Well spotted, Jude and Andy! I was beginning to think there was something funny going on but as you can see I managed to find an avocet looking the other way.
We had a few days in Pilar de Horadada where the good news was that it was a shortish bike ride from the salt flats and home to flamingoes as well as lots of other wild birds, most of whom wouldn't sit still long enough to photograph.
Looking back to the resort of Pilar. It looks busy but it was a national holiday.
Our campsite in Pilar was fairly new and lacked any real character. It also reminded us of why we don't travel in summer. It was the Mayday holiday on 1 May which was a Thursday. The Spanish take advantage of any holiday which doesn't fall on a Monday or Friday by making a very long weekend of it. As a result the site was mobbed, noisy with kids and music and probably not somewhere we'd stop again. There was a swimming pool which periodically opened but was too shallow to swim in and an indoor spa which again was full of kids.
I tend to get a bit grumpy as you might have guessed in these situations. Talking of which: we enjoy art galleries very much and the contemporary art gallery we visited in Velez was stunning. It also had a class of local primary age children in rapt attention as a teacher was explaining a large painting in front of them. This was great. Contrast our experience in the Picasso Gallery in Malaga. It had a class of about 20 teenage schoolgirls, sadly English, who walked through the gallery completely uninterested, not stopping at any of the artworks with a teacher who was similarly disinterested and completely unable to control her charges. Why did they bother going?
Señor Grumpy signing off for a few days.
Our next stop is Benicasim which we enjoyed thoroughly last year and hope to enjoy for a couple of weeks this year. Hope all is going well with the rest of you.
Adios,
J&P
Thanks for your card for Mike's 60th which arrived in plenty of time. He celebrated his birthday by going up to Selhurst Park for the last home game of the season, made even better as Morgan, a Liverpool supporter as you probably know, went with him.
ReplyDeleteMike's already got his football season ticket for next season, but is now switching over summer mode by using his members ticket for Surrey CCC.
Are you home for your 60th or know what your address will be around the beginning of June?
All the best, Deb
Your comment about bored kids in art galleries reminds me of taking a school trip to the Loire Valley in the 80s- as the coach drew into the parking at Chenonceau, a plaintive cry of "Oh no, not another bleedin' chateau" went up from the back of the coach. (Mike)
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing huge floats and statues like that coming out of the church and being paraded round the streets when we stayed in Nerja: black robes and hoods on Good Friday and white on Easter Day.
ReplyDeleteDeb