Having left Greece, I had a one day turn around in Cavan, and then headed back to the airport to meet Roisin, Jack and granddaughter, Aine, and fly off to Estapone, near Malaga in Spain. After a delayed flight, we headed out into the darkness to eat and were greeted by brilliant coloured flowers, pretty narrow cobbled lanes hanging with bougainvillea and jasmine, and, I want to say ‘succulent’ water features because they almost assaulted the senses as they splashed and sparkled in an array of blues, pinks, yellows and reds. In daylight the old town is as lovely…pots of hanging flowers adorn the white painted houses, and there are gorgeous statues and art scattered around the place and the water features are lovely. The tiles and cobblestones glisten underfoot and this morning, on my morning constitutional, they were filled with children holding hands on their way to school.

From our large, light, spacious (if rather soulless) apartment, the laughter of children outside drifted up from a school playground (a large yard, full of pitches, and painted circles.) In both Spain and Greece, schools are attractive places where the children seem to be cheerful and enjoying themselves, while in Ireland and England they are rather grim, concrete buildings, that look rather like prisons. We could learn from our European colleagues. Anyway, one morning, from our balcony, I watched a class of six year olds play a game where one boy stood in the centre while the others gathered in a circle around him. He performed various actions and they copied him, then he ran off and chased them all. They gathered again in a circle with another child in the middle and then caught sight of me and shouted ola and waved. I waved back. The teacher arrived, so I waved at her too. Then the kids started waving again at me. I scratched my head. They scratched their heads, so I waved both my arms, and they waved both their arms, I clapped, and they clapped. I turned around and so did they. I took a bow and they took a bow…it was such fun!

Estapone is definitely a child centred place. People actually took the time to stop and chat with Aine (though I should say that she is full of the most wonderful smiles which she flashes liberally around the place). There was a fantastic, imaginative playground on the prom aimed at various age groups. And spending Halloween in Estapone was great fun. Everyone (adults too) dressed up and witches and axe heads and monsters milled about the old town streets, going into the shops to trick and treat.

What was also impressive about Estapone was the number of people zooming around in wheelchairs. The prom is a wonderful place to walk; it’s flat, smooth full of gardens and flowers. The old town is more hilly but where there are steps, there are usually ramps too. Pots of flowers and flower bushes run amok, but they are hanging and don’t impede a pram or a wheelchair. It was very easy to get about.

I think chasing dolphins was a favourite part of the holiday. The captain of the boat and his wife were really welcoming. They followed a band of birds flying above the waves and she clicked her tongue and whistled. Suddenly there they were, a flock of dolphins leaping around the boat, playing beneath it, performing synchronised jumps. It was as if they were performing just for us. It was very exciting and truly magical.

Overall, I had a lovely week milling around with my beautiful daughter and Jack, her fiance. I loved the orchid museum full of fantastic flowers and plants but actually, Aine was my favourite part of the holiday…she is a bundle of joy and there is no better tonic than the laugh of a baby.

Still having trouble with photos…its taken me an hour to get three up as the majority of my photos are being saved as HEIC instead of jpeg which means I can’t use them here.