Espana...Torrevieja and more

Hola

(Tuesday 25 September a little out of order!)

I write this from our bus as we leave Torrevieja for Murcia (about an hour by bus). We have had a really good break here, from packing, rushing, lugging bags. It took us a while to get used to the intense UK saturation, but we managed to find cafes where no-one spoke English and yesterday had one of the very best meals of our trip so far. We got the bus into town - we've walked other times but it was full-on sunny siesta time. We saw some authentic looking bar/restaurants so jumped off, on the outskirts (i.e 5 mins walk form the busy areas). We checked out a couple of the three but weren't sure they took credit cards so went to the third - 10 euro set menu, a nice, high ceilinged bar/restaurant, a bit like the belgian bars in Wellington but less overdone, if you know what I mean. We were immediately given a big salad to share, lettuce, onion, grated beetroot and carrot, tomato, tuna, gherkins and olives - almost a meal on its own! And the ubiquitous sliced bread - baguette-type. Then we ordered, tres menus del dia, not quite sure what we were getting...We had amazing seafood paella with an aioli so garlic-y it was spicy hot, a rich chicken soup with big flat noodles and a plate of mixed ham, chorizo and cheese. We were full already... Then came the mains - melt in your mouth beef with a peppercorn sauce, amazing spirals of calamari and fries (which all went to the children!) and bacon, egg and fries - working man's lunch! Oh yes, wine too, and water. A bottle of red wine - included (we had the same the night before but more basic food and only 8 euro!).

Still there was more - we declined the postres but the children had ice cream while we had coffee. Then we had another coffee at the bar and marvelled at the different hams hanging and the rang eof tapas under glass...if only we weren't so full. We have heard that the tapas in Murcia are v good, we just have to work out how to order them without feeling like complete idiots...there is no manual!

While here we have: been to the amazing Friday market; had two swims a day in the pool most days, been to the beach in town, watched dvds and read on the only rainy day (and boy, did it rain - very impressive thunderstorms in the night) and eaten lots of salad and tuna. We feel in v good health.

So the next two nights we are at a posh hotel in Murcia, meeting up with Conrad’s uncle John Roff - here from Canada for a conference, which will be great. And there is apool, so the children will be happy. As there is free wifi at last I willl as usual be spending my evenings booking our next destination - probably Seville, maybe a few days in Mar Menor on the way. Conrad would like some ore time by the sea.

The tricky thing about booking hotel here when you are travelling with 2 children is that many hotels specify maximum 1 child per room. We struck this in Barcelona when we booked a Confortel through Wotif (which I am pretty certain said no charge for children under 12 when sharing bedding...). When we arrived they told us we would have to have two rooms - which at 95 euro I was not keen to do! But they offered us ther 2nd room at no charge as they had not informed us earlier of the issue, and we had booked a couple of days before. So we were a bit lucky - it was a lovely hotel and even had a free minibar. Nice! and free wifi, for which I have paid up to 10 euro for an hour when desperate in other places (e.g the Jolly Hotel in La Spezia - our most expensive accommodation so far, supposedly four star - tired decor, service verging on rude and no free internet). So that was in the end a lovely stay. In Valencia we went back to Novotel - the great thing about this chain is that they have rooms for two adults and 2 children at no extra cost. You can get really good deals if you book ahead, too.

So - no real news, but we are enjoying Spain very much so far. The bus service is excellent too, and cheaper than trains in most cases.