Let's pretend like I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet for the last 6 months and get back to the riveting recount of my amazing European summer trip! We're going to hammer these out with photos and descriptions, okay? Okay. This is August 10 - 12, 2016.
Kit left for France on the morning of August 10th and we kept contact while we were in separate countries. The following days were spent exclusively between Spanglish and I.
This day we did a little walkabout of the Guildford high street, which was cobblestoned and adorable, and paused for lunch at a little riverside pub called The White House.
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| Outside a quaint restaurant in Guildford, these willow trees made me feel like I was home. |
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| Tourist central: it was difficult to get a good photo without other folks in it, or truly enjoy this landmark without screaming/playing children and being bumped into by other tourists who wanted to move along faster than you did. |
After lunch we headed out to one of the main landmarks I wanted to see while I was in England: Stonehenge. Yes, this ancient rock formation has drawn quite a crowd over the years and it's nothing like it was before - to see it now you pay to get in, as if it were a museum, and are bussed out with countless other tourists to the stones, then lined up with phones that tell you facts about each part of the landmark as you go along. My main issue with this experience was the lack of respect - I have nothing against children but when they are running around, making noise, pushing past adults and being generally poorly contained I strike an issue. It took away from the experience and made it difficult to enjoy. You also were completely surrounded by and being shuffled along by other tourists, so it felt more like a "tourist trap" than what I thought it was meant to be.
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| Customary Stonehenge selfie, minus selfie stick (which I can't bring myself to purchase) which would have resulted in a much better picture. |
That being said, I was happy to have gone, and still think on it often as I look back at photos. I am so thankful to have been in close proximity to something that has seen so many decades.
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| Despite the constant movement of an insane amount of people, I saw these ancient stones, and that is enough for me. |
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| The next stop on today's road trip was Salisbury; here is the inside of the cathedral. A choir singing inside cut our visit short, but funnily enough the singers were from Ontario, Canada! |
Next stop of the day was Salisbury Cathedral - I didn't get many pictures, as when we entered a service began and we were halted in our tour. We ended up sitting for a minute to enjoy the singing before heading out for some dinner and then back to Guildford for a quiet evening.
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| The Salisbury Cathedral from the outside - it took some time and awkward posing to get the whole thing in one frame. This thing is truly massive. |
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| The beginning of August 11 saw a quiet morning of packing before heading to the Bournemouth airport to fly to sunny Alicante! I was enthralled with the prospect of going to not just one, but two countries I'd never been to before in one trip. |
Right about here is where the days start blending together. Spain in general was an incredible experience - despite the obvious language hurdle, I got along as well as I could, and my full-time translator of a boyfriend helped me out immensely. I managed to start pulling out words I remembered, recognized or could otherwise figure out or guess the meanings of.
The flight was uneventful and short, and we were greeted by warm Mediterranean air and a slew of people - what I didn't realize about Spain is the simply cultural difference of when things are done. This is by no means a bad thing, but it did take getting used to. The air of "vacation" and general optimistic, happy atmosphere was contagious. I can happily say despite a couple of overwhelming moments I was, for the most part, very happy here.
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| We arrived around 9 pm and were picked up at the airport by Spanglish's darling mother. She is possibly the kindest tiny person on this planet - she stands about as tall as my own mother does, and is very doting and loving right off the bat. What was most unusual about Spain is the cultural differences - while my sleepy plane brain was thinking, let's check into a hotel and get some sleep, the Spanish people were just gearing up for dinner service! |
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| Here is the Santisima Trinidad - a to-scale recreation of the original warship which sunk. This is actually a floating restaurant! We passed it on our way to the Melia Alicante hotel which is where the two of us stayed for most of the trip. The three of us dropped everything off at the hotel and went out for dinner at a restaurant quite close to where Spanglish's mother lives - going out for pasta at 10 pm was a little odd, but when in Rome...(or in this case, Spain!). |
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The next day brought more wandering around, palm trees, and beautiful scenery. Because I live in BC, it felt very surreal to be surrounded by mountains that had no snow on them! In this incredible palm tree park, in which a 200 year old palm tree stands in the center, we met some dogs, some baby peacocks (and adults!), and other little creatures. As an animal lover this place really made me a happy tourist. Spanglish's family (extended, uncles, cousins, aunts) joined us and I can't for the life of me remember all of their names. However they were all lovely, and as European people do, were very friendly and encouraging. They knew I didn't speak Spanish and made an effort to make themselves understood and allow my boyfriend to translate my responses. I have, on my fridge, a photo from this day attached to a calendar. One thing I noticed about touristy spots like this is the staff take a group photo at the start which they then print onto various things and try and sell you at the end. This seems equally wasteful and intrusive, but it's a cultural thing I'm sure. Spanglish's mother bought me this little calendar as a gift which I at first refused, but she pushed into my hands. Of course I am grateful for the kindness she showed to me while I was there, but if you know me you know I dislike being given things, or "treated" to things. However, what I quickly learned about her is it'll be worse for you if you don't, so just let her do as she likes! I mean that as nicely as I can.
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| After much needed sleep, August 12th was traveling to Elche and this beautiful palm tree garden, called Jardin Artistico Nacional Huerto Del Cura. Yes, I did copy and paste that link, so you should be able to check it out for yourself. It was beautiful, but holy was it ever hot! |
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| The 200 year old palm tree! |
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| A fountain at the entrance to the park. |
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| After lunch with everyone, we wandered our way back through Alicante in the daylight to take in the sights! |
On our way back from Elche the group of us stopped for yet another drawn-out but delicious seafood lunch. I eat primarily vegetarian, which in Spain means fish - and that's okay with me on occasion. Most of my diet in Spain consisted of bread, fish/seafood, salads, fruits and veggies, and sangria. It's definitely not a BAD way to spend five days.
Another interesting thing about Spain is how long meals are - and this is normal. People eat lunch around 2 pm, when it's hottest outside and you naturally want to avoid being out there: and lunch could last until 5! I'm used to getting a half hour or hour break for lunch and then get on with the day. Going out for a meal felt like a marathon event.
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| I never found out what these trees are called, but the last time I saw trees this big was in Hawaii. |
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| Another view of the Santisima, with the gorgeous teal water that I never managed to get time to dip my toe in. Our hotel is in the backdrop, not that it's too easy to see. |
We rounded out this day with a quick chill out in the hotel before meeting up with almost everyone yet again for dinner - which again turned into a nearly 3 hour situation. Seafood paella and some of the best tomatoes I've ever had in my life (again, you order vegetarian and they give you fish and salad) and a glass of crisp, tasty white wine later, we were going for a stroll on the promenade, which I didn't get a proper photo of due to the high volume of people on it. By the end of the night, it had been a very long day, and this was the time when I suddenly became overwhelmed and begged my companion to let me go back to the quiet peace of the hotel to gather myself and calm down. It was the closest I felt to panicky in a foreign country, and I'm happy to report it was the only major blip in an otherwise incredible trip.
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| After a nap and relax session at the stunning hotel, we met up with the rest of the family again for dinner. Again this was later in the day, probably around 8 or 9, and it was a splendid meal by sunset next to the harbour. Of course we had to take a selfie against the boat as well - see, our game is improving by this point in the trip. Spain treated us well. |
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| Goodnight on the first full day in Spain. |
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