Day 2 - Sunshine, Seagulls and So Many Steps!

The Days' single comes out today. Ah well, I can download it when I get back. Anyway, I slept well and was rudely awoken at 9:15 by an extremely noisy telephone; it was Mum and Dad, and we only had forty-five minutes left to have breakfast. So after hurried preparation we raced back downstairs to the dining room. Awaiting us was, once again, a plentiful selection of foods, and I immediately tucked in. Today was going to be an out-and-about day, so I'd need the energy.
It was sunny, a vast improvement upon yesterday, so I changed into shorts and sandals, and met up with the others, ready to go exploring. We all got into the car and set off for the other side of Benidorm, where the beach, so Dad tells us, is much more interesting. Everything seemed to look a lot happier in the sun, and the sea was a deep blue, rather than yesterday's green. Once there, we headed down to the beach and I took some photos of the others before accompanying Mum into the local tourist info. I grabbed some leaflets to cut and stick later whilst Mum got the lowdown on good places to visit, such as the Chocolate Museum, for example! That's for later, though. For now, we returned to find Dad and Pete on the beach...throwing pebbles at seagulls. Why am I not surprised?
After five minutes' relaxation, we managed to find the motivation to go and buy some sunglasses. Luckily shopping around was fairly easy and before long we were back on track and driving along thhe coast to our next port of call: Altea. Surprisingly, the country outside of Benidorm is a lot less tacky and consumerism-obsessed than the city, so the drive was quite enjoyable with the sun out. Eventually, we found ourselves in the picturesque town of Altea, and hastily made tracks to the old town, not wishing to get caught in the crowds. And so we began the three-hundred-and-something-step climb, both beautiful and tiring, to the summit of the hill on which this town is built. On our way, we spotted many picturesque examples of murals and mosaics, although many were sadly ruined by grafitti. The culmination of this art came in the form of the church at the pinncale of the hill, its white and deep blue dowes standing out in their splendour from the whites and browns around them. Inside, the decoration was even more ornate. I'd like to say I've never seen so much gold leaf in my life, but that would be a lie (just visit the Royal Palace in Bangkok to see what I mean!), although this was certainly a lot. And there were loads of really ornately-carved and -painted statues looking down from alcoves to either side, and rows of paintings and images of biblical events. It was an incredible building, and the slightly-tinted light streaming through the high windows only added to the aura of something from a dream.
Back to reality, and we stopped to grab a drink. I ended up with some kind of juice which tasted like a cross between grapefruit and mango. Even now I'm not sure what it was, but it was good. So we wandered around for a bit, took some more photos, sat in the shadow of the enormous church, and then decided it was time to move on. So we trudged back down the three-hundred-and-somthing steps, past the venomously bright colours of modern Altea, and made it backt to the car and on to Calpe without incident.
Having had our taste of art and architechture, Calpe was more appealing on a natural level. Our wandering led us to a nature reserve which contained a humungous rocky outcrop - actually a fragment from the Rock of Gibraltar, for all you fact-fans out there. It was an excellent place to start making proper use of my camera, and , to be honest, I was really getting into it. I was beginning to realise how artistic you can be with the composition and the perspective and stuff, and I can see why Dad enjoys it. Especially when some challenging targets are involved, such as the hundreds of seagulls swarming around the rock.
Once we'd been dragged away from our snapping, we went to find lunch near the marina. I had squid rings, for the first time in...well, at least a year, and they were every bit as great as I remember, although I could have done with some sweet chili sauce. Anyway, I'll gloss over shopping at Lidl and the uneventful trip back. Once we were safely in our rooms, I wrote some more for my diary and swam, although this time without Pete to distract me! Anyway, before long it was time for dinner, and tonight, among other things, there were meatballs, pate and lots of chocolatey puds up for grabs. There was a lot of deep conversation over this meal, but soon we forgot it because Pete and Dad were missing the Arsenal game. As a result, we relocated to the common room again and convinced the bartender to turn on the TV, while I took the advantage to try the other non-alcoholoic cocktail, which wasn't bad, but last night's was definitely better. Soon, I was feeling quite worn out, so I left the others to their game and got away from the screeching parrots which formed part of tonight's entertainment. Maybe we'll actually get some proper music tomorrow. Back in the room, I continued diarying and listening to some music, until Pete got back. That prompted me to get ready for bed and before long I was fast asleep.

So, another day, another adventure. Hope you're enjoying it so far. If you are, come back tomorrow when...well, pretty much everywhere was closed. But don't be discouraged! Some exciting stuff may still happen. No promises of course. See you tomorrow!

Jack