Hot or What? – Mid Spain

We didn’t discover Spain until 96, and in the dozen years until 2007, we only missed two years in Spain (North and Middle), but sadly haven’t been back since.
1998 saw us France’s Green Venice and in 2005, we spent our August week in Ireland – more about that in a few weeks’ time.

The Elephant mountain was what we saw when we drove anywhere from the villa in Jesus Pobre (11 miles north west of Moriara) where we stayed for the last visit in 2007.


Moraira/Havea

Somewhere between Alicante and Valencia was our most visited area. So many awesome villas, all with pools, kept us going back again and again. Our first taste in 1996 saw us in a beautiful villa with fabulous views of Calpe’s Penyal d’Ifac – a gigantic limestone rock, 332 metres high, one of the most recognisable landscapes of the Spanish east coast. The second time in 1999, was in Norte Mar – a truly spectacular villa as you can see from the pictures. That year, Jo’s school tasked each child with finding the most unusual place to photograph their school tie, and if you look hard among the Flamenco dancers, you’ll spot her wearing said tie.
The first two right-hand photos give a flavour of how much time we spent in the pool. The top one shows Jo tipping Bri off a flotation device - one of the favourite games. I chose the middle one because Bri’s photography skills know no bounds. How he captured my dive is a feat of split-second timing.
Ditto with the bottom piccy on the left – to get all 3 jumping into the pool – phenomenal. Next to it is a peek at the fabulous surroundings of the villa in Havea (8 miles north of Moraira) from 2001.

Crazy Frog
Back in 1996, Moraira was a burgeoning tourist destination with lots of construction in and around the town centre. On a patch of what we’d consider waste ground, a small fair had set up and we had our first taste of the “Crazy Frog” – a ride like no other. From the centre, around 10 spokes radiated, each holding a car for 3 people. At first, we thought it was merely going to zoom around on the ground, but then the cars lifted independently of each other. So you had up-and-down and round and round. Pretty standard you say, but he dialled it up a notch, with the old scream-if-you-want-to-go-faster routine. Then it slowed down and bounced the cars up and down for a couple of circuits. And just when you thought it was ending, the whole cycle was repeated – but going backwards. Defo not for the faint-hearted, nor for those without good sea legs.

Handbag City Aka Gata de Gorgos
This picturesque village, several miles inland, boasts one of the most densely packed streets of souvenir shops – similar to the main drag in Mont St Michel in North France. Shop after shop sports their wares from the town’s legendary industries making, not just wicker baskets, but a myriad of utensils made from woven rush, palm or the indigenous esparto grass. They also produce Spanish guitars and straw hats, made here since ancient times. We loved this place and always did our souvenir shopping here.