So Here's Our Vacation Blog...

Ready?  Set?  Let’s GO!  Walking to the car this morning some of the vendors at the market were setting up.  Remember me mentioning the big paella pan?  Here it is...

And then I commented that I’d include a photo of the silk exchange building.  Here’s that one, except the building which is so huge I had to splice the top onto it (crudely, as I don’t have my good Corel PhotoPaint software with me).  This truly is one gorgeous building.

Off to Los Alcazares, which is just south of Alicante and north of Murcia.  We couldn’t believe that there are so many castle remnants all over, just sitting there, littering the road.

Or that everywhere you looked there were unusual thousand foot tall rock formations jutting out of the ground.

We noticed the influence left by the Moors when the road signs had Islamic titles under the Spanish names.  We’d heard about the centuries old churches that used to be mosques, but didn’t think that influence would be reflected in more contemporary buildings.  Do you think this one was originally a mosque, or was the architect confused?

As we drove along, we still saw huge numbers of orange groves on terraces, interspersed with olive groves, and then all of a sudden the terrain turned to rocky dry red clay and thought it looked rather barren, at least until we rounded a corner and saw a coastline that rivaled the Cote d’Azur.  It was absolutely stunning, and we had never heard of this area before, but evidently Altea is a huge tourist destination.

I think the regulars have a lot of money, because the small boats marina in the bottom of the picture were fifty footers.

Marge humored me and let me stop at a place called ItalClassics, which restores old Italian cars.  I read about them on one of my websites and had to stop.  Glad I did, because I spotted an Alfa Romeo I never knew existed.  I won’t bore you with the photo.  Right next door, though, was my dream come true.  Remember the Mehari I described in Cadaques?  Well, turns out there’s a place called the ‘Mehari Club,’ which I think is Spanish for junk yard.  They had every kind of small Citroen possible in every disassembled state: 2CVs (Deaux Chevauxs), Dyannes, and lots of Meharis.  I was in heaven!  For five minutes.

So we finally hit Los Alcazares and instantly got real, real worried. The streets were empty, covered in dirt, and many of the cars had a thick layer of dust on them.  Were we in some sort of Outer Limits episode?  Where was everybody, why was this place so dirty, and how far was it to the next hotel?!

Turns out two weeks ago there was a massive storm in southeast Spain that we didn’t hear about because we were dining on the beach in Biarritz.  The resulting floods were so severe that a half dozen people lost their lives, including two who were trapped in a flash flood in a tunnel we just drove through!  We looked up video of the disaster and saw cars washed out to sea, and Los Alcazares was ground zero.  While most of it was cleaned up there are some major repairs needed, like this washed-out road next to the boardwalk.

Luckily, our hotel was cleaned and ready to go (Whew!).  They had two feet of water coming in the front door, though the lobby, and out the back door to the sea, but spent three days scrubbing the place down and getting back to business.  Because these places are all stone, there’s no permanent damage like there is to wood studs and drywall.  So Marge was happy.

Our room is the second floor overlooking the Mediterranean.  The boardwalk was a beautiful place for a stroll,

and to stop for a visit to their famous monument to the historic fishermen of the village.

Not sure if I ever saw mermaids riding seahorses before, but they looked good!  Then I spotted a Renault 4 station wagon in perfect condition and had to stop to shoot some photos.  While I was sitting on the sidewalk trying to get the right angle for a nice shot a man came over and asked if I liked the car.  “I LOVE IT!” I exclaimed, at which point he introduced me to the car’s owner, Fernando, who spoke zero English.  He spent ten minutes telling me how much he loved his car, how proud he was of it, how he always kept it in the garage, how it always started the first time, and how it’s never let him down.  Now if you’re wondering how I got all that from a guy who spoke no English you don’t know cars.  We communicate in sign language and noises!

Finally went back to the hotel, which, by the way, is an absolutely magnificent place with a two story terrace in the center of the rectangular building, lush foliage all around the second story balcony, and a canopy like an astrodome that they pull over the open center during the day to reduce the heat, but open in the afternoon and let the birds go crazy in the vines!  I'll post photos tomorrow after we’ve eaten breakfast there.  We dined on the seaside terrace, which was very elegant, with long tables set for large groups of people driving in from all over because this is the best restaurant around.

Now the reason for this next photo is not because the sole with champagne sauce was delicious, but because on top of my potatoes were carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower!  These were the first vegetables we’ve had since we’ve been in Europe, except for a few peas in Lisbon.  Excellent!

After dinner we had an extra treat, a Flamenco show!  There was no cover, they just had three excellent dancers there for a couple hours because that’s what they do.  They were very skillful, and thin (all that stomping will do it to you).  Believe it or not, we watched the show, had a glass of wine and two beers, and the bill was $5.40.  This on top of the beautiful room with a sea view and cool breeze that I’m now enjoying, which was a whole $83.00.  Lots to love about this place.

So Marge is having fun relaxing...

and now it’s time for bed.  Buenas Noches!