A week in Alicante

Saturday 16^th to 23^rd February A week in Alicante

Due to the kindness of Mike’s neighbours we were able to invite Millie out for half term, brought out by Louise and Chris.  It is not possible to describe how excited we were to see them as we met them at the airport on the evening of the 16^th.  After lots of hugs we loaded everyone up in the van and set off for Oleander – the villa lent to us by Beryl and Jeff.  The villa was great for us all as it had three bedrooms with the upstairs one being accessed from outside steps.  This meant that Chris and Lou had a little more privacy.  There was a lovely patio area where we spent a lot of time reading or listening to music and a shared swimming pool, which we admired but did not enter.  Another couple of months of sunshine and I am sure it would be great.

We had a very relaxing week and did not move from the Villa apart from to go to a couple of local beaches to play games; the sea being too cold to enter although we did contemplate it. The weather was kind to us and most days it was sunny and about 20-22C although there was often a chilly breeze.   

On the first day of their visit we travelled a short way down the coast to the far side of Guardamar del Segura.  We had been advised of a large market here and it was.  There were cars queuing all along the road to enter and the large car park was very full but we managed to find a place for the van.  The market was varied, with many stalls selling cheap clothes, handbags and other leather goods and various other bits and pieces but there was  also a large produce section.  Here Lou and Chris bought a large bag of strawberries and I bought a whole load of veg for 2 euros (enough for the week) and some bread. I also bought more oranges as I thought it would be nice to make some Sangria whilst Chris and Lou were with us.  It would be a change from the fresh lemon squash I had also made.

Tuesday it rained and Mike wanted to sort out the van which had developed a noise from what we thought was in the rear suspension. It had been getting worse so needed looking at.  We had our Fiat dealership book but addresses and phone numbers were out of date. A couple of times we drove somewhere to find the garage no longer existed and even seeking the help of someone from the tourist information got us nowhere.  After clocking up quite a few kilometres and a great deal of frustration we found a dealership in Alicante but they were closed for lunch. (Spanish siesta time can be very inconvenient).  We sat our guests in the van to watch James and the Giant Peach (one of the few DVDs we had with us) and waited for the place to reopen. I tried to cobble together some Spanish phrases to describe our problem as the garage had told us there was no one who could speak English. However, there was a successful end to our frustrating day as the garage reopened, agreed to check the problem immediately and then resolved it by fitting some new bushes and filling some joints with a lot of grease.  It cost 49 Euros. To make up for the lack of entertainment during the day we decided to go to a Bodega in La Marina.  This was a very Spanish bar (genuine Spanish and not full of tourists) .  The wine was all stored in barrels on the back wall and you were given a glass to fill directly from the barrel. It was up to you to count how many you had.  This bar also had a very good tapas selection .  We chose 10 or so dishes including paella, rabbit, chicken, aubergine, artichoke, mussels, potatoes and chorizo, tortilla and meatballs.  It was excellent and to cap off the evening we filled a large water container with our favourite wine to take home.

Wednesday and Thursday were similar days in that in the mornings we read in the sunshine.  I read three Chris Stewart books during the week: Driving over Lemons is perhaps the most famous of them. These books are all written about Chris’s life in Alpujarras so it was really interesting to read them having visited this area only a few days ago.  I could relate so much more to them knowing what the scenery and conditions were like.  They were very easy to read and quite amusing in parts but I still think he chose quite a difficult lifestyle for himself and family.

After lunch we then headed off to play games with Millie on the beach. We played boules, French cricket and other ball games and then came back had supper and played card games in the evening.  Millie can be rather demanding on the games front but we all enjoyed them.  As Thursday was their last evening we walked round to a local bar which was a Germanic style.  Lou and I had a dark wheat beer, whilst the men had a Bavarian brew and Millie had coke.  It was rather odd being in a German bar is Spain but we had a good time and so did Mille because we played Zilch here!

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye on Friday morning and Mike was especially sad to have to say goodbye to Millie.  We had all had such a lovely time together and it was going to be some months before we saw each other again. Thank you again Beryl and Jeff for letting this happen.