Beach, sun, and not much else...

Lately I've been trying to do a day by day précis of our trip, but for this leg of the trip, it really doesn't matter - every day was pretty much the same. Heck, we even lost track of the days!! This is for the 17th (travelling into Calpe) to the 23rd (travelling to Barcelona). Calpe is a bit bigger than we expected (thinking it was a "small fishing village") but it was still not nearly as large as the resort about 45 minutes up the coast called Benidorm. The sun was great, weather was awesome, beach was lovely, and everyone was very welcoming - and the food was so cheap! We ate out so often, since it was usually cheaper (and we were treated, or treating those that had treated us previously). Many people we met were British (through my relative Ken, who's studio apartment we were staying in), and retired, so it was a bit surreal. Can you believe we didn't meet a single Spanish fisherman??

On the Sunday (what was that... the 20th?) we went up into the mountains to this little village called Guadalest, that spills out around a castle that was originally built by the Moors. It is situated on a mountain top in the middle of a valley that is created by the meeting of three different mountain ranges - simply stunning scenery, and you can see the Mediterranean from the castle walls. Wikipedia has some nice info, but you have to see it to believe it!! The day before we left (um... the 22nd?) we went into Altea, which is a town just next to Calpe, to see the old church which has some seriously Moorish influenced architecture, and to eat at this fantastic Italian restaurant - everything was so quaint and romantic!

Now we're back on the road, much chagrined to lose the beach, but in some ways glad to be moving again. Both of us have come down with a bit of a cold, so while we got to Barcelona last night (after another fun filled transportation adventure courtesy of the Spanish rail system - we left Calpe at 9am, and didn't get into Barcelona until after 8pm), we've only thus far done a walking tour. But it's a nice city! Through the coughing and sniffling and wheezing and complaining...

Love you all, and we're STILL seeking some place that will let us plug in our camera so we can show some of our super fun pictures we've been collecting! What might really happen is a full web album once the trip is over (crappy way to do it if you ask me). Still, you can look up some of the places we've been to and sights we've seen on the Internet - the pictures you'll find might be pretty much the same as ours. Just pretend we're in them!!

Tomorrow we waltz around the city checking out all the Gaudi stuff (our reason for coming to Barcelona). Until next time!