Alicante, Benidorm 😮🤭, then Altea

Got up to a cloudy day this morning, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Drove to the local Lidl to stock up …hurrayyy- it’s pain au chocolate day! Added bonus on the way, there was cheap diesel at €1.11; makes a big difference when we average 26mpg. Drove to Alicante, which was big city stuff and we couldn’t find parking. Ended up on the far side of it but managed to park by the beach in the rain. The sand looked quite nice and there was a good row of colourful beach huts. The scenery became quite mountainous and a lot more interesting as we got further up the coast. Then, suddenly, WHAM! Benidorm! Our jaws were on the floor – expected a few sky scrapers, but my God it looks like they’re having a competition to see who can build the tallest. We had a drive through and then made a quick escape. Altea, just a few miles up the road is a world apart. The old village is whitewashed, set on a hill and just beautiful. Turquoise sea and a big pebble beach on the front turned it into a good end to the day – especially when the sun came out.