A few years back, hubbie and me travelled around Southern Spain for a week or so. I can tell you about some of the places we visited, and I can also tell you about the emergency room of the big hospital in Grenada, but more of that later...

Marbella - Other than the exclusive club complex and a load of tourist shops and eateries, there's nothing left of the original small fishing village. The major highlight of the area has to be Puerto Banus. Here you can sit in the waterside cafes and restaurants to watch the stinking rich parade themselves. Not forgetting their boats, and in some cases, small ships.

We made do with a meal in Sean Connery's favourite restaurant, complete with juggling street performers giving an impromptu performance, but didn't see the great man. Shhadly.

TRAVELLING INLAND

Mijas is an old Spanish town, again inland and up into the hills. Here we went on a donkey ride through the streets, although I wasn't very keen at first. I was even less so after having seen the guy who was holding my husband's donkey, punch the animal square on the jaw because it wouldn't stand still. We got off and after a few sharp words with the young guy, strode off for a look around. The usual selection of ceramics were available, and as nice as the place was, the incident over the donkey made me just want to get the hell out.

Ronda was the next stop off, and probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Home to the first bull ring in Spain, built it the 1700's, this is popular with the tourists primarily for the fantastic views afforded by the fact that the town is set on top of a gorge, and a mind-boggling big bridge joins the old town on one side, with the new town on t'other. Quite breathtaking. At night you could sit in the formal park and watch the sun go down over the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the distance. It magically changed colour from orange to deep red to a purple hue as the hot sun descended, just wonderful.

Grenada was a bit of a shock after the tranquility of the spanish villages. A big city, this place was really heaving, busy and noisy. We visited the Alhambra Palace, a vast and magnificent Moorish complex of some truly exquisite buildings and gardens. Sadly I can't tell you too much more than this as I'd been feeling unwell and wasn't taking it all in. My hubbie only spoke Majorcan spanish and not the dialect spoken on the main land, so when calling in to the local chemist for pain-killers for my symptoms, we used a handy board that they had with stick men pictures representing how you were feeling. We worked our way through these and came away with stuff they said would help. Sadly it didn't, and come 2 o'clock in the morning I was in so much pain with what we'd thought was a toothache, that we got ourselves off the the hospital. More problems with language, but they managed to explain that I had an infection in the jaw bone - exacerbated by being in such high temperatures - pumped me with enough valium to wipe me out for 3 days while he flight was arranged to get me back home. Ho hum! They don't have an NHS system like ours, and a letter requesting £35 was sent to our home address later. It's all in Spanish though, so be warned!

Dreadful ones locally in Marbella. The beaches looked clean enough, but a quick run into the water and you soon found out where all the building rubble is dumped. Hubbie sliced his big toe open on what looked like an old door lintel. And this was the beach that served the Marbella Club too! No wonder that the idle rich never left the waterfalled pool area and sun-loungers. The water was grey and dirty, and a real let down.

FOOD

HOTELS

In Ronda we stayed in the Hotel Victoria, just across from the main park, with fantastic views and service. Average price and excellent value.