Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain COMPLETE 11/10 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by goofysdtr

Cheryl, your dessert looks so good!

I was thinking how much Mark looked like his DM, too!

I will definitely pass that on to him!

[chezp]

Wednesday 14 October – part one: why do they like me so much?

I woke up to the joyous news this morning of some lovely new insect bits, a massive one on my right heel, one on my left wrist and a very small one on my right elbow. Sigh. Looks like something had a field day with me overnight. I wasn’t the only one, with even Mark boasting new bites and he never gets bitten, so I guess at least it’s not only me this time.

Today we had decided to go wine tasting. It’s something we’d talked about, ever since I’d discovered that there was a wine growing area fairly nearby and today was the day to go out sampling, so we had a late start.

Our first stop was heading into Moraira, where Mark got some more money out and I posted my postcards. I know Dave and Barb were desperately trying to be helpful, telling us to go to this place, as they sort everything out for you, but my goodness, you pay for the service. I came out of there €12 poorer (about $17.85) for sending seven postcards, two to the UK and the rest to America. I know, when I bought stamps the last time I was out here last year, it cost me about half that amount.

We drove first through the pretty village of Teulada, which is just how you imagine Spain to be.



We headed out into the Jalon valley, which is well known for its wine growing. On the way, we went along some pretty twisting roads and that really did get to me, as I was in the back of the car and can sometimes really suffer in the back from car sickness. Sadly, today was one of those days.

When we got to our first stop, for the honey shop, I was barely able to walk, but my goodness, that honey shop did me the world of good. The smell in there was just heavenly and they had every type of honey known to mankind.



We ended up leaving with one jar each of traditional honey, orange honey, chocolate honey and almond honey. To give you an idea, you could also get honey in eucalyptus, rosemary, cream and lemon. As I say, there was every type of honey imaginable and it was a truly delightful shop.

We put our purchases back into the car and headed off to a nearby bodega or wine seller. Sadly, in here, there were no samples going begging, which was the main purpose of our visit obviously, but it was a beautiful place, set in what seemed to be an old barn. And as for the caskets they had in there. Wow!



I opted for the front seat of the car on the next part of our journey to another bodega and I’m glad I did, as there were a few more twisty roads ahead of us! We parked up and first went to look at the view over a bridge nearby. It doesn’t look, from these photos, like there had been much rain, but we knew from Dave and Barb that there had been massive downpours only a few weeks earlier that had turned roads into rivers. Almost impossible to believe now.


I thought this growth on a tree was fascinating!

I love the shot of our shadows in this one

Next: this is how wine tasting should be!

[Disneybine]

Manuel would have loved that honey shop! Great pictures again, Cheryl And yes, that last shot with your shadows in it is lovely!

[Colexis Mom]

More great pictures! Looks like a fun time!

[KMB733]

I never knew there were so many types of honey! And the growth on that tree looks almost like a clam. Can't wait to here about the wine tasting!

[Minnie Lor]

Gorgeous photos. Nice relaxing trip!

[pamcarey]

Very nice pictures! I would love to try some chocolate honey... that sounds yummy!!

[Hugmonster]

Great shots. Interested in hearing more on the wine tasting.

[goofysdtr]

Did you think of a silly ol' bear while you were in the honey shop?

[duck addict]

You two are a cute couple!

[MGW]

Wow! I had a lot to catch up on! Thanks for all the updates.

Sorry, I thought you'd said the airport in London was undergoing renovations, thought that was for the 2012 Olympics.

I was going to comment on the cheap food you had the first couple of days, but it seems to be getting more expensive as the trip goes on.

The beaches don't seem to have much sand area on them, but they are very pretty!

The garden was beautiful, and such wonderful pictures you took!

And Mark and his mom have the same shaped face, that is what really stood out to me.

Can't wait for more!

[sc507]

I can see that I am already well behind reading this report - I'll catch up soon!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by goofysdtr

Did you think of a silly ol' bear while you were in the honey shop?

Odd that... it did cross my mind!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by MGW

Wow! I had a lot to catch up on! Thanks for all the updates.

Sorry, I thought you'd said the airport in London was undergoing renovations, thought that was for the 2012 Olympics.

I was going to comment on the cheap food you had the first couple of days, but it seems to be getting more expensive as the trip goes on.

The beaches don't seem to have much sand area on them, but they are very pretty!

The garden was beautiful, and such wonderful pictures you took!

And Mark and his mom have the same shaped face, that is what really stood out to me.

Can't wait for more!

I'm with you for the airport - I honestly don't know if that's why they're making the improvements. It could well be....

The food's only getting more expensive, because we chose to go to a more expensive place. Dave loves bargains, and as a result, we know Barb doesn't get to try out the nicer restaurants very often, so we wanted to treat her with a nice meal out. Don't worry - we'll be returning to bargain basement shortly.

[chezp]

Wednesday 14 October – part two: this is how wine tasting should be!

From there, it was across the road to the botega and this is how it’s meant to be. Wine tasting samples laid out on giant caskets right in front of you as you walked in. The first one we tried was a white that was exceptionally dry, but the next casket held much better delights, with sweet red and white wines, although I came to the conclusion that, while both were nice in the first sip, if I drank too much of either, they’d probably leave me feeling a bit sick, as they were a little too sweet. No such problems with the sweet wine with raisins. Oh my goodness, this was good stuff!


The raisin wine!

Getting a top up!

Cheers!

A bit of negotiation then followed, as the smallest available bottle was two litres, and there was no way that was going to fit in the suitcase with us for the flight home. The only option for it to come back with us would be in the car with Dave and Barb in November. Fortunately, the negotiations worked out and a bottle was duly purchased. Honestly, to see the five litre bottles of wine was quite something, they looked more like cooking oil than wine!


Emerging with our purchases!

Feeling very happy now – and much better than earlier now that I was tanked up with a few free wine samples – it was back to the car and off towards the coastal town of Javia. On the way there, we passed through a tiny village in the Jalon valley, called Llibre, which was very tiny, as you can see from these photos. In fact, it’s so small, there are traffic lights at each end to ensure that traffic only ever travels in one direction and you never have to meet anyone going the other way.


Yes, that is a horse and cart!

By the way, in the shot with the delivery lorry and the lorry trying to get past it, if you can see an arm to the left of the lorry, then you’re right. There is a person standing in the tiny pavement there. Talk about taking your life in your own hands when you live here!

From there, we headed to Gata de Gorgos or fat cats, much better name in my opinion, where we proceeded to get lost, ending up at one end of the village, by the village school and having to turn around. Fortunately, we had the trusty sat nav in the car, although it did take about five minutes to warm up, before it was able to safely negotiate us out of the village.



We headed for Javia, with my front seat position giving me some excellent photo taking opportunities. Mark did comment that’s why I wanted to be in the front seat and heck, it was very useful for that!


An interesting piece of art on a roundabout

Next: a very entertaining evening out!