Casa Pilar Alto, Illora, Granada Newsletter 3rd July 2007

Illora Weekly News
Dateline 06.06.07

Weather is Wonderful !! Booking Online !!

To say that Casa Pilar Alto Illora, Granada has been “between a rock and a hard place” these last few weeks is both geologically and metaphorically accurate. The house is built up the side of the huge rock, which dominates the old town of Illora, Granada and pieces of rock appear at intervals in the building – from the high private terraces to the accessible room at the bottom, street level. I use the term “accessible” loosely – there are steep steps and an equally steep hill outside. We would far rather refer a prospective client who is wheelchair bound to a friend or ours who has dedicated himself to making his cortijo accessible on the level.

Regulations, however, do not consider geography. A Casa Rural or hotel must have an accessible room. The long awaited Building Inspector arrived to insist that we create a 1.5 metre turning circle in front of the loo. The room was already reduced by the need to widen the internal staircase. The bedroom walls are alongside this staircase, on the other side alongside our neighbours, who may object to us extending into their property, at the front facing the street and backing into the rock. Throughout the period up to today, Tony has been stopped from finishing the job and we have faced the possibility that regulations may prevent us from opening and Illora from getting its first hotel.

If your chin is dropping, fear not. The story has a happy ending. There is another category, which does not require an accessible room, although it does require one or two relatively small things we do not yet have. We found this out when I was asked if I would assist a friend of a friend who owns a cortijo in the country with marketing his property internationally. Thus, we have both a solution and another client. Our guests will soon be able to combine stays at Casa Pilar Alto Illora – for the sun, history, touring the area and so on – with stays in total tranquillity in 40,000 square metres of private woodland, olive groves and fresh mountain air at Cortijo Las Chorreras. It’s good when a plan falls apart and comes together in a different way.

The sun has been out on and off since we arrived but now the sky is entirely blue and temperatures have climbed fast to 35 plus, day in day out. The terraces are fully furnished so that the views and the sun can be enjoyed by several parties at one time. New photos to show this are hitting the web site. Sunglasses have blossomed in the streets – the Spanish had earlier seemed pretty impervious. Current fads give us essentially three varieties – “Biggles”, “Top Gun” and “Bat Wing” – strange how they are all associated with flying.. The rationale behind the “siesta” is suddenly very much clearer – even slogging away at a PC is considerably more daunting than simply holidaying in the sun; painting or other manual labour much more so. With hindsight, it seems strange that we did not think this one through.

We love the Spanish people and would not want anything I say to suggest otherwise. If there is one flaw we notice it is thrift, which largely kicks in after the event. Suppose that we buy a 3 piece suite for 1,000 euros, for example, get it delivered here, in position and then proudly show the neighbours. Immediately after admiring it they will ask, “Where did you buy it ?” and then “How much did it cost ?”. Almost invariably, they will know somewhere else where we could have bought the exact same thing for 25 euros less. Frankly, we were happy with our 1,000 euro suite that looks just right in the place we intended it for. We had no desire to know that we spent 25 euros more than we need have. This thrift covers purchases at the smallest level and, for the most part, this is very beneficial. We knew within days of arriving which supermarkets are cheapest and so on - not from personal experience but from neighbours. The same neighbours, however, might buy something for themselves for, let’s say, 5 euros in Illora and later discover they could have bought it for 4 euros – in Granada. They will take it back to the first shop and go and buy in Granada, oblivious to the fact that they spent considerably more than the 1 euro saving making the exchange.

This weekend Cathy and one of neighbours – female I hardly need add – will trot off to Granada to see Ricky Martin in concert. I am both miffed that I missed Shakira’s concert there earlier in the year and puzzled that these two women might find Ricky more attractive than their respective husbands. Ricky is an old friend of Cathy’s – they met in the VIP Lounge at Manila Airport some years ago. Reportedly kisses were exchanged and they have been bosom buddies ever since. I have doubts – Cathy was 8 at the time – but it has certainly proved to be the case that performers of significance are much more accessible here than they are in London – at much the same time The Rolling Stones were performing near by and tickets were not at all hard to get.

So, now we have resumed decorating and have a new first – our first employee. A Spanish lady joined us for 3 days of last week and a day yet to be fixed this week cleaning with the intention of continuing beyond that. The place looks significantly more civilised than it did. Furniture we already had, largely stored and covered from the all pervading dust, is in place along with appropriate ornaments, also previously stored. The Premier Room is taking shape with the addition of double glazed French windows today, Café Pilar Alto is almost entirely decorated and will soon appear on the web site. The rock is still with us but the hard place has gone away…

Special Offers Still Open ! Go to Prices for details

Hasta luego !

Matthew and Cathy Brooks

Casa Pilar Alto
4,6 Cuesta Pilar Alto
18260 Illora
Granada
Spain

Cortijo Las Chorreras
Villa Nueva de Mesia
Illora
Granada
Spain

Email: stay@casaillora.com

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