Benahavis in August

Benahavis is a white town atop a hill about 45 minutes from Malaga airport in Andalucía, Spain. The tranquil town, set up in the hills away from the busy, develop seaside resorts of the Costa Del Sol but with the benefit of being so close to the airport was a gem of a holiday destination. Unbeknownst to us the annual Feria, a summer festival where adults and children alike dance into the early hours of the morning in the village’s one high street, fell slap bang in the middle of the holiday but happy locals having a boogie only added to the holiday spirit. 

It was HOT, the temperature rising to a brain-thumping 35 degrees one day, but the pool at our villa offered much needed respite from the heat and also provided a playground for games of lilo piggy-in-the-middle, 'how many headers can you do?' and the mandatory lengths under water test. Apparently no matter how old you get pool antics remain pretty much the same as when you were a child!

We ate so much amazing food. Meat, meat and more meat (plus some seafood if you’re feeling exotic) made up the entire menu of every restaurant in town. During the Feria suckling pig is the celebratory plate of choice and we took full advantage and ordered it wherever possible. Benahavis is known for its excellent choice of eating places and Andalucian specialties. All the restaurants in the village seem to be of equally good calibre as they vie for the attention of the multitude of tourists and locals looking for a place to eat.

Running alongside the winding mountain road into Benahavis is the river Guadalmina. As we drove into the town on our first day we saw lots of people parked by the roadside and changing into outdoor gear. We were curious to find out what they were all up to so asked the owner of our villa who told us that people ‘river run’ or go canyoning down the river from Benahavis. Our interest was piqued so, after buying water shoes, we planned an early morning trip to the river before the masses turned up later in the day. It was an incredible experience, much more hair raising than we first imagined.

It took us an hour and a half of scrambling down marble-like rocks, splashing through the shallow algae-rich river and swimming through the dark waters of deep gorges to reach the pebbled beach at the end of the river. I’m usually really scared of deep water that you can’t see the bottom of but the deep ravines of the river, where the only sounds were the rushing water and the sudden flutter of pigeon’s wings, were so magical that no matter if there was a man-eating giant squid at the bottom I was going to get through the water to see what other beautiful things lay ahead. I’d really recommend the river run to anyone who visits the area but, no matter how casual all the happy people jumping off rocks at the beginning make the whole thing look, you have to be a strong swimmer and wear solid shoes. We saw a lot of discarded trainers and the like along the way! (no picture, of trainers or the river, unfortunately as far too wet for camera!)

So here's our cheepy bird friend instead!

Other than river adventuring the holiday was made up of reading books, lounging about and eating lots of delicious food. Now it’s back to job hunting and to the rather miserable British weather. Hey ho! Thank you to Family Brook for such a lovely time over the last three weeks!