Today we play one of our premium courses……Real Club Sotogrande…….rain is threatening and we catch some pockets of precip on the way there……hoping like hell the forecast is wrong, because it calls for rain most of the afternoon. Sotogrande is a beautiful upscale development with an its own marina, gorgeous residences of all shapes and sizes, polo club, not to mention this highly rated golf course. It is most impressive as we drive through the gates, and you can tell right away this will be a well conditioned golf course by looking at the grounds around the clubhouse………not a blade of grass out of place.
The croquet pitch is immaculate, and we would love to get out the mallets for a quick game, but no time for that. We are due on the first tee just as the rain begins to fall, and it gets heavier, and heavier, until I am reaching for the rain suit and pulling it on. Luckily it tapers off after just a couple of holes, and there is actually a break in the clouds allowing a few rays of sunshine to find their way through. It actually stops…….rain suit off……..sun begins to shine………and we are good for the rest of the day…….so lucky. This is an older course, opened in 1964, and was the first of a string of Trent Jones courses he designed in Spain. It underwent a full restoration in 2015-2016, and not sure if they changed the layout or not, but what is here now is both interesting and challenging.
Play is slow, as we have become used to when teeing off at noon, and hate to say it but the culprits again today are a group of French golfers who apparently have their pro playing with them, and rotating through three threesomes right ahead of us…….taking forever, and at least a few open holes ahead of their lead group……….not a marshall to be found anywhere. All in all though, this was a very nice golf course, and not overly difficult except for the length. The private homes on the course, mostly closed up for the off season, were spectacular.
We are hooking up with Mike and Vivian tonight for dinner in Marbella, and pick them up at their hotel before heading to the NOBU Hotel about 10 minutes down the road…….not to their NOBU restaurant, but to LEÑA , also in the hotel and apparently one of the hottest dinner tickets in town. What a place!!!! There are a collection of restaurants behind the hotel building in a not to be believed setting and Lena is the largest, and I think the main attraction, even over NOBU’s own, in the hotel. The pictures can help with my poor description, but there is essentially a lower dining area that is covered by what reminds me of a circus tent, surrounded by seating on elevated platforms, which is where we are.
You know sometimes when you go to a really really nice restaurant and they are trying to do everything just perfectly and they don’t quite pull it off…….sorry to say, but that will be my takeaway from Lena. Couldn’t be a more stunning setting, but the service tripped over itself right from the beginning. We are not sure exactly who our waiter is because there have been two or three guys buzzing the table for a while without really doing sweet #$%@ all. I wanted to order some wine, but was told the sommelier would be right with us……….she shows up 10 minutes later smelling like she was just out back with the dishwasher having a dart, and gives me an iPad wine list……..hate that……..give me the print version. I can’t find a bottle of Rioja Reserva under 150 euro……..but with stinky’s help she points out a few selections that are more in my price range.
This is a MEAT place………”Where’s the beef?”……..right here baby. All the usual suspects are on the menu, and I think we all settled on the beef tenderloin………the table next door is having caesar salad prepared table side………remember when everyone did that?…….haven’t seen it in so long we all decided that was the way to go. OK……..salad was less than good, meat was ok but nothing special, so we leave Lena and unfortunately have to give this highly acclaimed restaurant a poor rating……….6-7 out of 10 would be generous.
Now outside J&S&V are off exploring. They don’t realize but they have just walked over a first century AD relic of the Via Augusta road that connected Cadiz to Rome…….looks like the real thing to me……..really well done. There are no fewer than five other restaurants in this enclave, with some that turn into nightclubs when dining is over for the evening……..the ladies are quite impressed and promise a return visit. WE scoot M&V back to their hotel and have plans to see them again in a few days on the way home from golf……..hoping that will happen but not sure.
HUGEBLOGSITE 
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