Sunday 24 February 2013
Moving on today - La Manga is a very large site and although very nice it is a little noisy from passing site "traffic" i.e. gabby people! So, off north again in brilliant sunshine and on the way try to find a new water-pump - for the domestics, not the engine - as it is getting very noisy and we don't want it to fail at an inopportune moment. Of course it is Sunday (and to keep it simple, the first place didn't have the right model, although I could probably have adapted what they did have, and all the rest were closed. We'll try again later.)
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| More roundabout art in Elche Mummy and baby giraffe |
We're definitely on the Costa Blanca now and, past Alicante with its large airport, the coastline is mostly continuous modern towns and villages, dedicated to, or supporting, tourism. The countryside just inland is also quite mountainous, the ground rising around 5 km from the coast and we could see the ubiquitous white Spanish villages climbing the slopes. There also seemed to be quite a lot of new development too.
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| Inland from Benidorm |
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| Skyline of Benidorm |
Out of interest the picture shows what once was the tallest hotel in the region (and Terry has actually stayed there - another story) but on the very left of the picture is a new construction, nearing completion, which looks like it will take that crown. We tried to get a photo as we passed; it consists of two narrow towers joined across at the very top by a futuristic-looking bridge of several floors - won't get us staying there!
For our stop, we'd picked out several places, including Benidorm, but the day was still young so we continued along quite a scenic road to Calp (or Calpe - many places in this area are also spelled in Catalan)
and after missing the turnoff found a very nice town. Unfortunately the campsite, right on the edge of town, was full. We've noticed that, from being deserted in the south, as we've moved into the popular holiday areas so the campsites are getting more full, with many people staying for long periods, 2-3 months is not uncommon.
So we continued up the coast to Javea (Xabia) to another ACSI site on the edge of the town, which we had a fine old time of finding, circling it at least once before we found our way in. We could see it but...... At first we thought we were going to be turned away here too, but for 2 nights the nice lady found us a space.
For our stop, we'd picked out several places, including Benidorm, but the day was still young so we continued along quite a scenic road to Calp (or Calpe - many places in this area are also spelled in Catalan)
and after missing the turnoff found a very nice town. Unfortunately the campsite, right on the edge of town, was full. We've noticed that, from being deserted in the south, as we've moved into the popular holiday areas so the campsites are getting more full, with many people staying for long periods, 2-3 months is not uncommon.
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| Cap de la Nau - Javea |
So we continued up the coast to Javea (Xabia) to another ACSI site on the edge of the town, which we had a fine old time of finding, circling it at least once before we found our way in. We could see it but...... At first we thought we were going to be turned away here too, but for 2 nights the nice lady found us a space.
A short walk took us to a suburb of the main town right on a lovely beach with restaurants, bars, gift shops and the supporting commerce. Back to the site as it got dark and started to turn very cool.
Ahhh memories... I think the whole world population has visited Benidorm at some time. When I was last in that area, about 1968, Calpe and Javea were but small fishing villages of charming character. No doubt all traces have long been buried under concrete. No doubt the more heavily occupied camp sites are directly proportional to the amount of daily sunshine. Are you seeing any of it.
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