Springtime in Spain

How time flies – can’t believe our last visit to Spain was in late October 2012 – nearly five months ago!

But then, so much has happened in those months –  I’ve  published a 15th title for Discovery Books – Always Room for One More, Gary Glading’s delightful second book, Alec and I have been away for a month in Sydney and Singapore, we’ve also had family over from Oz and planned and started major renovations at home.

I’ve attended some interesting press events these winter months, including a delicious lunch at Le Caprice hosted by the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, the launch of QMS Medical spa products into the luxury Thanos Hotel Group in Cyprus, TravMedia’s inaugural press event at The Dorchester (a great source of new and useful tourism contacts) and Ben Fogle’s interesting talk on the islands of the Azores at the Royal Geographical Society  –  now on my list of ‘must see’ destinations.

We’d been longing to get out to Spain and when we arranged our flights a few weeks back, never imagined that we’d be escaping snow and Arctic conditions in the UK in late March. This time last year we were basking in 20˚C+ temperatures. So much for global warming!

So it was a great to see the blue skies and sunshine at Alicante after our early morning Monarch flight from Gatwick.  Here in Spain, the welcome signs of spring are everywhere – trees and bushes coming into flower and citrus trees heavy with fruit AND white blossom. It’s sandals and shorts weather during the day but warm tights and boots are still needed to keep cosy when the sun goes down.

Javea’s Arenal promenade has had a facelift – with attractive new tiled pavements, disabled ramps to the beach, Tosca stone benches, shady pergolas, new lighting, bollards and planters. Even the beach looks more appealing;  it has been levelled and the sand looks more pristine. The new promenade has been renamed in honour of local tennis ace David Ferrer – who is to perform the official opening ceremony on 5 April  and is fronting a campaign to attract tourists to Javea (Xabia).

We were surprised (and delighted) to discover that, contrary to reports from friends, Scallops –  Javea’s iconic restaurant has not closed down but moved to a new location a few minutes from the Arenal, near the mini-golf. The new premises may not overlook the beach but offer more space, newly planted colourful gardens, easy parking and of course – Scallops great value menus.

As expected, after such a long absence, the weeds have taken on a life of their own in the garden and shingle footpaths, so we are gradually working round the entire plot tidying and pulling up an incredible variety of weeds. But just a few hours of hard work makes a huge difference!