Sunshine, sea, a bit of a laugh
Trip Start
Oct 31, 2009
1
13
14
Trip End
Dec 01, 2010
La Manga del Mar Menor, Murcia, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, November 21, 2009
We leave Granada mid-morning, and commence our journey to La Manga. This via the Sierra Nevada, which proves to be a slow (hairpin bends windy roads etc) but very scenic drive ... for Lym, who was snapping away, not for Annabelle, who was in the driving seat, switching between first and second gear the whole way.... coming out of the mountains, we reach southern Spain, the main city being Almeria, the far south of Spain proves to be mile after mile of netting which hides a variety of fruits and vegetables; this coupled with an industrial backdrop makes for a rather uninspiring journey. We arrive at La Manga at around 3.30pm, pitch tent and go and say hi to Annabelle´s parents, whose caravan is a 2min walk away. Bill cracks open locally produced 15.5% rioja from the bodega (at Euro 1.60 per litre..) and commence a night of catching up, fun and games. The " highlight " of our evening (as Amanda and Gavin had promised), would be a night at the Mirador - the campsite bar, where we were entertained by ABBA CADABRA
Beery goodness!
. the ageing tribute band. Which, to be fair, was quite a laugh... drinking beer and dancing the night away....22 Nov
We awake with the first hangover of the trip. Honestly, a night out with Mum and Dad, and we were HANGING the next day!! Anyhow, we soon shook that off, and went for a drive around La Manga to get our bearings, Mum and Dad pointing everything out. Went for a drink in PaddyWack´s on the seafront, bought some fresh fish and went to the local market for a root around. Lym barbecued dinner that night for us all, which was magnificent, then we played WHOT, Triominoes and Rummikub. rock on!
23 Nov
We awoke early, prepared a packed lunch and all of us headed for a bit of a hill (Annabelle - it was a mountain!) walk which culminated in the clifftop garison, once occupied by Franco´s soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. Dominating the clifftop are two huge cannons, with muzzles which are probably 12" across, big boys! Following our walk, we decide it´s time to catch some rays on the Med side of La Manga spit. Currently La Manga is pretty empty, but we can imagine it being absolutely overrun during the high season... Tomorrow is our last day here and we head to Madrid on Wednesday morning.
>>>> Our final day and half at La Manga proved to be a tour de force of fun and games; this in the form of a Whist drive (more fun than you might imagine) and a Quiz night (a litre of gin - well done Bill - and 40 Euros - well done Lym). We left La Manga having spent a very relaxing and fun-filled few days with Annabelle's parents, and it was off to Madrid for a one night stopover with Toni and family....
