Monday, October 8, 2007

Denia 4th October 2007

During the night we had a lot of wind (really thought that the washing would be dry this morning) as well as some rain. Woke up this morning but the washing wasn’t dry so left it on the balcony as it looked like it was going to be a windy sort of day.

We set the alarm and then left home at about 7.30 for our drive down to Alicante (about 100kms south of here) to the markets and to see the city. We took the toll road (gosh and there are a lot of them in Spain and some of them not too cheap either !!) down there (6.30 euros). The drive down was good - at times we were doing 140kph and we were still being overtaken by cars doing at least 160 or 170kph. (Reminded me of our drives between Jo’burg and Durban) - actually even the road reminded me of those trips as the toll road by-passes all the little towns along the way. We landed up coming back on the ‘old road’ through all the little towns which are the same ones we have been driving around this week on our site seeing trips. There is one little place (Els Poblets) close to where we are where they have a traffic light in town - one light is at the one side of town and the other light is at the other side of town because the road is only 1 car width wide so all the cars go in one direction, then the light changes and all the cars go in the other direction !!!!!

Anyway, when we left this morning it was still a bit dark so we couldn’t see what the weather was going to do. As we drove along, we were driving into the sun for a while - then we turned and were driving with the sun behind us and it looked really black in front of us. We drove through the San Juan tunnel (1.84kms long - I know this because it was written on the side of the tunnel not because I have a wealth of useless information in my head !!) and when we came out the other side it had started to rain. Kaitlin wanted to go back to the other side of the tunnel so that we weren’t in the rain for the day but we carried on to Alicante. We got there and after a few wrong turns (you often have to go to the right of the roundabout in order to be able to turn left as the roundabouts have roads running through the middle of them) we found the Information Centre where we got a local map and she marked where the markets were. By this time it was raining rather steadily so we drove in the direction of the markets to see if they were even on - they were. After finding a parking we put our rain jackets on and then stood under the shelter as it was starting to come down a little harder - then decided that we would give it a go and see what they had. We crossed the roads - heaps of water everywhere and managed to get to the roads which were closed for the market only to see that everyone had backed their vans in and were packing up. So, braved the rivers back to the car - killing ourselves laughing. The parking cost us 45c. Talked about what we were going to do as by now it was really coming down quite hard - then decided that there wasn’t much point as we couldn’t really see anything and had gotten quite wet in the little foray we had into the rain already. Headed the car towards home only to find that, having taken just on an hour to get down there, it took us just over 2 hrs to get home. The rain was some of the worst that we (or should that be Al) has ever had to drive in - it was just dreadful. The worst is that the windscreen wipers didn’t even manage to keep up with the rain when they were on their fastest. At one stage we considered pulling over but there really is nowhere to pull over into - was going to do that at the servo but there were no servos - usually we pass one about every 5kms - today there were none !!!!! Anyway, we finally made it home in one piece - about 6 hrs after we left having not really seen much except the scenery on the way down and sheeting rain on the way home.

It was amazing to watch the rain - when we came to a break in the trees or protection from the left the rain was being blown almost horizontally across the road and the wind was really gusty and dreadful to drive in. I am so glad that Al has done all the driving on this holiday - I really don’t think I would have liked to drive around here. The roads are all narrow and windy, the parking places are tiny and it is really difficult to turn into roads from the narrow roads as you don’t really have enough room to turn without going onto the other side of the road - not that anyone here worries about doing that - they all just drive and you have to give way to them otherwise they take you out !!!!! He truly has done a great job - especially today in the dreadful weather we had. Actually, it is the first day that we have had yucky weather - we had one overcast and slightly drizzly day in Barcelona - but today is the worst weather day we have had.

We got home and came in as Kaitlin wanted to put on some warm clothes - she was cold more so from the aircon in the car which we needed to keep the windscreen clear than because it was cold. Came into only to find that some of the washing had been blown off and was saturated as the rain had puddled on the balcony !!!! Bugger !!!! The other washing wasn’t dry but at least it was drier than it had been this morning so we moved it into the laundry area and hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and dry it all nicely before we leave on Saturday as there are no washing facilities in the resort at the next resort.

Then it was back into the car and off to Gandia to the Carrefour to get some food for dinner - lasagne with fresh bread !!!! Am sure it is going to be delicious when we eat just now. Kaitlin and Alan have been playing rummy - she gets so excited when she wins a game (which doesn’t happen very often !!!) and turns around to me with a big “W” she has made with her fingers on her forehead !! She isn’t as happy when she loses and I show her a big “L” on my forehead !!!!! She has provided us with so many laughs this holiday - there are times when my tummy has been sore from laughing at her antics or things she has said.

We aren’t sure what we are going to do tomorrow - it will all depend on the weather. I doubt we will be driving down to Alicante again - the city had it’s chance to have us visit and didn’t take it so that will be her loss !!!!!!!! Actually, we had a look at the list of Interesting Places to Visit on the back of the map and just couldn’t face any more cathedrals / mosques / museums or any similar buildings so not sure that we actually missed out on much. The rain has stopped for now so hopefully it will be a lovely day tomorrow and we can be out and about on our travels again - otherwise, I am down to the last of the 7 books we brought over with us - tried to find some English books in the Carrefour today but no such luck - think we will have to try to find an actual bookstore if we want some English books. If not, will just have to find some other way to amuse myself on the plane and at the airports on our way home !!!!!!

I have been looking for some Estee Lauder perfume - when we came through Duty Free I bought some Youth Dew which I haven’t been able to get in Australia - and the lady gave me a few sample of a new Youth Dew called Amber Nude. Unfortunately I didn’t smell it when she gave it to me otherwise I may have bought a bottle - or at least found out the price - but since I have used it - I have been trying to get some. The problem is the price !!!! I have been using the price of the normal Youth Dew as a guide and the shops have all been more expensive than Duty Free (which isn’t always the case) so now think I am going to have to wait until we get into Duty Free again and then see if I can get myself a bottle - would be great if you could get it in Australia but I doubt that you can seeing as you can’t get the original Youth Dew there.

Am off to play some cards and then have some dinner.

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