Vernon and Celia in Spain

Trip to Cuenca and Albarracin

Vernon — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:54:29 +0000

This week we took a 4-day trip, our first holiday since arriving in Spain almost 3 years ago, to the historic towns of Cuenca in the Castilla-La Mancha province and Albarracin in nearby Aragon province.

Cuenca is high up (956m) in the mountainous area of Serrania and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s origins date back to the time of the Moors, when a settlement was first established on a rocky outcrop surrounded by steep ravines and the churches, cathedral and many of the houses in the old town date back to the 12th century. As the town grew, its inhabitants found ingenious ways to make use of the limited space available within the fortified town and so built many storeys up and in some cases out over the edge to maximise the use of the land.

Our hotel was in an old convent and there are still several convents in use in the town. One of our most memorable moments was creeping quietly into the back of one of the many old churches we came across in the town and finding dozens of white-robed nuns knelt in prayer at their evening mass.

After 2 nights in Cuenca, we travelled across the most stunning scenery we’ve seen since arriving here, stopping at the Ciudad Encantada (”enchanted garden”) – an area of limestone rocks, eroded over millions of years into strange shapes.

Albarracin is also located high up (1172m) on a rocky outcrop formed by the meander of a river and is also classified by UNESCO as an artistic monument of world interest. We found it to be the most perfectly preserved example of a medieval town you could ever wish to visit, with narrow little streets of overhanging houses, surrounded by superb fortifications. Our hotel this time was in the 16th century “house of the brigadier’s wife.” We wandered around the narrow old streets, many only wide enough for a donkey, amazed at the age of all the houses and how the original timbers have survived. The next morning we climbed high above town onto the walls of the castle for the most stunning views of our trip.

Truly a trip to remember!

See more photographs in the gallery or watch a slideshow set to music on Youtube.

Sunrise

Vernon — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:41:48 +0000

The hours we keep in Spain are a lot more erratic than when we lived in the UK, for the simple reason that we no longer have to get up at a fixed time to go to work. Once a week, for example, we go to our local bar to listen to live music – outside in the courtyard during the summer of course – which doesn’t finish until after midnight and when we go out to dinner with friends, it is just as likely to be a weekday evening and we won’t get home until the early hours. We’ve been wanting for some time, however, to watch the sunrise from the top of the mountains and this week we finally got round to setting the alarm early enough – 0500!

We drove up through the deserted streets of the villages in the Vall de Leguart, up beyond Benimaurell to a point – over 700m above sea level – that commands a view of the whole of our valley, down to the coast and out to sea. We saw a wild boar and a fox, having almost run over an owl sitting in the road very close to our villa. The temperatures during the day at the moment are over 35C and it is very humid. As a result, when it began to get light, we could see the mist lying in the valley and out at sea, there was a thin layer of low cloud. It was therefore nearly 0645 before the first spot of the red disc of the sun began to peep through the cloud and it was then over in a matter of minutes.

The experience was wonderful and we hope the photos below do it justice. On our way back down, the baker had just opened his shop in the village of Campell, so we stopped and bought a crusty loaf that had just come out of the oven. It was still warm when we got home and we sat on our terrace with a large pot of tea and some jam, and enjoyed breakfast like never before.

Birthday outings

Vernon — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:39:57 +0000

Last week was Celia’s birthday and she wanted to see the latest show at the Benidorm Palace. Although we went 2 years ago (have we really been in Spain that long?) and were prepared not to be quite so impressed this time, we were completely wrong.

The dinner was excellent, especially the steak, and we had a ‘ringside table’ again. The show, with new dance routines and new acts, was even more spectacular than last time and having now taken part in 2 pantos, we were able to admire the actual staging of the show, the lighting, the number of dancers involved (25-30 on stage at any one time) and the slick set changing. A thoroughly entertaining evening and a show that has more in common with Las Vegas than Benidorm!

On Saturday 5th, we had a day out with friends and visited the Valor chocolate factory in Villajoyosa – chocolate being Celia’s second favourite indulgence after wine! After the tour of the chocolate museum, watching a video explaining the history of this family-run business and an explanation of the chocolate-making process, we were given a brief look at part of the factory and ushered into the shop, where plates of delicious chocolate were laid out for us to sample. Of course, we had to buy some chocolate to take home and had brought a cool bag in anticipation. We walked around the back streets of Villajoyosa, which is a quite a poor town and not yet as developed as its neighbour Benidorm and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea.

On the way home, we stopped in the town of Altea, which we had previously only driven through. We wandered up through the streets of the old town to the wonderful old church on top of the hill, where we looked out across the bay and back towards Benidorm in the distance. Mass had just finished at the church as we sat in the main square enjoying a beer and we saw the old Spanish ladies of the town returning home down the steep streets. A lovely old town which has not been spoiled, despite the tourists who flock to the hotels along the beach there.

Iris Garden

Vernon — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:44:38 +0000

We paid our second visit of the year to the Iris Garden at Marnes, nestled under the Sierra Bernia Mtns. near Benissa, and this time the flowers were out in full bloom. The colours were stunning and the scents from both the irises and roses were wonderful.

The garden was created by an English couple as a hobby and is now a business that involves creating new hybrids and selling irises throughout the world. As Christine Lomer says, “Marnes is our little bit of paradise on earth and we invite you to come and enjoy the panorama of the mountain landscape, the peaceful gardens and the iris blooming season.”

Valencia ‘fallas’

Vernon — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:09:43 +0000

On 17th March, we visited Valencia with our friends Ingrid and Colin to see the annual fallas celebrations.

Las Fallas is undoubtedly one of the most unique and crazy festivals in Spain. What started as a feast day for St. Joseph (Dia del Padre), the patron saint of carpenters, has evolved into a 5-day celebration involving fire.

Las Fallas literally means “the fires” in Valenciano and the focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots – huge paper-machè and plaster statues. They are extremely lifelike and usually depict bawdy, satirical scenes and current events. A popular theme is poking fun at corrupt politicians and Spanish celebrities. The ninots are crafted by neighbourhood organizations and take almost the entire year to construct. Many are several storeys tall and need to be moved into their final location at over 350 key intersections and parks around the city with the aid of cranes. The ninots remain in place until March 19th, the day known as La Cremá (the burning) when all of the ninots are set on fire at midnight.

Another important part of the celebrations are the parades of festeros, who are part of the neighbourhood organisations who have built the fallas, bringing to the cathedral flowers, which are used to create a huge effigy of the Virgin Mary. Thousands of people of all ages take part in these parades, all dressed in their beautiful fiesta costumes and carrying bunches of red, white or pink carnations. See all the photos of the day in the gallery.

The celebrations generate national interest and there were numerous TV cameras filming the proceedings, a live broadcast into the midday news on Spanish TV from the cathedral square and 2 helicopters circling the square outside the city hall as the mascleta (’fire crackers’) went off at 2pm. The processions bring the centre of Valencia to a halt and the streets were thronged with thousands of Spanish people. Every bar and restaurant was full to the brim and there were hundreds of stalls which had set up in the streets to sell cheap mementoes, churros and other fast food and drinks.

Almond blossom time

Vernon — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:48:42 +0000

A little later than usual this year, the almond trees in the Jalon valley are finally out in full blossom. The valley is covered in a magnificent carpet of pink and white as far as the eye can see, contrasting with the green of the olive trees and the black of the vines, which have yet to start budding after having been pruned hard in the autumn. We drove through the valley today, marvelling at the depth of colour and the fullness of the blossom, yet to be blown away by the high winds we’ve been experiencing recently.

We drove on to Calp and walked around the huge Ifach rock and sat outside a cafe and enjoyed lunch in the sun.

Walking in the mountains

Vernon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:02:09 +0000

View from El Mirabo - 700m

Today we went walking in the mountains near Benichembla at the top end of the Jalon valley. The instructions for the walk were not very clear and we missed a turning within the first 5 mins.

Having re-traced our steps, we were then chased by a dog guarding an old cattle shed and Celia was nipped on the leg. We then took another wrong path and after a further 15 mins. decided to give up (we noticed later that the walk was compiled in 1995 and it did say some of the landmarks may have changed!)

As we didn’t fancy going back past the fierce dog, we cut through some orchards where we came across evidence of a lot of recent wild boar activity – it would just have been our luck to be attacked by one of them as well! We eventually found our way back to Benichembla and retired to a bar for a well-earned beer.

El Tossalet viewed from far side of Valle de Almadich

Determined not to waste the day completely, we drove up into what we dubbed some time ago our ’secret valley’ and traced the far end of the walk. After a picnic lunch at 500m, we climbed to a ridge where Celia stopped to rest, whilst Vernon scaled the peak we had been aiming for, El Mirabo (700m). The view from the top was breathtaking, well worth the climb, and he could see right down to the coast and, if the weather had been clear enough, out to Ibiza. Close to where we had parked the car was a ruined finca dating back to Moorish times and on the way back down the mountain, a weasel ran across the road in front of us.

F1 GP practice at Cheste

Vernon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:41:14 +0000

This week the F1 GP teams came to the Cheste circuit near Valencia to try out their new cars and give their drivers a chance for some practice before the start of the new season. We joined a partisan crowd of 30,000 on the last day to watch Alonso setting the fastest lap time, Schumacher familiarising himself with the Mercedes and Button driving for McClaren for the first time. The Williams, Sauber and Renault teams were also out on the track in the winter sunshine.

It was an exciting day – our first experience of seeing F1 cars ‘live’ – and the speed with which they took the bend at the end of the pit straight was awesome. You can read the official story of the day on the F1 web site.

Renault leads up to turn 2

Alonso sets best time of the day

Side by side coming up to turn 2

Jensen Button in the McClaren-Mercedes

Panto time

Vernon — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:18:14 +0000

Panto Programme

We have just taken part in this year’s pantomime staged by the Careline Theatre Group entitled “Beauty and the Beast”. Celia and I were members of the chorus – singing, dancing and being part of ‘crowd scenes’. Celia also took part in several tap dancing numbers, fulfilling the dream she had when she started taking lessons just over a year ago, and the Charleston, in which she looked very fetching in her ‘flapper’ costume. We also took part in an extremely well-choreographed version of “Dance the Night Away”.

There were 7 performances at the Alcalali Theatre between the 13th – 17th January. Saturday and Sunday were particularly gruelling, with matinees at 3pm, as well as the evening performances at 8pm.

The show was very professional, with wonderful costumes, great music and dances and special effects. The audience reaction was incredible and the feedback from many of the regulars was that it was the best panto that Careline has staged to date. The reviews of the panto in the local newspapers were also, without exception, very enthusiastic and flattering. Read more below:

Round Town News

Euro Weekly News – p38

The Post – p5

You can watch a video of Celia dancing the Charleston by clicking here and see more photos in the General gallery.

Winter comes to the Orba valley

Vernon — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:32:33 +0000

This winter we have seen for the first time snow on the mountain tops around us. This was the scene that greeted us on the morning of the 8th January, when the UK was experiencing its worst snowfalls for many years.