Page 2 of TravelQueen Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Alicante October 1st 2008

Our second visitor, Amira, came to stay with us in Alicante! Always great to see friends from back home, we had a great few days and I enjoyed hearing about all of her contiki gossip. Wish she only stayed longer!... read more
Unfortunately not warm enough to swim
For kitesurfers the weather was perfect!
In Alicante with the street markets behind us

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Alicante August 26th 2008

Danielle came to visit us in Alicante for 3 fantastic days and she was our first guest in our new apartment! Danielle is currently living in London and recently went on a holiday to Poland so was exciting to hear about that! We spent a lot of time in the sun, a little too much for Danielle (and her poor red tummy). We hung at our local beach, people watched and enjoyed the shopping coming to us (see photo). One day we drove to some waterfalls an hour from our apartment. They were freezing, but absolutely refreshing. I loved getting out feeling clean and not salty or smelling like chlorine. On Danielle’s last day we caught the local bus (coach style) into Alicante city. We did lots of walking and got a bit lost a few ... read more
Lunch in our apartment
Taking a dip in the very salty Mediterranean
Danielle and her sunglasses obsession

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Alicante August 22nd 2008

Our apartment and new area - Los Arenales del Sol Moving from Japan to Spain was quite a shock and a little difficult. Barely anything about one another can be compared. Ok, maybe that both countries don’t speak English. Spain is an extremely relaxed country, something we are totally not use to. Everything in Spain takes ten times as long, and they don’t seem to mind! Summer time is especially bad as everyone is on holidays, and the people who are working, finish early so they can go to the beach! Our swimming pool rules even say that no swimming is allowed between 3 and 5 pm - siesta time. (I don’t really want to complain about Spain, but these things made moving here quite difficult.) Now we are settled in our apartment in Alicante with ... read more
Our apartment block and our apartment!
Our front door
Living room and our eating area on the enclosed balcony

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Alicante August 1st 2008

Just some random photos from Alicante and when we went to the F1 Grand Prix in Valencia! Also some random information... Did you know that Chupa Chups are Spanish? Chupa Chups is a Spanish lollipop company founded by Barcelona native employer Enric Bernat in 1958. The name comes from the Spanish verb chupar, meaning "to suck"!. Chupa Chups were also originally called just Chups and the plastic stick use to be wooden! I also just found out that when Katie told me her favourite wine was the Alicante Bouchet, I felt stupid because I didn't know about it thinking it was from Alicante, Spain (the city in which we live for those who don't know) but then looked it up and discovered it is from the Barossa! Why is it called 'Alicante' when there are no ... read more
Before we rented our place, we looked at an apartment here, very beautiful but mucho dinero!
Aeroplane watching
Mario taking very good care of our new car!

Europe » Spain July 23rd 2008

Jerez to Alicante When we left Poland, we flew to Girona, then caught the bus to Barcelona airport, then flew to Jerez. When we were in Jerez last, we bought a car, and so now had to go back to pick it up (thinking now that we had all the correct paperwork, but we still didn’t, it’s a long story but just another problem in our move here!). Anyway finally we got the car with help from our friend Sankofa and spent two days driving back to Alicante along the coast. First we passed Cordoba, then drove to the southernmost tip of Spain to Tarifa, a beautiful surfing and kite surfing beach. We went to a lookout point where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. From here we had a pretty clear view of Morocco, ... read more
Barcelona Airport
A 100 year old Ficus
Toro! Toro!

Europe » Poland July 20th 2008

Mario and I had to fly to Poland in a bit of a hurray as the immigration office rang and wanted interviews with both of us (in order to get my Polish visa so I can stay in Europe). So we went, and we had the interviews separately and I had to get a translator. The guy at the office asked questions like where did we meet, how did Mario propose and what did he give me, names of his family members, and he wrote everything down! It was almost like something out of a movie, but all went ok and finally they gave me a one year visa. However they wanted me to pick up my id card with EU residency number three weeks from the interview. We couldn’t hang around in Poland so ... read more
Aneta and Mikolaj
Mario and his friend Pawel's son
Keilbasa! Polish sausage stand.

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Seville June 28th 2008

Back in June, Mario and I were flown to the south of Spain, Seville, for his first bonsai workshop. Our friend and organisor of the bonsai workshop, Sankofa, picked us up from the airport around midnight. The temperature was around 32 degrees celcius! Very hot! The bonsai workshop was held in the cafeteria of a zoo! The were also a lot of bonsai at the zoo. One day the guy in charge of the zoo showed us around his second home. He touched the animals without any fear, even the puma and dingoes, and spoke to them as if they were humans. Apparently many of the animals were ex circus and animal actors! One morning Mario took a walk with Gina the cheeky chimpanzee. The owner said that I had to stay away because Gina loves ... read more
A little more relaxed
Mario meet Gina!
Let's go for a walk

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Alicante June 23rd 2008

Alicante Fire Festival We have not ventured into the city too many times at night as, even not during a festival, it is packed and difficult to park! Alicante is quite a touristy city; it almost feels like we are on a permanent holiday! On the main strip, there are lots of little stalls selling handmade knickknacks, cheap clothes and also lots of black men with copy everything, bags, sunglasses, t-shirts, watches, CDs, DVDs, neatly laid out on sheets on the ground. Something that I don’t remember from Europe before, is that here there are also black women on the streets who braid girls’ hair, much neater and more detailed than hair braiding in Bali. A few nights before the actual burning, we went into the city to look at the handmade paper sculptures. I read ... read more
Mario and Patxi
Traditional dress
The biggest sculpture

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia June 22nd 2008

There are two interesting things to talk about in this blog, the first involves, dogs, ex-druggies and bonsai....and the second, my grandma (oma) coming to visit us in a tiny village in Valencia! Mario and I have been lucky enough to get to travel together around Spain because of his work with Bonsai. We left Alicante for one week to go to Valencia. We were given an apartment in a tiny town called La Pobla Llarga close to the place where Mario would be working. We were very surprised when we were first taken to the huge complex. Not only did it contain hundreds of bonsai, but it was also a place where all sorts of dogs were bred. Kennels with barking dogs everywhere! Now the most unusual part which turned out to definitely be the ... read more
On my dehydrating walk to Mario's work
The rehab/dog/bonsai centre was in the middle of nowhere!
Mario at work with Poppy the chihuahua

Europe » Spain June 10th 2008

I spent another day in Madrid city, tired on my feet but then met Mario and we were treated to a Japanese lunch by his boss. This restaurant was 100% more authentic than the one we went to a few weeks before! Delicious! There are also pictures on this blog from a weekend we spent in Alicante! Now we have left Madrid and have moved to Alicante, living temporarily with our friend Patxi, his 2 dogs and dozens of bonsai trees! ... read more
Windmills everywhere!
Cute lane in Alicante
Restaurant in the cute lane




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