Today was to be another road trip. As advised earlier in the week by the local tourist office we headed north up the coast to Moraira then took a left turn to Valencia. It was a little bit more complicated than that if I'm honest but luckily, the Tom-Tom came into its own and navigated us to Valencia easily. The Tom-Tom took us through several small towns where it looked like time had stood still since 1972!! Old style ironmongers shops and people wearing simon shirts..... remember those???? The odd building had been demolished.......... usually it was a building which stood attached to two other buildings. But hey it's ok, they seemed to use this disgusting rust coloured compound which they generously painted onto the exposed walls. Not sure if it was to prevent damp or.......whether they simply had bad taste in paint colour!!! But this rust paint was all over the place. Must have been a cheap batch of 400 gallons dumped locally somewhere and they thought........ hey, that would do for.......
Parking in Valencia though, that wasn't so easy. [parking is never easy for Andrew BOOMBOOM] Ended up in a strange little underground car park behind a "El Corte Ingles" (a department store chain in Spain) then we headed off for a wee walk around the shopping district.
Found a great little kitchen shop in one of the side streets and Ange got a new clock and coffee maker for the kitchen. After a little bit more walking we ended up back in El Corte Ingles where we had a coffee in their 6th floor cafe - the view from the window is below. Amber also got her new winter boots, what with leather being cheaper over there.
By now it was closing in on 7pm and as we had a 2 hour drive back to the villa we started heading back to the car park. En route though, we passed a lovely little pastry shop, it was calling our name and we were forced to go in and buy loads of pastries and the like. It was an old fashioned store, like something from a scene from the film Chocolat. You picked out what you wanted and they were placed in a small tray with a lace doily on it then wrapped and ribboned for you to take home. They didn't last too long. You can make out the shop in the background below.
Made it back to the car park and this was the landmark building just outside the entrance.
The driving through the town was awful. A combination of rush hour traffic and just to keep you on your toes the roads seemed to lose a lane every now and again. And it was always our lane!!! Not for the faint hearted. Soon we left the townscape behind and thereafter a slightly quicker journey home using the motorway it was a quick tea and off to bed.
For those of you with a curious disposition, ask Ange about her "tent".
Andrew wrote the last line. OK OK ......... my tent. Now there is one thing I cannot stand about holidays in hot sunny places. MOSQUITOES!!! Hate them, loathe them, cannot stand them. It was a night time ritual to apply the BOOTS mosquito repellent. Now add to that, the bed in our room was tiny, just short of a double bed. So if you were like me, prone to randomly flapping at the air in the middle of the night at alleged mosquitoes......... it's not a pleasant night sleep. Amber had also not settled well and had woken several times during the night since we got there. So a good nights sleep was in order and I had therefore packed Andrew up to one of the redundant numerous spare bedrooms in the villa for some peace.
Still with me??? Right........ the tent.
In the absence of a mosquito net I cleverly devised a homemade version using the bedposts and a bed sheet. So there I was alone in my room tying up the corners of the sheets onto the bedposts when Andrew came clambering down stairs wondering what the banging noise was on the walls..............ie me tying up the sheets!!!! I didn't hear him approach so he quietly poked his head round the door and saw me.......... well.......... saw me doing something weird with the sheets!!!! Naturally it was obvious to me what I was doing but I admit to an outsider looking in it must have been a rather weird sight!!
And then my tent was created!!! Great thing too!!! Just tucked myself under it and no mosquito could get into my safe haven now.
Parking in Valencia though, that wasn't so easy. [parking is never easy for Andrew BOOMBOOM] Ended up in a strange little underground car park behind a "El Corte Ingles" (a department store chain in Spain) then we headed off for a wee walk around the shopping district.
Found a great little kitchen shop in one of the side streets and Ange got a new clock and coffee maker for the kitchen. After a little bit more walking we ended up back in El Corte Ingles where we had a coffee in their 6th floor cafe - the view from the window is below. Amber also got her new winter boots, what with leather being cheaper over there.
By now it was closing in on 7pm and as we had a 2 hour drive back to the villa we started heading back to the car park. En route though, we passed a lovely little pastry shop, it was calling our name and we were forced to go in and buy loads of pastries and the like. It was an old fashioned store, like something from a scene from the film Chocolat. You picked out what you wanted and they were placed in a small tray with a lace doily on it then wrapped and ribboned for you to take home. They didn't last too long. You can make out the shop in the background below.
Made it back to the car park and this was the landmark building just outside the entrance.
The driving through the town was awful. A combination of rush hour traffic and just to keep you on your toes the roads seemed to lose a lane every now and again. And it was always our lane!!! Not for the faint hearted. Soon we left the townscape behind and thereafter a slightly quicker journey home using the motorway it was a quick tea and off to bed.
For those of you with a curious disposition, ask Ange about her "tent".
Andrew wrote the last line. OK OK ......... my tent. Now there is one thing I cannot stand about holidays in hot sunny places. MOSQUITOES!!! Hate them, loathe them, cannot stand them. It was a night time ritual to apply the BOOTS mosquito repellent. Now add to that, the bed in our room was tiny, just short of a double bed. So if you were like me, prone to randomly flapping at the air in the middle of the night at alleged mosquitoes......... it's not a pleasant night sleep. Amber had also not settled well and had woken several times during the night since we got there. So a good nights sleep was in order and I had therefore packed Andrew up to one of the redundant numerous spare bedrooms in the villa for some peace.
Still with me??? Right........ the tent.
In the absence of a mosquito net I cleverly devised a homemade version using the bedposts and a bed sheet. So there I was alone in my room tying up the corners of the sheets onto the bedposts when Andrew came clambering down stairs wondering what the banging noise was on the walls..............ie me tying up the sheets!!!! I didn't hear him approach so he quietly poked his head round the door and saw me.......... well.......... saw me doing something weird with the sheets!!!! Naturally it was obvious to me what I was doing but I admit to an outsider looking in it must have been a rather weird sight!!
And then my tent was created!!! Great thing too!!! Just tucked myself under it and no mosquito could get into my safe haven now.
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