Sunset

After leaving Cartagena we drove down the coast and found a parking place above the beach in the middle of nowhere. Perfect for spending the night and as the sun went down Em took some pictures....

Cartagena

Today we're visiting Cartagena which is a quite a pretty little place (Em's description). It's also a large naval base and as we arrived an aircraft carrier was being towed out by two tugs - we thought it unwise to take too many pictures of the harbour though :-)


Prototype submarine from 1888

Killer whale in the harbour

Rather a large statue

La Manga

We left Marjal this morning and drove south towards Cartagena and an Aire where we planned to stay the night. On arrival we found a sign which said €10 for overnight parking. Also it was in a dodgy looking area and there was noone else there so we decided not to stay. Instead we drove along the La Manga penninsula which is an 18km long narrow spit of land which encloses the Mar Menor.

The funky looking tower on the lift-bridge spanning two of the islands

 Veneziola - a man-made cloverleaf shaped lagoon with plots of land for sale. Reminded us of the palm tree in Saudi!

The end of the spit of land where Mar Menor meets the Med

When we arrived there were two other motorhomes. On returning from our walk around we discovered that several more had arrived!

Elche (Elx)

Today we are visiting Elche (alternatively spelt Elx) - we rode our scooter the 30km or so from the campsite at Marjal up into the foothills to the town.


The relief on the front of the baroque basilica da Santa Maria

Spot the odd one out....

We climbed the bell tower - over 150 steps to the top. From the bell chamber upwards the stairs became very narrow - only just over a shoulders width!!

Elche is surrounded on three sides by the largest palm forest in europe

Em's gets attacked by a Giant "Grasshopper"

Whilst cleaning Kiki this giant "Grasshopper" got a little too close to Em :~)
I think it's a cricket?

Kiki's clean again!

Em spent the whole day cleaning Kiki - and very nice she looks too!!

Rock Art

Alicante

Today we're visiting Alicante. We've left Kiki on the campsite in El Campello and driven to Alicante on our scooter.


Alicante is a big fairly uninspiring city, however is does have a nice waterside with a large marina, tree-lined promenade and sandy beach.

Superyachts in the marina

Em checks out the beach

El Campello

Today we're in El Campello. We left Altea this morning and drove south to a very small campsite on the outskirts of the town. We managed to squeeze Kiki onto a pitch that's only about 1m longer than her 7.5m length. The campsite roads are narrow - we needed to put our wing mirrors in at times!


We unloaded our bikes and headed into town. It's very windy today - at times we had to peddle whilst going downhill!

A much needed rest!

Benidorm

There's no blog entry for yesterday as it rained so we spent the day updating the blog and facebook. 

The sun's back today and as the campsite we've been staying on is only 10km from Benidorm we felt obliged to visit.... we can honestly say the best thing about Benidorm is the road leading out!

Highrise hell!!

Only about 2km from the nightmare that is Benidorm we found a lovely quiet little beach where we had lunch.

Valentine's Meal

Em has a chance to get dressed up at last...

Em didn't know whether to eat her food of frame it - beautifully presented Mexican Chicken - very tasty too :-)

Hog motor on the bar - how cool!!

We like this place

Guadalest

Today we drove inland to visit Guadalest which is a village set on a rocky crag and is only accessible via a tunnel through the rock.


Looking back towards the coast

The bell tower clings to the top of a rock pinnacle and Em clings to a rock

Very well fortified town overlooked by the castle - can you spot Em?

You can just see the resevoir below the town

Cheers!

This evening we went out for a Chinese buffet - a really nice meal as you choose as much as you want from over 50 dishes and they prepare them fresh for you. A meal for two for less than €20 - that'll be Spain then :-)

Are we in Russia?

On our way back from Calpe we passed this Russian Orthodox church which seemed to be made out of wood - like a very ornate log cabin.

We also found a bit more of Altea's old town

Calpe

Today we are visiting Calpe by scooter.

Lovely blossom at this time of year

The Penyal d'Ifach a 332m high block of limestone

A light lunch in the sunshine

Birthday

Kiki has had the "Emma" touch!

Chocolate cake - yummy!!

I wish!