Riogordo two days before for another sit at Alcala La Real, a 2 hour drive away (we had handed over Franks care to a neighbour for a day by prior arrangement with Rose). We arranged a ‘lunch date’ with her a few weeks later when we were returning to Malaga to leave Spain. It was lovely to catch up and hear about her holiday back in the UK. We hope to come back again and see her and Frank and once again enjoy the serenity that Riogordo offers….

What the owner said – “…They take such good care of everything – working in the garden and maintaining the pool as if it were their own home. On my return I find the house cleaner than when I left and no end of jobs done!!....”

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