En Espana con nuestras familias

We were both looking forward to spending some on the south coast of Spain with our families.  When we left Greece we thought we would be saying goodbye to the sunshine for sure…but when we arrived at the Alicante airport the sun was still shining.

 We spent the first week relaxing with Lee’s mother and her husband John in their house in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca in Spain.   The first day we arrived we took a walk into town on the pedestrian/bike path referred to as the “yellow brick road.” The main industry in Torrevieja is salt mining, which is evident during our exploring by the salt flats and mountains of salt surrounding the town.  The town itself is beautiful.  There is a large marina and beaches surrounding the coastline.

On our first Sunday, John and Maggie took us to one of the local markets in the area called The Lemon tree located about 20 minutes from their house.  We spent about two hours searching through the market.  You could buy anything from a pair of sunglasses to a new puppy.  It was fun to compare and contrast the market from the ones we were used to seeing in Southeast Asia.  Of course we did not go home empty handed…Courtney bought a new sundress!

After a couple more days of relaxing, reading our books, and soaking up the hot sun it was time for Courtney’s Mom and her husband Tom to arrive.  There was a brief moment when we did not think they were going to make it because the volcano in Iceland was acting up again, but with only a two-hour delay they safely arrived.  With no real goals for their trip, we decided to stay local and check out some things that Torreveija had to offer. 

We did some more exploring of town by foot and by car.  Tom was nicknamed the “terror of torrevieja” and the “menace of the roundabouts” because he could not quite get a handle on the very unconventional driving customs in Spain.  Thankfully no children or animals were hurt during their stay.

On our only cloudy day, we took a drive to a town called Guardamar to check out the famous beaches.  The sun came out for us after all and we enjoyed some traditional tapas by the sea.  Another day we took a coastline boat tour, which departed from the downtown Marina.  It was nice to the see the city from a different perspective.  We were able to get some good beach time on one of the beaches in the town centre called La Playa de los locos…appropriately named “the beach of mad men.”  It was great to have some familiar faces join us for part of our journey and of course nice for our families to meet one another.

After Maggie, John, Davida and Tom left us we decided to spend our last two days in Spain with some of Lee’s family friends who have retired to the area.  We had a lovely BBQ and spent one of our days lounging on a local beach called Cabo Roig.  This beach is a must see with it’s beach bar/restaurant and beautiful views.