Smallest national park in Europe

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Have been enjoying the last few days in Spain. The weather has been very nice, mostly sunny, although the water is a bit chilly - fine once you get in!
Lots of development around this area. We went through the old town in Benidorm last night, had some great pizza and some gelato....yum! Very neat town with the narrow cobblestone streets and terraced buildings - you can almost imagine it hundreds of years ago!

Took a half day trip to Guadalest - built in 1400 or something crazy - initially settled by Muslims, and it is perched on top of some cliffs, with a pretty church and castle (I guess it wasn´t a church when the muslims had lived there). They built the town because it was so high they thought it was closer to Allah.

The water at the beach is clear, prettier than I had thought actually. Today we are off to Calpe where the smallest national park in Europe is on a large rock attached to the mainland, where you can hike to the top. Apparently a nesting site for peregrines, and other birds. We´ll let you know if we see some

The only downside so far is all the smoking - but I kind of expected that. Luckily, our buffet with the hotel is smoke-free (most restaurants allow smoking) and local transport is also smoke-free. You all know how much I like smoke, and being pregnant seems to make it worse. There are tons of cigarette butts everywhere, especially at the beach.

Anyway, we are trying our spanish out, but have to adjust to the different way they speak compared to Mexico - it almost sounds like a lisp when they speak, with a different accent.

Our hotel is huge, but quite nice. We have two single beds which seems a bit odd, but doesn´t bother us. It is in a nice location., close to town but not too close.

We´ll write again soon!
Caroline and ken.

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