Bob & Betty go British

Spanish Sunshine

You've probably been wondering why I haven't blogged in a while. Well, I could tell you that it's because we've been so busy having a fabulous time but I would be lying. The truth is far less interesting. But, the good news is that I have something to report having just got back from a week in Spain!

The plane trip was uneventful although I did get myself worked up until I was a nervous wreck and arrived with a splitting headache. We picked up our hire car and managed to find our way to our hotel. For dinner we went to the nearest restaurant which was filled with ex-pat English retirees listening to some tragic live music. Still, it was food and we were starving. We should have paid for the food on the plane...

I had a varied experience of Spain. The first few days were hot and sunny. Motocycles were the first priority of our trip. Sunday was the final race of the MotoGP season and we joined the 128,998 other people at the race track in Valencia to see who would win. It was an extremely hot day and the main race was a bit of a disappointment. There were no real battles for the lead and when the favourite fell off, the atmosphere became rather subdued. The disappointment was heightened by the fact that it took us 5 hours to get back to our hotel. 1 hour trying to get out of the car park, 2 hours trying to get to the motorway and then another 2 hours taking back roads to avoid the traffic jams on all the other roads. Thank goodness for the sat nav or I'm sure we'd still be sitting in traffic!

Monday we wandered around the town that we were staying in - Moraira on the Costa Blanca (between Valencia and Alicante). There is a port, a beach, a tiny castle and more restaurants than you could possibly try in a week's worth of holiday. Still, it was a quiet little place and didn't seem too touristy. We caught up with some fellow motorcycle nuts that Robert knew. They have just finished building a house in the town and were kind enough to give us lots of tips for our stay. After a rather large lunch we spent siesta time sitting by the pool. Spanish siesta is a little annoying - everything closes after 1pm and doesn't open again until 4 or 4.30pm. This is very frustrating as a tourist, but does strike me as a rather relaxed way to live. For dinner we tried the Chicken and Rabbit Paella at "the best" local restaurant with some rather nice Spanish red wine.

Tuesday we explored to the North of Moraira. The weather was perfect and there were lots of photo opportunities with blue skies, blue seas and white houses on cliff edges. Aside from some suspect empanadas we ate from the supermarket, we managed to take in the sights of Denia and it's castle. It is interesting to note that the churches in most Spanish towns are topped with domes instead of spires. In England it is easy to see where the old church and castles are in any city. In Spanish towns it is much harder. The churches aren't as tall and the towns are so built up around the old areas that you can't see where it is. Again, the Sat Nav comes in handy for these things. We decided to have tapas for dinner (it was meant to be the light alternative) and ordered way too many dishes - garlic prawns, potatos bravas, octopus stew, anchovies, etc. Still, it was very tasty.

Wednesday we spent the morning tracking down a Doctor. Not only did I have to find a Doctor that spoke English but it turned out to be a public holiday (all saints day ... catholic country) and just finding a clinic that was open was a challenge. All I needed was antibiotics. Thanks to the lady at the hotel we managed to find someone. After that little drama we headed off into the hills inland from the coast. We found a castle to explore (in a sleepy little place called Polop) and were able to see the valleys filled with orange, olive and loquot groves. Half of them were covered in shade cloth which made it look as though someone had spread out picnic blankets all over the mountain side. We accidentally stumbled across the tourists at the local waterfalls so we escaped quickly and managed to find a motorcycle museum for Robert to enjoy. That night we had dinner at a local bar and tried the serrano ham and local cheese. Yum!

Thursday it was overcast and humid. By the afternoon it was really raining. We took a walk up hill and took in the view over Moraira. After lunch we headed off into the hills again and found another castle and old stuff to look at. The rain held off mostly but as you can see from the rather moody picture on flickr, it certainly made for a different sort of landscape.
That night we had trouble deciding what to eat and ended up at the only Indian restaurant in town. I was amazed at the language skills of the staff. They all spoke English, Spanish and German. I guess they really know how to cater to their clientel.

Friday Robert woke up feeling like he'd been hit by a bus. I think someone ate too much... We headed off to Valencia in the rain but our hearts just weren't in it. Still, we managed to see the cathedral, the central market and lots of old and extremely new buildings. Then of course there was more traffic to encounter as we found ourselves in a jam leading up to an accident. The good thing the signs on the motorways are so helpful. For our last night in spain we settled for some tapas variadas and an early night. Sad I know, but neither of us were very well.

Saturday morning we checked out and headed down the coast to Alicante again. We had more tapas variadas for lunch and then found yet another castle. You'd think we'd be sick of them by now, but no, we just love the old things. Robert has uploaded some photos as well. Our plane trip home, while delayed, was again uneventful and we got picked up in a mini-cab by a very talkative driver. I never thought I'd be so happy to get back to London :-)

posted by Elisabeth @ 8:31 PM 3 comments