The day dawns blue here. Here being this corner of paradise we find ourselves perched in. And really perched. As if someone plucked our travel weary selves from the airport and tucked us away high up on a mountain shelf about an hour or so from the coast. Distracted by the heavy slashes of red across the sunset sky and the jaw-dropping vistas that displayed before us with each new bend in the road, it’s no wonder we hardly noticed the hour fly by…
In no time, it was morning. Fresh and blue. What other color could a morning in a Spanish paradise be? The mornings here are that kind of temperature that just feels so natural you hardly notice it. The kind that fits your skin so well you could wear it. Stretch up and wear the air. The fresh morning sun reveals what the night before concealed as a surprise for us. A large covered patio- furnished with an outdoor kitchen, dining table and chairs, a set of couches, and filled to the brim with potted plants of all sizes. Just beyond the patio and matching tiled courtyard, begins a lovely sprawling garden. Overflowing with flowers of every color- daisies, lavender, passionflower, jasmine, roses, geraniums, oleander, and hibiscus to name a few. Olive, almond, fig, lemon, orange, and other fruit trees act as anchors for the eye.
The garden steps down the hillside gradually in a series of shallow terraces. Stacked stone walls and pathways wind here and there leading to a handful of seating areas precisely placed to take in the views. And what views! The garden drops away into where or what… I don’t know. It ever caught my attention. Seemingly far below lay a valley of gently sloping fields freshly plowed. But that too seemed inconsequential and far away. The mountains stole the show. Rising up from the valley floor in massive rolling mounds, peaks rounded with age. They are a light tan color glazed over with the silvery green sheen of olive trees and scruffy vegetation. A few tiny houses dot one of the ridgelines but even so, the mountains seem rugged and wild.
Breakfast and coffee are taken in one of the lovely sitting areas in the garden. My favorite being a grape vine decorated wooden and wrought iron bench and its accompanying table. It is a perfect morning nook tucked away from the sun against a screen of passionflower vines and fragrant butterfly bush. And of course, the breakfast views are unbeatable. From the passionflower nook you see across a cascade of garden color down the valley and through the gathering mountain ranges as they grow more and more impressive while simultaneously fading off into the distance. Far below, on the valley floor stretches a white town at the foot of a plateau-like mountain. Tiny buildings that at night will create a puddle of twinkling lights. And that’s about as close as “civilization” comes out here. Which is fine by us! The day is off to a good start.
Words by Lydia
Photos by Lydia & Rachel
