Margaret's birthday!

To celebrates Margaret's special birthday we booked 4 nights at the Gran Hotel Peñiscola.

Margaret is on our balcony in the photo above...

...and here's the view from our balcony.

The day of the special birthday started with a glorious sunrise...

...and after a very good breakfast...

...we got the bus to the centre of the town, had a coffee...

...and a walk around then back to the hotel for lunch.

Another view from our balcony later in the afternoon.

The following day we went on the tourist train from the hotel...

... around the town and up into the neighbouring hills where the train squeezed past a cement lorry...

...to get some great panoramic views of the coast...

..and back to the famous castle and old town.

The hotel also has a spa centre which we treated ourselves to each day - I've never been so clean!

Below are the birthday cards and some of the presents that Margaret received along with lots of Facebook and WhatsApp greetings from her friends.

Above is the card which I have been giving Margaret since before we were married and it contains greetings for virtually every year we have known each other...

...and this is my present - a traditional Spanish lightweight lace mantilla or shawl which is to be worn during the warmer months with the regional costume that Margaret made herself.

What a great birthday!

Gran Canaria!

It's that time of the year when we fly to Gran Canaria for our 3 week holiday in the sun.

As usual, our good friends Maria and Juan visited us at our hotel in Barcelona the evening before our flight.

The following day we arrived at our hotel in Puerto Rico for a relaxing break.

One of the things about the resort is the building of the new funicular due for completion next month, (March). It is due to go one floor higher and the new reception area will be at the very top. It looks good!

As usual we had a full moon during our stay but this one was very special as at 5:12 a.m. on Monday 20th we saw the lunar eclipse...

...which was the Super Blood Wolf Moon.

Margaret wanted a picture of the eclipse with part of the hotel building so here is my Photoshopped version.

The following day the biggest crane in the world, (probably), was being used to lift pieces of the new funicular... 

...from the road below into position. Amazing!

The weather was superb throughout our stay.

One of the nice things about coming to the same resort each year is you meet up with friends made in the previous years.

Because the funicular is still under construction and the hotel is built on the mountainside, the only way to the top, the restaurant and reception area, is up the steep steps. Therefore, a "taxi" service had been provided in the form of this Fiat Panda which could negotiate the very narrow "roads" with seemingly impossible curves driven by a team of 3 expert drivers. Note the "modifications" to the car around the wheel arches!

An improvement since last year is the provision of a chef who makes an omelette of your choice for breakfast each morning. This chef quickly knew me as "Señor jamón y queso" as that was my daily request.

During our stay the sea, the Atlantic Ocean, was remarkably calm.

Added to that, the sky was clear most days...

...which gave photos a great background.

We actually did very little during the 3 weeks - we visited the market in Arguineguin once...

...and our favourite garden of Montecristo on another day. The reason for this can be seen in the photo above where Margaret has a crutch and was still recovering from her foot operation which took place before Christmas.

However, she made it around Montecristo and we had a lovely excursion...

...including some good photo opportunities.

Most of the time was spent on our terrace just watching the world go by.

The photo above shows the current reception area, just inside where Margaret is standing, and the new reception area being built above. Due to the position of the sun it is a bit of a panorama stitch/Photoshop failure as it is quite obvious where the 3 original photos were stitched together. It gives the general idea though.

Finally, back to our hotel near Barcelona airport and the end of a fantastic holiday. Until next time!

Maggie visits from England.

Maggie and Margaret have known each other since they were at College together in 1967.

Although Maggie is familiar with many countries in the world, this is the first time she has visited Spain so we wanted to show her what our part of the real Spain was like and this involved touring around locally each day and having lunch in various restaurants.

I collected Maggie from Reus airport on Saturday 13th October and we got back to the village just in time for lunch at the village bar/restaurant.

After lunch it was time to explore the village...

...which is always interesting.

Sunday, we visited the ermita of our neighbouring village, La Fresneda,...

...where you can see our village and our house across the valley.

...then a trip to the Sanctuario de la Virgen de Gracia where renovations have started.

Lunch at the Restaurante Bar Matarraña, one of our favourite restaurants.

Monday a visit to Horta de Sant Joan for lunch at Restaurante Miralles...

...followed by a visit to the Picasso Museum, (which was closed),...

...a visit to the Monastir de San Salvador,...

...a visit to the ermita de San Hipppolyte,...

...the iberican settlement at Calceite...

and the ermita de San Cristóbal on the next hilltop...

...and the Torre Cremada on the way back to our village.

On Tuesday we visited the town of Morella...

...had lunch at the Restaurante Hotel Rey Don Jaime...

...visited the shops in the afternoon...

...and enjoyed a very pleasant walk around the lovely streets.

On Wednesday it was a visit to Alcañiz with lunch at Meseguer...

...followed by coffee at the 12th century Parador...

...and of course a look around inside.

On Thursday we had coffee on the terrace...

...followed by a walk around our Ermita de San Juan with Rocky...

...then a truly memorable lunch at the Hotel Rural Font del Pas at Beceite just after which, it started raining.

Friday the weather was still against us so we had a delightful lunch in Valderrobres at Fonda Angeleta and returned home.

In fact the weather became so bad that in the evening lightning caused a power cut for the entire village so we had our last supper by candlelight! What an experience this week has been!