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

[disney_duke]

The landscape is beautiful - I agree that it reminds me of the American West/Southwest. You sure did some big shopping! And the villa looks very nice, especially that pool. Hope the first night goes well.....

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Kenny

The villa looks beautiful!
Yeah, well, it wouldn't have been so expensive of a shop... if you take away the boo... ah... alc... ah, beverages... ( oh, perish the thought!)
jk jk jk!!!

Your words were well chosen there - perish the thought indeed!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Now that was my kind of shopping trip!! I lost track - was the final count 17 bottles (or boxes, as it were)?

Something like that...

[mommapants]

The Villa looks awesome. What a long drive you have had - glad you made it safely and are now enjoying some relaxation.

[taylan1]

At least you are well stocked, you can't go wrong with that! The villa is beautiful, can't wait for more pictures.

[sc507]

That is my kind of shopping trip!!
The villa looks great!

[chezp]

Thursday 9 September – part one: one’s not a bad score...

Well, the good news this morning was that I woke up this morning and could only see one bite on the top of my leg, so that wasn’t a bad score. I guess either the insect repellent wipes worked or Mark managed to kill the thing. We’d learnt our lesson. We wouldn’t be leaving the window in our room open again. :

We had a very leisurely start to the day and it was beautiful outside, already warm, but a lot cooler than yesterday, thank goodness. I decided that we’d have breakfast on the terrace by the pool, as it was so lovely out and it was wonderful out there. If only we could do this every day.


Where we ate our breakfast!

I also got some photos, especially of the beautiful flowers outside, but also of the room we were staying in, as it was different to previous occasions. Having been in it a day, it perhaps wasn’t as tidy as I’d like.



Eventually, we got going, but by then I decided that our initial plans to head to Terra Natura, a zoo in Benidorm should be changed. I figured we might be a bit late to get the best out of the place, so instead I suggested that we should go to Cuevas de Canalobre. This was about an hour’s drive away, between Benidorm and Alicante and I didn’t know what to expect, except that various guidebooks recommended them.


One of the roads in the area where the villa’s located

Only in Spain would you see something like this – talk about “manana, manana”....

What a beautiful bush!

Isn’t this a stunning view? I would love to have a view like this!

All shots in the local area, before we reached the motorway

Getting near Benidorm

It was quite a drive to get there, which I’d figured from the map, as it showed the caves being right at the end of a road. We zigged and zagged our way there, getting some lovely views on the way.


More oranges undercover

They really do roundabouts well here!

Although we didn’t know it at the time, the building in this photo was where we were heading for


[b]Next: exploring the splendour of the caves

[Colexis Mom]

Beautiful pictures!

[honeybee723]

It definitely does have a western look to it. What a great way to enjoy your breakfast!

[Kenny]

Yes, it would be nice to step out on the terrace to this view every morning.

[scrappyjae]

Great views! I hear you about the lived-in look of the room. We tend to make a mess of every room that we stay in.

[KMB733]

Beautiful pictures!!

[sc507]

That definitely was a stunning view - I could live with looking at that everyday!

[chezp]

Thursday 9 September – part two: exploring the splendour of the caves

We parked up and wandered around for a little while, just taking in all the views beneath. It was located in a superb position, with some amazing views over a huge distance. We could see Alicante further along the coast, about 25 miles south.


Another cave high above us

The entrance to Cuevas de Canalobre

We then wandered down to get some tickets and I suspect this is where we went wrong, as the doors to the caves were open when we arrived. Mark asked if it was a self-guided tour, but when we went to get our tickets, it became clear that it wasn’t. We were told that the next tour was at 1pm and it was now just past 12.30pm, so we would have a bit of a wait. Well, we’d come all this way, I wasn’t going to leave without seeing it : so we paid our €5 ($6.50) each and then wandered back to sit down and take in the view.

We had fun people watching a group, some of whom appeared to be Spanish and some who were speaking English. It later turned out, as two of them were in our group, that it was a father and daughter from Calgary in Canada, who had taken a month out to visit old friends in Europe. He was saying that, when they left their home about a week earlier, they’d already been scrapping the ice off the roof of the buildings.

We didn’t sit there long, as we were soon plagued by wasps, so we went back and sat in the car for a while, before exploring the small shops that they had here. At least I was able to buy some postcards, after having forgotten to get any in Madrid, along with a couple of fridge magnets.

By the time we were done, the doors were once again open and in we went. Bearing in mind how few cars there were outside, we were stunned by how many people were on our tour. There must have been about 30 of us, the vast majority Spanish speakers, although there were about 7 or 8 English speakers in our group, so at least we got both languages as we toured the caves.

You go down a long corridor, with some interpretation panels, explaining about the caves. Then you get to the really corny section, where you have your photo taken in front of a curtain with the caves on them. I figured it wouldn’t come out great and it didn’t, so we didn’t buy it. Why they don’t do it in the actual caves, I do not know, as that’s probably a photo I would buy.

Then you head through the doors into the caves and instantly your jaw hits the floor. I’ll do my best to describe the scene, as we secretly grabbed a couple of photos, as you’re not supposed to take photos in here (sssh.... ). Our guide told us that the cave was 70 metres high and you enter on to a platform that’s been put in for visitors. I guess you must be at least 50 metres high here.

In front of you are numerous stalactites and stalagmites, some of them literally 12 feet or more tall. We were told that it takes 100 years for one of these to grow a centimetre (about a third of an inch), which gives you an idea of how many years these have taken to form. Of course, you can make shapes out of just about anything and it’s no exception here. The name of the caves, Canalobre, comes from the most famous shape in here, as Canalobre is Spanish for candelabra and that’s the shape that you can see. You can also make out other things, such as the Virgin Mary and child, a dragon’s head and a Roman soldier’s hat – seriously!

During our tour, which lasted probably about 50 minutes, we descended to the bottom of the caves, going down about 120 steps. It was only from there that you could see the full splendour of the place. It really is huge. As we made our way down, we saw more stalactites and stalagmites, which this time looked like a wedding cake. The temperature in here stays at a constant 18 degrees (64 Fahrenheit) year round, both in the summer and in the winter and I have to say it was a very pleasant respite from the heat outside.

Eventually, we had to do the worst bit of the tour and that was the going back up the 127 steps. Trust me, I counted them and that’s what I got to, not the 141 our guide claimed that there were...

Back on the original entry platform, we were given the chance to go up and see how these caves were first found in the eighth century by the Arabs. It was about 20 steps up to the upper platform, but then a whole heap more up to the natural opening. Forget that, too much work for me! I was more interested in going up to the upper platform, as I wanted to be able to actually touch some of the rock. I know it sounds stupid, but because it was such a bizarre shape, I wanted to see if it was actually rock or not. I can confirm that it was, but it was still strange, in that they’d grown in such a weird way.

While we were up there and everyone else went up to see the natural opening, we realised that our guide was nowhere to be seen, so very naughtily, we did manage to get a couple of sneaky photos of the place, so that we could show you how magnificent it was.



With that, our tour was over. I thought it had been very comprehensive for the money and it had certainly been a lot longer than I’d expected. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world, even if it had been quite a drive to get here and even if we’d had quite a wait for it.

Next: where on earth can we park?

[sc507]

That cave was gorgeous! What an interesting tour. Why no pictures though? I can understand in museums, etc. that they don't want things ruined due to flashes, but I'm not sure why they wouldn't let you here?