Another Great Time With Friends!
Wednesday 7th June saw us once again travelling the motorway to Alicante airport. This time to meet our dear friends of 50+ years, Pam and Bob, who were coming on their 2nd visit this year, this time to spend 17 days. So what did we do while they were here?
The First 4 Days we spent just relaxing, doing the market thing and having some nice meals out.
On Sunday 11th at 7.30am in the morning we boarded a coach in Moraira that was to take us to Granada. We were the 3rd pick up point and we started our travels by stopping in Calpe, Altea, Albir, Benidorm and Campello before all parties were present. On route we passed Lorca and Guadix, two places of historical interest and the amazing ‘cave houses’ which are dwellings made by digging out the rock, many were 100’s of years old but others quite modern day. There was even a cave hotel! As we travelled further south I fully expected to encounter dry and barren lands as I thought it to be much hotter in the south than our region of the Costa Blanca. I was amazed though at how green and fertile it was and how much cultivation and agriculture there was. We were told that this was possible because they had more rain there than we had in the Costa Blanca – unbelievable!
Granada – We arrived mid afternoon at our hotel which was not actually in the town of Granada but situated beside the famous Genaralife Gardens and the Nazaries Palace of the Alhambra. The hotel, service and food for our one night stay was excellent.
Following a buffet dinner a group of us boarded a clapped out coach that was to take us to see a traditional Granadian gypsy flamenco show. This was held in a tiny place which was like being in someone’s front room. The dancing was fantastic even though the wine was as rough as rough can ever be! Isn’t it always so at these places!
The following morning it was an early start as a large group of us assembled in the hotel reception to commence our tour of the Alhambra. After an 800 metre down hill trek we joined an official guide who took us through a very in depth tour and talk on the palace. Without a doubt the palace was beautiful but there was so much of it, all empty rooms and very similar, that we would question why we needed 2 hours of this! At about that time my feet and legs were about to give up (and I was not the only sufferer) we moved on the fantastic gardens which were well worth seeing too but by then we were exhausted! It is so long since we went on organised trips that we had forgotten just how daunting they can be so we will go back again one day and do it all at our leisure and own pace. This is the palace and a very small sample of the gardens!
3 hours after joining the guide we parted company to make an uphill trek back to the hotel just in time for lunch before departing the hotel and boarding the coach which was to take us to our next port of call 1 and a 1/2 hours south to Malaga/Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol.
Another excellent hotel awaited us situated between Malaga and Torremolinos. Again the rooms, service and food were very good and this one had the bonus of evening entertainment, albeit self made by two young hard working entertainment staff and the guests themselves. It was good fun though and enhanced our 2 night stay. After all the exertions of the day we were quite happy to relax in the hotel for the evening and have not such an early night to bed!
Gibraltar – Early next morning, we were up, breakfasted and on the coach again by 8.30 to drive to Gibraltar. We arrived there at about 10am and then had to queue with other vehicles to get through the border! Having run the gauntlet of first having the Spanish authorities on the coach to examine passports we drove to the ‘other side’ and went through it all again with the British authorities!
This was our first sight on British soil!
As he was still standing like that 6 hours later when we were leaving British soil I assume it is not a real man but a model!
Oh, what a delight Gibraltar was. It was like stepping back in time in dear old London. There were the red phone boxes, even vandalised just like in England, the old post boxes and the helpful bobbie on the beat!
The shopping area comprised of lots of small shops, restaurants and bars. A duty free area, there were lots of jewellers, perfumeries and tabacconists. Peter bought me a very nice sapphire and diamond ring, which they made larger while we waited. Pam’s claim to fame was to buy cigarettes to take back for relatives for just £9 for 200 (and we thought they were cheap in Spain). There were also the shops we knew and loved – M&S, BHS, etc. I even managed to find time to buy some tops in M&S.
We could have gone by cable car up to the top of the rock but we opted to go by mini cab. Sadly the weather was not good so we did not have the pleasure of the fantastic views right across to Africa and because of the bad weather the big cruise ships due to dock that day had not done so! Never mind, another time! The view was still good though.
On the way up the rock we stopped and went for a meander through St Michael’s Cave. It was fantastically beautiful and so big. The centre was set up as a permanent concert arena and I would have loved to have been there at a concert as the acoustics must have been wonderful.
We then proceeded up to very top where the apes reside. Immediately you arrive they are all over the car and trying to get in. A couple in our cab were eating ice creams and did those apes want them. In the end they opened the door a fraction and passed them out so that the apes would let us get out of the vehicle. They had a lot of young and some just new borns. They were obviously protective of their young and I found them a bit scary, especially when one jumped off a wall right onto my back. Did I scream or what!!!!
After a really fab day out we returned to our hotel in time for a wash and brush up, another nice dinner, another very pleasant evening with new found friends and another late night!
Now we had a big disappointment! We had expected to leave our hotel at 2.30pm to start our journey home and had planned to take the local train after breakfast into Torremolinos to do a bit of exploring. Not to be – we had to leave at 10.30am to drive back to Granada to lunch in our original hotel, swap people over between coaches before re-boarding coaches in Granada at 2.30pm for the journey back to the Costa Blanca! What a waste of our, the customers, time especially as the 2 coaches drove in convoy for the first 2 hour leg of the journey then stopping together for a break! Could not the change over have taken place there? Another lesson remembered and re-learnt about organised tours!
But despite the niggly moans all in all it was a good trip!
We arrived back in Moraira at 9pm, a very tired group who partook of a light supper and eagerly went to bed, this time truly having an early night!
The Remaining 9 Days – Needless to say that after the hectic 4 day mini-break, all four of us were very content to laze around and do very little for the rest of Pam and Bob’s visit. We had lots of lovely meals out, went to the market (again) played some mini golf and generally sloffed! Oh, we did do the Valencia trip by car, train and tour bus that we had done with June and Pam and Bob really enjoyed it. In fact we enjoyed it 2nd time around more.
So last Friday, we saw Pam and Bob off again to the UK and started the round of cleaning, washing, ironing, gardening and general chores in readiness for the next visitors. Thankfully that’s not for another 3 weeks so we have a bit of respite. We are really looking forward to seeing son David, daughter-in-law Alison and Grandchildren Tiff and James.
