Benalauria

 We left mid morning for our drive to the very small mountainside village of Benalauria.  How host for the day, Pepe, is trying to promote it to outsiders almost single handily.

I felt like I had stepped back in time.  Our first stop was the bakery that prepares freshly baked bread for the surrounding towns. We sampled the meringues and they were amazing.  



We wondered up and down (I did say it’s a mountainside village) the narrow alleyways occasionally running into a resident.  One gentleman posed for us.  He’s celebrating his 92nd birthday tomorrow.  



We also ran into our fair share of cats.  Some even chose to follow us for some of stroll.  The whitewashed buildings made a nice backdrop for the flowers decorating the walls and window boxes.  And the best part: we were the only visitors the entire day!





For lunch, Pepe invited us to his very small winery where he (with a little help) prepared the food.  We started with cheese, bread, and figs then progressed to tomato salad and ended with a beautiful paella.  The pan was so big it had to come out the kitchen window to be served.  The meal concluded with a very light pastry sprinkled with honey. It was both tasty and lovely.




We went back to our hotel where we had time to sort through our photos and take a nap.  Several from our group met at a rooftop bar to watch the sunset.



Tomorrow: Morocco 

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