On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Kenny

Suddenly, you are a teenager and can't ride the donkeys anymore! Life is just NOT fair!! Good shots of the peacocks. Lunch looked pretty good. Sounds like a fun evening.

Tell me about it. There are some downsides to growing up....

[chezp]

Originally Posted by honeybee723

Still loving all of the animal shots. Funny peacock story...on 4th of July this year, we were leaving a friends house who lives off of country roads, and all of a sudden out of nowhere a peacock goes running across the road. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it lived on a farm nearby because you never hear about wild peacocks running around.

Wow, that is odd!

[KMB733]

More great pictures from the zoo! Great update!!

[disney_duke]

I still find it strange that that park didn't open their services until so late in the day! At least you guys got a great meal for your patience though. The evening sounded nice and relaxing with family and friends. Nice!

[mommapants]

The zoo did sound very nice and so did the dinner. Glad everyone made it home safely as you said Geoff makes sure no one leave sober.

[lazanya]

All caught up! What a great time you had on your trip so far! I love all your pictures. Spain is just beautiful! One of the countries I'd love to visit!

[sc507]

All caught up - hope your having a good weekend away! Sounds like you had a fun night and that pink fizz stuff sounds delicious!

[chezp]

Sunday 12 September: I can’t believe that guy just did that!

As often befits a Sunday, we had a very lazy day, although we were all up early, by around 8am. As Dave said, “what’s wrong with everyone? It’s meant to be a day of rest...!”

It took us a while to get breakfast going, as there was a debate about whether or not we needed to go shopping first. Just when we thought the debate had been solved and it had been agreed that we didn’t need to, the next thing we knew was that Dave and Pete had disappeared off to the shops! There was Barb, asking what they wanted and they’d gone.

We sat outside and ate breakfast and, by then, it was already hot. It was so hot that, by 10.30am, I decided I’d hit the pool there and then and get my swimming for the day done. I managed to go up and down 20 times, which was what I was aiming for. I’d done really well, as I’d started at just 12 times up and down when we first got to the villa.

When I got out of the pool, I sat in the sun for a while, before the heat drove me undercover to join everyone else who was sitting in the shade.

The morning went by very quickly and, before we knew it, it was midday and Geoff was arriving for pre-lunch drinks, with Dave and Barb reciprocating for last night’s hospitality, with snacks and drinks on offer. None of the “pink fizz” mind, but it’s on my shopping list to get some to take home with us...

Again, the time rolled by quickly, as we sat there, ate and drank and chatted and, before we knew it, someone (Peter... ) mentioned that it was almost 1pm and we’d be late for our booking at the carvery. I was quickly learning that his stomach has a very accurate time clock on it.

We set off for Monroe’s Carvery, which was a few minutes down the road, with Geoff and Dave driving, as our car was sadly buried behind both of them. I must admit I had been sceptical about this place previously and had kindly refused offers to go there, having not heard great reports from Mark’s non-meat eating sister, who’d had a vegetarian lasagne there and not been overly impressed. Obviously, times have moved on and they now have a fish option, which today was breaded cod.



We parked up and headed in, specifying a table outside in the shade. It turned out to be a great spot, with a view over the local countryside.



However, all the day’s entertainment took place in the car park underneath us, which was absolutely packed. Within about 20 minutes of us arriving there, there were no spaces to be seen and it was very entertaining to watch everyone drive in and then have to reverse out in disappointment. The funniest incident was when a car left. There was a huge, old Mercedes, which had been driving around the car park. We’d already established, from watching the way he drove it, that he really wasn’t the most confident driver going. He saw the car going and pulled past the space, which was his mistake, ready to reverse it.

I’m sure you can see what happened next. It was near the entrance and, sure enough, a car came in and drove forwards straight into the space that the Mercedes had been waiting for. We couldn’t believe the nerve of the guy and the Mercedes driver was not about to let it lie. We thought we were going to witness a punch-up, but instead we witnessed a torrent of German abuse. I don’t speak very good German and I’m not familiar with German swear words, but I suspect there were one or two in that torrent! The guy who’d nicked the space just ignored him and, cool as a cucumber, entered the restaurant, leaving the fuming German behind. He’d had enough and drove off in disgust and part of me couldn’t blame him. :

So, the food... we had a wait before everyone else could go up to the carvery, as they were waiting for my fish to be done. When we went up, mine was waiting on the bar, so I went to the front of the line and then picked the vegetables I wanted to go with it. They certainly had a good selection here, with peas, carrots, cauliflower, sprouts, ratatouille, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. As the fish I was served with was pretty big, I had a job to fit it all the plate. The whole thing was superb, except disappointingly the Yorkshire puddings, which were very fatty. A real shame, as I’d left them until last.

Our meal also included a dessert and they had a nice choice. Mark went for the bannoffee pie, while I had the chocolate nut sundae and both were very good, from the noises Mark made I guessed he was enjoying his, anyway...

We sat there for ages, just chatting and watching the world go by. There weren’t many more incidents in the car park, although there was a guy in the car park inspecting Dave’s car in great detail, which was odd.



It was reasonably cool out of the direct sun, as it was another baking day, but the only annoyance outside was the elderly lady who had three cigars while we were there. Each time, we got the lovely stench from it!

Finally, we paid up, with the bill coming to €11 ($14.30) each, which was really good value and we headed back to the villa.

Geoff stayed for a cup of coffee and we all sat outside, talking. The rest of the afternoon was more of the same, with me sunbathing for short periods of time, as it was just so hot out there, then either retreating back into the shade or dunking my feet in the pool. During this time, I finally finished the autobiography that I’d started reading when we’d arrived of the comedienne Dawn French, which had been a very good read. She’s certainly led an interesting life and one that makes mine pale into insignificance.

Fortunately, as the day drew on, it started to get a bit cooler and thoughts started to turn to dinner. Oddly enough, it was Peter who first mentioned that subject... We had a salad, with some cheese, bread and Allioli (garlic mayonnaise, a speciality in Spain), followed by the rest of the pricey fresh pineapple we’d bought a couple of days earlier.

There was a lovely sunset....



... and then we were able to persuade Dave to put on the various lights around the pool and uplights for the surrounding palm trees. Despite the fact that this was our third trip out here, we’d never seen these lit up before. : There was much muttering from Dave about electric bills, but in the end, we were able to enjoy them for half an hour or so – no mean feat, trust me!



We probably sat out there until about 9pm, at which point it became a little too cold for me to be out. I also didn’t want to be fodder for any mosquitos that were in the vicinity, as I know how much they like me. We heard some thunder in the distance, but no sign of rain, but perhaps tomorrow would bring cooler weather as a result. Only time would tell....

Today we drove 0 miles.
The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the high 80s.
The best thing today was being able to sit outside so late in the evening, enjoying the weather and good company.
The worst thing today was how hot it was.
Today we tried going to Monroe’s Carvery
And the result was it was very good value and pretty good food.
The most magical moment today was seeing the pool and surrounding area all lit up.

Next: oh great, what’s that buzzing noise?

[KMB733]

Another great update! The pool looks lovely with the lights all around it!

[Kenny]

You certainly ate well. The Carvery sounds pretty good, especially the price seemed very reasonable. I like the pool and trees lit up.

[sc507]

What a nice relaxing day! We don't often read about you and Mark relaxing on your vacations!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by sc507

What a nice relaxing day! We don't often read about you and Mark relaxing on your vacations!

: Make the most of it, as it doesn't happen very often!

[DawnK]

What a super day you had. Nice and relaxing!!!! I just love Dawn French..I should probably take a look at that book. My favorite program is the Vicar of Dibley.

[Lumieregirl]

Glad you enjoyed the carvery more than you'd hoped.
I think I speak for all your faithful readers here when I say perhaps you should treat us all to a round of pink fizz

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like a great day!