Finally, my holiday update. With pics!

Anyway, since a picture says a thousand words, I'll let my photos of my Spanish holiday speak for me. Briefly, we flew into Alicante airport on the Sunday evening and then drove up to Benidorm, then to a village behind the town, at the start of the mountains, called Xerles (Sometimes spelt and pronounced Cherles). The village itself is very small - probably only 30 or so houses. My folks apartment there serves as a base to head out into Benidorm or further inland. The weather was good - pleasantly warm most days (around 75-80 degrees F), usually sunny and just right for a cold blooded creature like myself.

The Benidorm area suffers a little from the standard Spanish tourist resort problem - it'll be nice when it's finished. As stands, pretty much every plot of land you can find is being built on and if it's not, it will be eventually. Second homes in Spain are a big thing with Brits, Dutch, Germans and Europeans in general. However, despite the almost constant construction, I found myself liking the place. It's easy to shift from the beaten paths and find yourself in a quieter or more isolated region and the country itself is very pretty, even when developed.

I kept pretty active while we were out there - most days we were out and the only quiet day I had, I decided to walk about five miles through the next town (Polop), towards Benidorm. The area is a place of extremes - from the brash, slightly run-down, commercialism of Benidorm to the unspoilt beauty of the mountains and historical sites like Guadalest. Honestly, I like both sides. Sometimes tacky can be fun (take Vegas for example), as long as you can get both that commercialism balanced with more aesthetic sites.

So, I took about 100 pics, but to spare you all, I've trimmed that down slightly. But there's still plenty to get through. Enjoy.

The full gallery's available here.

( Cut to avoid spammage. )