Murcia

A couple of days ago we went on an outing to Murcia with some of the people from the church we attend in Torrevieja. The idea of the trip was to see some of the nativity scenes put on by the local churches. Our "tour guide" was the pastor, Rafael, who has lived in Murcia for many years so we received an expert tour of the city.

The nativity scenes were worth seeing,















as were the Christmas lights,























but the highlight of the trip was a visit to the Plaza Belluga, a massive square in the centre of the city.

For five evenings around Christmas they have performances from professional opera singers. Each performance is quite short, just three or four minutes, and they were all well-known "songs" (if that's what you call them - I'm not much of an opera expert!). The acoustics are amazing and to add to the effect they use the walls of the buildings around the square to project moving images.

I've put together a few pictures and video clips of the evening - as always they don't really do it justice but hopefully you can get a feel of the delight we had watching and listening to these performances in the open air with thousands of others.



There's nothing like a nice bit of culture every now and then!

We did it!

Our plan had always been to have a swim in the sea and a BBQ on the beach on Christmas day. If the weather hadn't been warm enough I think we would still have done it, but....the sun shone and although the sea is obviously a bit colder at this time of year (17° C we were told), the beach was packed with people in various fancy dress costumes, tables, chairs and BBQs!
Here are a few pictures to prove 'we did it'.

We didn't expect to see so many others on the beach Christmas morning, as every other morning we've had it to ourselves.

We did put our shoulders under as well but it wasn't captured on camera!

Although it felt a bit chilly in the sea, we felt warm enough when we came out to stay in our swimming stuff for half an hour while we cooked our starters on the BBQ
The couple on the right are our neighbours, June and Geoff. The couple on the left are their friends who have an apartment in the village. We have had some lovely evenings together and we will miss them all as we move on.

After eating hot dogs and chicken legs on the beach we slowly packed up and returned to the caravan where we spent time contacting various members of the family. We ended the day with a candle lit dinner for two. Who knows how we will spend Christmas next year!

Partido de Calle

Well, despite the weather we did manage to have a very succesful street party on Christmas Eve.

It didn't look promising to start with as the grey skies and occasional light rain meant that many of our neighbours were reluctant to put their noses out of their caravans / motorhomes.

But us Brits are used to forging on with our plans whatever the weather so we started to arrange food and drinks on tables in the street.

As our neighbours looked on at us 'foolhardy' Brits, it took them a while to decide to join in and at one stage Julie said she was going to encourage them to show a bit of "Dunkirk Spirit" until she realised that was a little inappropriate in a street of mainly German residents!

However, we soon realised that their delay was due to cooking/creating some wonderful food for us all to share and eventually everyone from our street joined the party, each contributing something to eat and drink and some of them meeting each other for the first time.

We began with traditional Christmas music but as the afternoon wore on we switched to party songs which resulted in a fair bit of "Dancing in the Street".

Have a go

Having given up art in the 3rd year of senior school, believing I had no talent at all, drawing is always something that has fascinated and intrigued me. I was so pleased when Paul showed signs of being interested in art--with some talent too! I bought him a few books on how to draw etc, but as always teenagers don't necessarily follow through with their parents dreams, and quite right too.

Having dabbled a tiny bit when we've been away on holiday I was really pleased to see the site we are staying on at the moment offering free art classes.

I turned up the first day only to find the teacher was German and so were the rest of the class of twelve. Six was the maximum Barbara (our teacher) wanted to have in a class, but she eventually decided as we were all so enthusiastic she would persevere with twelve.

Being the only English person I also posed a little bit of a problem........(Barbara is fluent in German, Dutch and Spanish, and I think her English is brill, but she doesn't.)

Anyhow, I have gone along each week and learnt a lot of German, but also picked up a few points on how to draw. Some weeks I feel completely out of my depth, but spending time looking at what Barbara is asking me to do and thinking about it I manage to come up with something.

Below are some of my attempts......the reason I am posting this blog is to encourage each of you to have a go....if there has been something you have always wished you could have learnt, it's never too late....just do it!

Julie x

Happy Nochebuena

Today is Nochebuena - a day of celebration - Spanish families get together and prepare a sumptuous meal and celebrate well into the night. Like many other European countries tonight is the bigger celebration and tomorrow everyone just chills out and enjoys a quiet day with the family.


We are having a street party and if it is anything like the one we had on Julie's birthday I will probably need a little "plink, plink, fizz" tomorrow!

Nativity scenes

Well no luck with El Gordo, but then we never got round to buying a ticket which probably didn't help!

We're really enjoying the build-up to Christmas in a different country with a different culture and traditions. The nativity scenes on display are amazing - not just a few figures in a crib but a complete model village. The camp site staff here spent ages building a wonderful nativity scene which is now on display near the entrance. A couple of days ago we went to Torrevieja to see another one that we had heard about. It's in a square outside a church (which is also beautifully decorated) and the detail is quite incredible.

It depicts every scene from the story of Jesus' birth - beginning with the angel Gabriel visiting Mary through to his birth and the events of his early life. I'm not sure if the pictures do it justice but I've tried to include some to show the scale of it and others to show the detail, and one of the church as well.

Red Knickers

At our Spanish lesson yesterday we learnt about "La Navidad en Espana".

The festivities start on the 22nd with "el dia de la loteria" where winning lottery numbers are drawn live on TV from 9 in the morning until midday in a special Christmas Lottery. Although there are lotteries all through the year this one is the biggest, not just in Spain but in the world.

It is very different from the National Lottery at home. Firstly, despite the fact that ticket sales exceed 3 Billion Euros there are only 85,000 different numbers to choose from. But each number is given to 180 different "series" where each ticket costs €200. But as that's too expensive for most people each ticket is then divided into 10 "Decimas" costing €20 each. With me so far?

If you buy a Decima and your 5-digit number is drawn you share that prize with 1,799 other people which sounds like you wouldn't win much but the top prize (El Gordo, "The Big One") pays out €300,000 to each Decima.

On the morning of the 22nd Spain pretty much comes to a halt and the normal noise and chatter is replaced by the sound of children singing... Why? It is one of the strange traditions that each year children from a junior school are invited to "sing" the numbers as they are drawn from two very large spherical cages. In one a ball for each number from 00001 - 85,000 is placed and in the other 1,787 balls representing the prizes. Over the course of the morning prizes and their corresponding numbers are drawn. The tension and excitment lasts all morning and the 1st prize, el gordo, can be drawn at any stage.

It is very much a shared experience as from around mid September onwards, when the first tickets go on sale, clubs, societies, bars, offices and factories choose a number and that number is then purchased by everyone belonging to that organisation. Also, the street sellers in any one town will only have one or two different numbers to sell which is why you often hear about a town winning the lottery as everyone who shares the top prize will be from the same area.

Buying a ticket isn't just about choosing the right number, it's also about wearing the right clothes. Wearing red underwear over the Christmas period is supposed to bring you good luck which explains why the local market stalls have been full of red pants, bras and knickers over the past few weeks. I'll have to have a rummage through my drawers to see what I can find!

Twelve Days of Christmas

OK I know we are not absolutely right with the title but hey!

Well what a turn around in the weather. The same weather system which has you caught up in freezing temperatures and possibly a white Christmas has also come south!

Everyone here can't believe it--we have snow on the hills 10 minutes drive away from us! As Peter drove the car into a garage for its service the engineers were playing snowballs in their lunch break, from a car brought in from the mountains.

We still have nearly 2 more hours of day light than the UK, but it has made it feel more like Christmas.

We were in the mountains the day before the weather changed and joked about the snow-pole markers we saw along the roadside. I've only ever seen them in Germany and Scotland before and I certainly didn't expect to see them here, where we are planning Christmas day on the beach.

Here is a view from Guadalest, a pretty little village in the mountains above a reservoir and dam. Had we left our visit another day we wouldn't have made it....snow on the hairpin bends would have been too dangerous.

And these are the mountains which are now covered in snow!!

Great plans are happening here for the holiday. Our 'street' are having a street party on Christmas eve, some of us are having a BBQ on the beach on Christmas day and some are going to the local restaurant. We will probably all meet up in the restaurant on site late evening as they are putting on some great 60's, 70's and 80's entertainment.

Tonight we are going to a united Carol concert of all the English speaking churches in the area. It should be wonderful....I hope.

5 minutes from us towards Guadamar there is an Iceland which I have kept away from because we are in Spain to experience a different culture and different food. But on Monday we were busy sorting out Christmas cards by email and I had a craving for mince pies and mulled wine, an Ebsworth tradition while writing Christmas cards.....in fact it's just an Ebsworth tradition, you don't need to be doing anything! I couldn't believe it, they even have all English staff. It was like being transported back home. Everything you would expect to find in Iceland's at home was there. The English prices were also on everything, though of course we had to pay a bit more than that....travelling expenses!

I must be honest, Monday was our first day of rain and Iceland did make me a little homesick, but reading the emails we've been receiving from many of you it sounds better to be looking at snow on the hills rather than stuck in the snow on the hill! (Carver Hill).

NEXT DAY!

Last night was superb. There must have been over 500 of us in a very new and welcoming modern church building. There was a brass band and a magnificent choir. Apparently, some of the people there had travelled a long way just to hear this choir sing the Hallejujah chorus and they were right - it was amazing and sent a tingle up our spines. The whole event lasted nearly two hours and gave us a real feeling of Christmas.

Today the sun has come back and we were in T-shirts and shorts again - lovely! Maybe Chritmas Day on the beach is still on the cards!

A weekend apart

We've been quiet over the last week, which doesn't mean we've not been busy.

We started the week listing all the things we wanted to do and see before leaving this part of Spain. We've still got 6 weeks left here, but the time is flying past especially with so many Spanish holidays/fiestas leading up to Christmas and beyond.

We have also made some great friends here and so doing things all together is very pleasant, but finding days that we are all free (due to the extensive programme of activities we are all signed up for) is a bit of a mission. Then there are things like fitting the car in for a service, booking the dog into the vets for his annual vacinations, all the things which, no matter where you are, have to be seen to.

Amidst all this Peter got himself ready to fly back to the UK to visit his mum. It was a little more than a social as she is now no longer happy looking after herself - her brother who she has lived with for five years has been ill for some time and is now in hospital, which has left her on her own. He went back specifically to help her decide and choose a 'retirement home' to live in, which would still allow her to be close to her brother.

Peter had a very successful weekend with his mum, but was pleased to get back to the hotter climate over here rather than the wet, dark, cold weather of Devon.

Let's face it, one of the reasons we are doing this 'gap year' is to sample the climate of southern Europe.

We have met Brits over here who have sold up, or rented their property out, so they can travel all year round, and there we were thinking we were doing something unique!

It is fascinating talking to them though, they spend 3 months here over winter, possibly going home to see family in the UK for Christmas. Then disappear to somewhere like Cyprus for spring, going back to the UK for the summer months in a caravan, only to come back out here the following autumn.

Don't worry.......Peter and I have already decided that we definitely know we will be staying in the UK. This is just a wonderful opportunity which we are making the best of for this year....anyway we may have a wedding to come home for next December!

While Pete was in Devon, people couldn't have been kinder to me here. I was invited over for dinner from the couple opposite us, which started at 2.30 in the afternoon, till gone 8pm. I did pop back and feed the dog and walk him at 5-ish!

As I've already written, there are 14 units in our cul-de-sac, and I was inundated with well-wishers throughout the weekend. In fact the only time I had on my own was when I walked Benji or shut all the blinds and closed the door.

It's not only in our little street that everyone is so friendly. Everywhere you go on site you always get a greeting in some language or another, and there is always a lovely smile to go with it.

I don't know if the Spanish realise how lucky they are in this climate. OK, they haven't got rolling green fields, but to be able to live outside because it's warm enough, does mean there is more social activity between neighbours, whether you are in bricks and mortar or a less permanent dwelling. One of my favourite activities at home is doing the front garden, because you get to see people.

Although the days are longer here than at home it is still dark by 5.30 so we are looking forward to getting the shortest day over with and the days starting to get longer again.

We're still not sure how we are going to spend Christmas Day and New Years Eve. There are lots of different styles of celebration on offer in the local bars and restaurants but we may just do our own thing. Church followed by a picnic on the beach still seems favourite for the 25th.

Tabarca (aka Tabby arca) Island

After the family left us on the 22nd Nov everything seemed a little quiet so we planned a day out.

Tabarca Island was our choice...a pleasant boat trip, on a glass bottomed boat, a walk around the only inhabited island in the Costa Blanca, ( thoughts of Meryl Streep jumping from a balcony were on my mind), lunch on the island and finishing off with another pleasant boat trip back to Santa Pola.

The day got off to a good start with an exhilarating ride in a much smaller boat than we were expecting, a (very) fast launch rather than one of the large catamarans that ply backwards and forwards during the main season.

We knew it was low season so not everything would be open but we weren't expecting it to be as quiet as we found. It felt a bit like one of those unmade streets in a small Mexican town where nothing is happening but could at any minute (except it didn't!)

A one horse town without the horse!

Within minutes of stepping onto the island it was clear that there were a lot of un-neutered male cats. As we ventured further into the streets from the small port area we also came across many kittens. These weren't your normal Spanish, half starved kittens and toms, oh no....these were very fat kittens and toms, well fed from the many fish restaurants on the island.

Fish restaurants a plenty, but very few open on the day we chose to visit!!

It took us all of 10minutes to explore the town,

a square....which again was inhabited by fat cats and kittens but no people,

a couple of even quieter streets and a church which was closed for refurbishment!

There were two restaurants vying for the limited business......

we chose one in the sunshine with a sea view, and guess what....lots of cats!

The owner was very friendly and couldn't be more helpful....seeing our predicament with a small dog who didn't know whether to try and chase the cats or cower from them, he sent his dog to guard us, but he soon gave up as he realised he was heavily outnumbered.

Peter didn't help by ordering sardines from the menu, which were scrumptous, but attracted the entire feline population of Tabarca.

To top it all the pigeons, who were not scared of the cats because the cats were so well fed, came to eat the crumbs of bread from under our feet. Benji ended up sitting on my lap - a quivering wreck unable to contain himself.

After a good but eventful lunch we decided to call it a day and get the earlier ferry back to the mainland without exploring the less inhabited (is that possible?) parts of the island.

Observing the characteristics of the cats and how they engaged with each other we now know where Disney came to get all the ideas for 'The Aristocats'.

It was fascinating watching the tomcat hierarchy in action and trying to spot which cats were related to which among all the cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, mums and dads (brought back vague memories of a holiday in Cornwall!)

A day to remember for mixed reasons - great boat trip, good lunch, shame about the island!!