Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain COMPLETE 11/10 About This Page:

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Monday 12 October – part two: reason to celebrate!

From there, we drove into Calpe, not sure if we’d find somewhere to park or not, as it was a fiesta day and everyone was sure to be out celebrating. We headed for the fishing port, as we were thinking of taking a boat trip out and lucked out with the parking, finding a spot really nearby. Just as we got out of the car, a guy in a uniform approached us, looking at our English number plate on the car and told us “two Euros”. Well, we had our doubts, although in fairness, we did see him later taking money off some Spanish in the car park later, so maybe he was legit. Anyway, it wasn’t worth the argument, so we just paid up.

We headed over to the boat tours and found one had finished for the season, which was the one I was interested in, so that was a shame. There was another one, a glass bottomed boat that did 40 minute trips out to Penyal d’Ifach, the huge rock that overlooks Calpe, but there did seem to be a lot of people heading for the 1pm sailing, so we decided to get some food instead, but only after a few photos, most of them based around the Penyal d’Ifach!





We headed to one of the nearby cafes and got a cheese baguette for me and bacon sandwiches, of differing kinds, for everyone else. The bill for that plus soft drinks and a couple of beers? €22 (about $33), which was more than we’d paid for dinner at the Chinese the other night. That really brought it home to us, just how cheap that place was.

As we sat there eating, we all commented on how hot it was and how sticky and we came to the conclusion that we’d abandon the boat ride idea and just head back to the villa instead. It was certainly exceptionally hot for mid October.

Once we finished up eating, we wandered along the front, as I’d earlier seen an heladeria, or ice cream shop and I felt that a visit to it was a must to cool my core temperature down. There, we were served by a girl who turned out to be from the north east of England. She came out here seven years ago with her parents and hasn’t looked back. The funny thing was the more we spoke to her, the more her thick British accent came out. I went with a coconut ice cream and very nice and cooling it was too.

We drove back to the villa, stopping at a supermarket on the way. Considering today was a national holiday and everything we had read inferred that the country would pretty much grind to a halt, we were amazed at just how much was open today. Certainly, we hadn’t been expecting to see supermarkets open. : I never cease to be amazed at how big the fruit and vegetables are here. The plums were about the size of tennis balls and the melons were like basketballs. We got a few bits and pieces, including a few postcards for me to write up later, and headed for home.

The afternoon was mainly spent inside the villa, a) because it was too darned hot outside and b) because some idiot somewhere down the road was burning what we thought was vegetation and was stinking the area out. It smelt disgusting. What a lovely way to spend a national holiday!

I’d also been keeping an eye on my trusty work BlackBerry, not because I wanted to stay in touch with work, because I didn’t, but because the results of my diploma assignment that I’d completed in the summer, while I’d been really ill, were due out and I was delighted when those arrived. I’d got a distinction! I had to celebrate, of course, with a quick hazelnut liquor!

Eventually, the stench outside lifted enough for us to sit outside for a couple of hours, then we went out for a drive, so that we could get some photos of the area. Oh my goodness, it’s only when you get up high that you can see how beautiful this part of Spain. How wonderful that they safeguarded this area and you’re not allowed to build the appalling high-rise buildings that you see elsewhere in places such as Benidorm or Calpe. This is what you imagine Spain to really be like…
















It also gave us an idea of how big the area is, much bigger than I’d thought, although in fairness, a lot of the places do seem to run into one another along the coastline. Photo session done, we headed back to the villa.

We had sea bass for dinner, unbelievably cooked from frozen. It tasted so good, I’d never have known it was frozen, had I not been told. Along with that was French bread stick, potatoes and salad, followed by fresh melon. What a superb dinner! And you should see the size of the spring onions that went into the salad.... amazing!



Unfortunately, even before we finished eating, I was really starting to go downhill. I don’t know if it was swimming in the sea earlier in the day or how hot it had been all day, but I was so tired by 7.30pm, it wasn’t true. Somehow, I managed to stay up until 9pm, but then I gave in and crashed, knowing that tomorrow would be an early start, as we were off to the market at Altea, just further down the coast, that we’d enjoyed so much last year.

The weather today was in the mid 90s, really hot and sunny.
The best thing today was swimming in the Mediterranean.
The worst thing today was that it was just too hot to do much.
Today we tried swimming in the Mediterranean.
And the result was it was a lot of fun.
The most magical moment today was getting the news I’d got a distinction for my assignment.

Next: can you spot the palm tree?