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Once upon a time, well... 6 months ago, Alex worked with a couple of rather marvellous self proclaimed ‘web witches’! These fountains of all web knowledge said a blog should be updated regularly to be relevant and interesting. Oh dear! We’re falling behind with ours. About 7 weeks behind in fact. But you’ll be pleased to know we’re on the case and should be right up to date in a few days time.
So what happened 7 weeks ago? Well we spent a good week travelling backwards and forwards along the stretch of coast between La Marina and Benidorm so we could see all the sights.
One of our jaunts inland was to the 16th century castle village of Guadalest, perched on a hill top in the mountains an hour from Benidorm. You enter through a tunnel carved out of the rock and look out over a brilliant turquoise-blue reservoir. Having spent a couple of hours wandering around we thought we’d drive around the reservoir and find a nice spot for lunch. Unfortunately the narrow road that wound its way around the reservoir provided no scenic lunch spots. It just ended in the middle of a tiny village square, and a rather embarrassing 27-point turn was needed to get us out again!
On the journey back to the coast we stopped for a while at the Fonts de Algar, which were used as a location in the ITV comedy series, Benidorm. It’s a series of waterfalls and pools where you can swim, relax and escape the heat and craziness of the nearby coast. It’s a lovely spot and the dog was happy as she was allowed in to cool off too.
At this point we headed back down the coast to Alicante for a great night out on the town. One of the bars we visited had a picture of Princess Diana above the bar which lit up, to our great amusement! Needless to say, this classy venue played a lot of trashy Euro-disco (and Spagna - remember her?!). We were parked right next to the beach, 5 minutes from the town centre. So at the end of a great night we sat on Alicante beach watching the sun come up with a couple of brandies – heaven! Waking up at 11am with horrendous hangovers... in a furnace... parked next to a packed beach - well, that was quite the opposite! Alicante really surprised us and, much like Faro in Portugal, was not the nightmare tourist beach resort we were expecting.
Having recovered from Alicante hangover hell, we took a journey south to meet up with June and Granville, David’s aunt and uncle. They have a house near Los Montesinos and it was great to see some friendly faces and catch up on all the news. We had a lovely meal out at a favourite local restaurant (that did a great Tiramisu!) and sat chatting for hours.
Having travelled north again, we stopped at the resort town of Calpe, just around the coast from Benidorm. The coast forms a point here that ends in a rocky outcrop called the Peñon de Ifach. The rock has been declared a nature reserve to keep the developers away, and you can follow a slippery footpath through a tunnel and up the side to the top. It was a good walk... apart from the ‘killer’ seagulls!! The Peñon is the main nesting ground of the local seagull population and in the spring they can get quite aggressive defending their young from predators. We spent quite a bit of the walk being swooped by birds, ducking for cover, and shrieking like middle-aged women!
A couple of days later we stopped at the ancient town of Xativa, halfway between Benidorm and Valencia. This beautiful town has a lot of history and an unspoilt Spanish feel. We arrived on market day and spent a couple of hours wandering around the stalls that are spread through the town’s streets and squares. We’d highly recommend Xativa to anyone holidaying on the Costa Blanca.
Now, there are two very different things on sale at the roadside in Spain – namely oranges and sex! We bought neither! But we couldn’t help noticing the orange vendors (that is, people selling oranges), and the scantily clad ladies sat right at the roadside. Both looked a little wizened and past their best!
Back in 1998 David lived for six months in the beautiful city of Valencia (above Burger King) as part of his degree in European Studies. We spent a few days in and around the city, and wild camped in the business district! As strange as this might sound, it was brilliant! The area was deserted as we visited over a weekend, and we were just 10 minutes from the city centre. So we had another good night on the town – although Princess Diana didn’t put in an appearance!
The city was preparing for the European Grand Prix when we visited. A street circuit was being prepared close to the harbour - the stands were going up and you could make out the starting grid on the road. It’s a strange experience to drive around a formula one track in a campervan!
Valencia suffered terrible flooding back in 1953 and as a result the river Turia was diverted away from the city. The riverbed, which curls around the city centre, has been turned into a fantastic urban park complete with cycle tracks, sports pitches, fountains, adventure playground, concert hall, zoo, and an amazing science park. It’s a fantastic place and we really enjoyed cycling around it for a couple of hours.
A lot of Spain’s coast is backed by mountains and beautiful scenery. We’ve been surprised at how green and fresh it looks as much of this side of the country is little more than desert over the summer months. We witnessed a forest fire raging up a hillside near the town of Aguilas, and helicopters ferrying huge buckets of water to douse the flames- a scary sight
The approach to the medieval fortress town of Morella is stunning. The road winds its way through the hills until the town appears, huddled around a steep hillside and crowned by its castle. Sadly there’s little left of the castle and what remains is little more than rubble. A few rooms have been restored but they’re currently empty – a missed opportunity to explain some of the site’s history. But the views from the courtyard at the top are fantastic, looking out across the hills and down to the town with its little bull ring and substantial defensive walls.
There’s a good motorhome aire at Morella with impressive views of the town and its surroundings. We gave the van a much needed wash here, ignoring the sign telling us we’d be punished by the Mayor if we did!
The mountain of Montserrat sits about an hour inland of Barcelona. The mountain is beautiful and looks quite unusual – sharp fingers of rock pointing skywards like sharp teeth. We found an excellent place to camp here that will almost certainly be amongst our favourites of the whole trip. Have a look at the ‘Where We’ve Been’ map if you want to see exactly where this is.
Montserrat is famous for its monastery and the small black statue that lead to its creation. Saint Peter is said to have hidden ‘La Moreneta’, a carving of the Virgin by Saint Luke, in a mountain cave here 50 years after the birth of Christ. Legend surrounds the sculpture and the area is now a major pilgrimage and tourist centre. The statue sits high above the church altar and a long line of people were waiting to stand before it for a few moments when we visited.
Montserrat is on our highly recommended list as it’s a really magical place with a lot to see, aside from the monastery. The ruins of 13 hermitages lie in the surrounding hills, linked by miles of good footpath; there are two funicular railways, a cable car and a tram! We didn’t know it at the time but we’d be back – due to St Joan and some rather big bangs...
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