Holiday in Spain
What a lovely time we had!! Sun, sun and more sun!!
Ok where shall I start?? I know! The airport!! Well we arrived very early in the morning as we were booked on the first flight of the day!! Everyone was tired still but very excited!!
James was a bit nervous on the flight and it was difficult to keep him distracted, so we were all relieved when we landed in Alicante. Mum and dad met us and we were all keen to get to the villa to settle in. When we arrived we just rummaged for our swimming cossies and left the unpacking until later. First port of call was the pool!!
We had planned a relaxing holiday as we had had our share of stress over the year with moving etc, and we didn’t get a holiday last year. The weather was wonderful and being up in the mounhtains you often had a nice breeze. Occasionally it was quite windy, but it didn’t put us off enjoying the pool and the Jacuzzi.
David celebrated his 40th birthday while we were on holiday and a good time was had by all. We went to the Viva Espania restraunt where they had Flamenco Dancers, who were excellent, and they served a very big meal!! David was sung to by the whole restraunt in three different languages and they brought him a nice cake.
From the restraunt we went onto a Fiesta by the Moores and Christians. The costumes were amazing and even little children took part. We were all too tired after our long day and decided not to stay for the fireworks at the end of the procession.
We relaxed most of the time by the pool side reading and doing those sometimes frustrating sudoku puzzles. I did get quite quick with the easy ones so mum moved me on to the medium ones which are a bit more challenging until you get used to them. The kids played in the pool quite a lot and Tiff helped James gain much more confidence in the water. James learned to swim which we are all so very proud of!! He was amazing once he got going and it’s all thanks to dedicated time from daddy and grandad and Tiff’s perseverance with getting him to play fun games in the water. Well done all!!
Oh dear!! Guess what David did? Well one night we were playing the card game Uno, which we often did if we were spending the evening in, and David just started threatening to throw dad in the pool! Well he got up and pushed the chair the dad was sitting in right to the edge of the pool, and we all watched in awe as to why dad let him push him all that way without attempting to get out of the chair!! Suddenly he jumped up, but as he did so he jumped the wrong way and David pushed him fully clothed into the pool!! We three females looked at each other and didn’t know whether to laugh or not!! we just couldn’t contain ourselves as we watched him swim to the steps and climb out!! David was in hysterics, which made it all the more difficult for us not to laugh!! But as dad is such a good sport, he laughed too!! We couldn’t stop and our sides were aching and we all had tears streaming down our faces. Thank goodness we were able to dry the contents of his wallet out and his watch was ok too!! But what a laugh!! I don’t think any of us have ever laughed so much!! Of course Tiff had her usual fully clothed dips in the pool too courtesy of David! 
By the way dad did get his revenge on David with Tiff’s help and that was fun to watch too! 
We went to the market a couple of times. Us girls love that sort of thing, but of course the men are not so keen, including James!! We went to the Pasta house for a meal which was yummy! We also went to our favourite Chinese restraunt which has now moved to Gata. They serve the most yummy spicy pork dish which is one of my favourites!! Everyone enjoys going there and the owners have got to know all of the visitors from our family. We were lucky enough to see the Gata fiesta fireworks just as we had finished our meal, so we all piled outside to watch. They were fantastic!!
We visited some lovely places on our travels. We went up into the mountains to visit the Arc Animal Sanctuary. They have many animals that have been rescued from travelling circuses. They have nursed them back to health and are taking very good care of them. It was a lovely place to visit and we all enjoyed it very much. On the same day we had lunch at the waterfalls. It is lovely there and very popular. David, James and I explored the falls as he had not been there since he was a baby so didn’t remember any of it. We had to climb a fence to get back to the others because where we used to walk had been fenced off and we didn’t want to walk all the way back again. Very naughty I know!!
We also tried the local Paella at a nice little restraunt in the mouintains. We had tried some before on one of our previous visits and didn’t really like it much. Here though it was much tastier. I am still not truly convinced that I like it much, but can say I did eat what I had. There was a very lively atmosphere when two guitarists played amazingly and everyone applauded and staff and customers joined in with dancing. Another good day had by all!!
We went to the Rib House, which we had never visited before. Well what can I say about that except YUMMY!!! This is now ranked my number 2 favourite place to eat!! Nothing like getting your fingers dirty when eating the most tasty ribs ever!!! We all know David hates bones so he had a steak which did look rather tasty too. We were naughty again as we knew James wouldn’t eat them so grandma sneaked in some home cooked sausages which we slipped on to his plate when we had all been served our meals. NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!!
After the Rib house we decided to wander around the little market which was just down the road. Tiff found a stall that she loved on the day market and we bought her a nice little ring that she wanted. As we walked we saw a crowd of people gathered. A young man was using spray paint to make the most fantastic art work. It was amazing to watch and we had never seen anything like it!! James was fascinated and we did buy one of his pictures for James to have in his bedroom. He was so quick and all he used was news paper, plant pot bases and a ruler. Most were planet scenes, but I can tell you how brilliant they were!!
On from this, grandad wanted to treat the kids to the funfair which is permanently in the car park. They had lots of fun!! As did grandad and I!! Tiff managed to persuade grandad to go on a ride with her, which didn’t take much persuading may I add!! We stood below laughing as they were spun backwards and forwards and up and down. It seemed to last for ages but when they got off you could see they really enjoyed it. All I can say is it’s a good job our meal had been eaten some time before hand!!
We decided to try and get to the beach at the end of the ravine that we can see from the villa. We drove part of the way and had to walk the rest. Or should I say climb?? It was great fun and hard work!! It was quite tricky at times so it was a good job mum stayed behind at home. James showed no fear at all and was jumping from rock to rock but was holding grandads hand firmly. We got to the beach after about half an hour. It was all rocky and there were plenty of people around in the water with their boats. There were even a couple of dwellings there. We explored a bit and had a good drink before making our way back up the ravine. It was actually easier climbing up that it was down. We didn’t realize how far away it was but we all had a brilliant time.
There is a lovely view to be seen from the terrace. It is so peaceful and tranquil.
We had a lovely holiday and didn’t want to come home. You can see how relaxed we were from the next pictures. Thank you mum and dad for your wonderful hospitality and a special Thank you to dad for all of the driving you did to take us to all your favourite places which we thoroughly enjoyed.
