Life has been a bit hectic (although possibly a bit dull for the reader) since the last blog as not only have we had two sets of visitors but we have also been doing a bit more ‘worky’ work than usual….. Serious stuff.

Richard (who also came out to us in Seville and Perugia) arrived on the 31st January and the weather was especially kind, enabling him to stun the Spanish natives with his pasty white legs…. Not sure he was doing his part for international relations!

As the break was more to catch up and relax we didn’t venture too far afield, but we did introduce Richard to Alicante, San Juan Pueblo and our local bar as well as taking full advantage of the good weather and eating outside all three days – two of which in the form of Bar-B-Q’s at the Motorhome. Picking up from when he left us last time, we even managed to squeeze in some card games … although Richard has obviously been practising on the sly as somehow he was on a winning streak….. best get practising for his next visit 🙂

With only a few days respite, my parents came out, arriving on the 6th February just in time to celebrate my mum’s birthday on the 7th 🙂

Between Richard leaving and my parents arriving the weather had started to change, although still warm, the wind was definitely getting up a bit more. We were a little nervous when at 6am on Sunday morning (the 7th) Keith and I woke to torrential rain and the Motorhome being blown from side to side….. somehow my parents slept through it (although to be fair they were in a hotel) so it was only when they walked down to the seafront to admire the views they were a little curious as to why the ground was slightly wet!

The sun shone all day – although it was a little windy – and to celebrate my mum’s birthday we went to a lovely beach front restaurant called ‘Azul Playa’ where we ate copious amounts of delicious food and waddled back along the seafront so my dad could take advantage of a proper Spanish siesta 🙂

Although my parents have been to this part of Spain before they can’t remember coming to Alicante, so we took them in to show them around the market and an obligatory visit to Corte Ingles, then the following day up the coast to ‘Villa Joyosa’.

We hadn’t been to Villa Joyosa before but had heard that it was pretty and that it was known for its multi-coloured houses and chocolate….. what more could you ask for?

We had a good walk along the seafront to the port fighting a little against the wind and then were rewarded after lunch with probably the best Churros and Chocolate I have tasted. It was a risk as my mum had high expectations of the Churros and specific requirements that she needed to be able to stand a spoon up in the chocolate, but Valor (who have their Chocolate factory in Villa Joyosa) came through and despite a 15 minute wait as they had just changed the oil and needed to heat it to cook fresh Churros, I don’t think that we could knock it!

Thankfully my parents left when they did as later that afternoon we were walking along the seafront and the heavens opened on us ….. although they left a beautiful rainbow (in fact it was a double rainbow) as the rain disappeared out to sea….