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Spain is the country with the largest surface of vineyards in the world. Approx. 1,200,000 hectars of surface become managed by approximately 150,000 winegrowers in scarcely 5,000 Bodegas. Although Spain admits more as a red wine country, 50% of the surface is with white wine varieties. Spain is thereby clearly the largest white wine manufacturer of the world. Who would have thought that. But I like more drinking red wine, like some Rioja.

Manilva is a municipality on the Costa del Sol in the extreme southeast of the province Málaga in Andalucia (Spain). It consists of three principal places, whereby the most important is Manilva itself of course, a place, which is about 2km afar from the coast. Second is the coastal place San Luis de Sabinillas, rather known as Sabinillas. The third part, the fishing village called el Castillo de la Duquesa or just El Castillo is approx. 1,75km western at the coast. In addition there are many further parts with its own name. There is e.g. Puerto de la Duquesa, a beautiful small place with a not so small marina.

With approximately 11,200 inhabitants one could mark Manilva as a town. The numbers of inhabitants rises annually. Two years ago there were just under 8000 inhabitants.

Many tourists see this 14 meters high bull at the highways of Spain, black, strong and proud, and think this concerns a symbol of Spain. However this bull is actually only advertisement. It was a commercial trade mark of Osborne (producers of sherry and other spirits) but the wide presence of the bull all across Spanish roads made it a very popular symbol in the Spanish countryside. However, meanwhile it became a national symbol and also one of the most popular motives for photos of the tourists.
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San Roque is a small town with a population of 25,000 near Gibraltar. It is part of the province of Cádiz. It was founded by the original inhabitants of Gibraltar, which abandoned the town in 1704, after the takeover by the Anglo-Dutch forces during the War of the Spanish Succession. This way, San Roque official motto is “The town of Gibraltar that lives in San Roque”. From San Roque you have a good view to Gibraltar and although Algeciras. San Roque itself is very nice, with its small streets and nice buildings. It´s worth a visit to drink a coffee in a little bar.

On my other blog I already started writing a little about Spain especially this town. The last years I have been many times in a little town called Nerja. It´s about 50 km east of Malaga. The town is well known, because of its caves which is the third most visited object of interest in Spain after the Prado in Madrid and the Alhambra in Granada, which is about an hour away from Nerja. At my last visits I used to stay in a Hostal called Hostal Casa Mercedes. From here it´s a walking distance to the town and only a few hundred meters to the beach which is very nice to visit. In the low season the prices a very good so you have to stay there.