July Ramblings







(I really must get away from this computer)

July started hot and just got hotter with temperatures in the mid 30’s. The towns along the coast filled up with tourists (again loads of French again this year) and getting about is taking twice as long due to the traffic!

As I mentioned before, Spain is suffering from the credit crunch like every other country but here the unemployment rate has risen to 19% and sales abound everywhere. Many of the Costa townships have based their economy on construction and, as that has collapsed; they are at a loss of what to do. Tourism seems an obvious choice but instead both Denia and Javea have embarked on a programme of road reconstruction which is bringing some jobs but at the expense of annoying the tourists who are finding the main roads into the towns, gridlocked most of the day. If they are not careful they will lose the holidaymakers also. Interestingly, the Spanish people have never experienced a full blown recession before and the evidence is they are very unsure how to handle it. Many believe if their income is down they should put their prices up!!

On the second week of the month, we had our visitors too, Edie and Calum. It was great to see them again and, despite a hiccup with their hire car booking, they arrived safely

The second week of July is the start of the Fiestas in Denia and a particular feature is the bullrun and, Bous a la Mar. Whilst I have described this on numerous occasions, it does need to be seen to be believed so we were looking forward to getting good seats to see all the action. Calum and Edie went down one evening to see the young bucks race down the road in front of the bulls (these bulls are nothing like those in Pamplona, these are young heifers but even so, if they caught you with their horns it could be painful!!
Here is a short video (not mine, this is better) showing the fun at the harbour.


We had a special day out and went to see the caves at the Val D’Uixo which is some 100 miles north of us. I had been told that they had the second longest underground river in the world and the longest in Europe. We boarded a boat with some others and set off for a 1 hour round trip of the caves which were dramatically illuminated to show off some of the wonderful features.

I’m unable to show any interior photos as photography was not allowed (and from previous experience they do not come out well anyway). After a nice lunch we headed back but stopped off at Cullera which is a fantastic beach resort, kept hidden by the Spanish!!! The rest of the week we did the usual eating drinking, swimming, lazing and oh, we went to see the carnival floats too.
See photos of Eie & Calum's visit here:

Edie Calums visit to Denia 2009

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Edie and Calum had no sooner departed than we had Stephen, Gail, Millie and Daisy to visit us for a week.

We all had great fun in the pool and it was plain to see each day the confidence rising in both Millie and Daisy. By the end of the week we could not stop Millie jumping in unaided and Daisy swam alone buoyed only by body floats in her costume.
Here are some short videos:



Hope you all enjoy the July Ramblings

We had a day at Terra Natura which is a kind of safari park, but on reflection, given the heat at this time of year and the walking involved, it was a bit much for the kids (and us).

Here are some of the photos of their visit:

Stephen Gail Millie Daisy

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