Today we actually had to get up at 0745 because we went on a ‘field trip’ with USAC and the students from the Universtiy. The first stop was Guadalest (bird’s nest), a small village inland, that included at castle where the villagers still inhabit the keep. It is a very small village within the keep, but functional just the same. It dates back to the year 715. The surrounding area is considered ‘New Guadalest’. It is very eye catching and picturesque and the water in the river is impossible to miss the color is aqua-green color.
Following the trip to Guadalest, we took a very windy and car-sick road to a beautiful waterfall called ‘Fuentes del Algar’. This involved more hiking up to the waterfalls and climbing of rocks to get into the water. For some reason I wanted my sandals to match this morning and wore pink flip flops when I should have worn my Keenes. Oh well, barefoot never hurts for too long. Back to the waterfall-the water is icy cold and very refreshing on a hot day. You can’t stay in for too long, but you feel completely wonderful when you get out. USAC then treated us all to lunch at a restaurant called ‘Les Fonts’ at the foot of the waterfalls. Since it was 1400 and we had all been hiking all day, most of us thought we were just having tapas and snarfed down the bread, aioli and salsa roja, marcona almonds and grilled veggies we were served (and about 4 glasses of water). Little did we know, this was just the first course! We samples croquesttes, calamari, salad, paella verduras, and ice cream.
Following the monstrous lunch-which was delicioso-we hopped back on the really hot, carsick bus to ride to a seaside resort called Benidorm. Technically is lives next door to Alicante, but is supposedly the largest beachside resort in the Mediterranean. The beach is very large and somewhat crowded, although it was Saturday. One thing I forgot to mention before, if you are not used to European beaches, be prepared to see topless women of all ages and some men sunning their fannies as well. No, I did not take pictures of these, but will say that no one who has paid 5k for a boob job is going topless. You would think they would– spending that much money–want to show them off, but that is not the case. Many people wear different items of swimming suits, some just wear their underwear. What ever works.
After a hot and carsick and stomach filling and refreshing day, we came home to blog in our apartment kitchen. That is the coolest spot in the whole place-as long as we don’t cook. We also googled ‘how to use a bidet’ and decided toilet paper works for us. Maybe if we were a little more sophisticated, but lets face it, someone who is ok with dollar bottles of wine probably isn’t used to a bidet. Anyhow, here is what they look like.
