Marjal Costa Blanca Post 4

Tuesday 18th - Monday 24th December 2018 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞 - another week of lovely wall to wall warm sunshine
No Motorhome Miles but about 80 🚴🚴 miles over several trips!
Parking Co-ordinates 38.18085, -0.8119

Well, that's week 4 of our 6 week stay here at Marjal Costa Blanca that's passed by, and on this 2018 Christmas Eve we're all getting ready for the big🎄 HO, HO, HO 🎄which will be a certain gentleman's busiest night of the year!

Sarah and Paul with their + 1

But before we get into all that we want to send our Daughter Sarah and Son in Law Paul all our love, hugs and best wishes for their 16th wedding anniversary which was on the 22nd  

So what have we been up to this week?  Well, in addition to lots of rally activities and the necessity of having to sit for many hours in the lovely sunshine we've taken ourselves off out for several long rides, one of which took us to the coastal town of Santa Pola which used to be a small fishing community but is now a bustling holiday resort that  hasn't quite lost  all it's old charm.

Santa Pola Marina

Santa Pola Beach

When we first arrived we entered into the marina where many millions of pounds worth of yachts of all shapes and sizes are housed, and the back drop to that was a huge palm tree lined prom where we found lots of pretty eateries and bars that stretched for several hundred yards.  However, as is our usual habit, we wandered past all them and found a balcony overlooking miles of clean sandy beach, and this provided a lovely spot for our picnic lunch.

Our Dining Room

Then once fed and watered we headed back along the La Gola and El Pinet beaches  towards Santa Pola's salt lakes - The Bonmati Salt Flats - which are now designated as a nature park and are famous for huge flocks of migrating birds that include spectacular flocks of pink flamingos.

The Salt Flats with Myriads of Flamingos  in the Distance

La Gola beach is also the home of 'Salinas Bras del Port', and it is here that  huge salt mountains are stock piled while waiting for transport away form the area.

The Salt Mountains

A Different Day and a Different Outing - This time up into the hills.

Another cycle outing (which we did with about 35 other ralliers) took us to the village of Daya Vieja where we visited another nativity and also a very unusual structure called 'El Mirador de la Palmera'! 

Our guide informed us that he thought it had been put there as part of a Millennium  project, but in actual fact it was constructed to protect the cluster of 6 towering palm trees that it encircled.   It was designed by Joaquin Alvado Banon and it's construction almost resembles a 3 story roller coaster where visitors spiral upwards via a long metal ramp that terminates in a bridge that leads to nowhere!  However,  once out on the 'limb' (which you can see better in the pic below) and with a bit of gentle persuasion (from me) it rocked and swayed very nicely resulting in one or two of our party squealing while others watched our antics from far below😂😂😂




Me up high and John down low with his new mate Nick😂

It rocked really well if you jumped up and down right on the end!

We've also had quite a few other outings but the two above were the most interesting, and if I'm honest the sun's shining so I'd really rather be out there with hubby than indoors tapping out our tale which probably wouldn't really be very interesting unless your here in person to enjoy it.

But just before I go I've got a bit of trivia to share!  Tonight we're going to a Christmas shindig that involves a Quiz and one of the questions that is nearly always asked at Christmas Do's is 'how many gifts are given in the 12 Days of Christmas Song'  The answer is 364 but when we Googled it we found out much more😏

The 12 days of Christmas are a period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi - the three wise men.  It begins on December 25th and runs through to January 6th which is the Epiphany, or here in Spain, King's Day.  The song originates from some time between 1558 and 1829 when Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly so during that era the carol was written as a song for Catholics to demonstrate their faith secretly!

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah of Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit Prophesy, Serving, Teaching Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolised the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there, now you know and maybe when you hear the carol this Christmas it will take on a slightly different meaning for you. 

Anyway, enough off that, I'm going to sign off for now and wish all our friends, family and readers a very very Happy Christmas with lots of over indulgences, pressies and definitely not to much hard work!!!

🎁Merry Christmas Everyone🎁 😙😙

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