At long last an update telling you about August!!!!! This was written way back in September but not posted until now (very poor service from these laid back Heards!)
We’ve found a very different pace of life in Spain in August…..hence the laid back amount of time it’s taken me since the last update!!
We had a brilliant weekend in Barcelona with Mum and Peter – the weather was fantastic and we saw all the sights. We especially enjoyed the Gaudi House along with our boat trip out onto the ocean to see the Tall Ships. We all had a great time and would recommend Barcelona as a place to visit – especially if you enjoy sight-seeing.
After we got back Nigel fitted our new shower screen in the bathroom – so now we have a fantastic power shower – just what’s needed in the heat of the day!
Tim, Gemma and Jade came to stay with us at the start of the month – a visit that coincided with fiesta time – which was great. We have not been here during fiesta before and all I can say is that it is 100 times more of everything than you expect. The whole town shuts down for a week, the shops only open in the mornings and in the evenings all the streets are closed and there is a massive market, stalls for eating and drinking and a huge fair. That is to say nothing of the ‘barracas’ the outdoor discos that spring up in marquee’s with no roof – they don’t open until midnight and most of the youngsters don’t finish there until 8am!!
Tim and Nigel went along to the bull fight that comes to town once a year - and came back with sore bottoms having spent three hours sitting on a wooden bench (it would have helped if they knew the protocol to take a cushion or two!!!!) See the photo below that Tim took. Tim along with some friends of ours Stan and Brian were brave enough to enter into the bull-run for a while – joining the Spaniards in out-running the bull around a pre-set arena! Great fun if you like that sort of thing!! We enjoyed Paella and also all had Churros and Chocolate (straight donut sticks with hot chocoloate) one night. Jade had a great time on the dodgems – well come to mention it – so did Tim, Nigel and Gemma!!! The fiesta is definitely an experience – when the Spanish really come out to play – it’s nothing like anything we’ve seen before – or probably will see again until 1st August next year. I didn’t mention the fireworks – on opening and closing night – absolutely brilliant – as good as any bonfire display we’ve been to!
Every street is decorated during fiesta week - this is a typical street photo taken by Tim.
The interesting thing is what happens after fiesta – basically nothing – the town turns into a ghost town, all the bars and restaurants shut down and a lot of the shops shut too……it is very strange. Things are just starting to open up now as we get towards the start of September. This situation made for an interesting time when Caroline and Jon came to stay with us – we went out for a nice meal in town – and ended up with tapas in the one bar that was open! Funnily enough it turned out fantastically and we all really enjoyed it – but not what we expected (typical of our experience of Spain so far really!) Jon and Nigel stayed up to watch the meteor shower on the Saturday night – as advised by Sky News – they didn’t see much of a shower really despite sitting up until 4am …..
The next day when Nigel and I came back from the station we saw BBC news announcing the meteor shower due that night (the Sunday)!!!! It turned out Sky News had the day wrong hmmmmm !!!!
We also experience our first daytime firework display in Elche – half past one in the afternoon and the whole town centre was shut down – it was at least 35 degree heat and there were hundreds of people crowded into the street to see the display. It was certainly an experience – lots and lots of bangs and flashes – including sending fireworks up into the sky – but more smoke than pretty lights!! After 15 minutes it was finished and the whole crowd burst into massive applause – we’ve not seen anything like it before – or been as hot for a long time!
Anyway – hopefully this update finds you all well, do keep in touch everyone and let us know your news,
Love,
Sarah and Nigel
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