Denia

After the city delights, we headed to the Mediterranean coast - kind of a must do thing after a few days being inland as we were missing the seaside life. We had one night in a very very cheap hotel  on the way and enjoyed one of those "18 euros for three courses with bread, water and wine" meals. Yes, we went big.

Denia was the first proper seaside stop, where we had an apartment for a few nights. A short walk from the rather nice area we were domiciled in took us to the port:

and a chance to go boat spotting. A few UK registered yachts, some pretty ugly fast motor cruisers and unfortunately, not a single Nordhavn in sight. We liked the waterfront area and the views up to the castle that had been rescued, repaired and opened to the public again:

The main streets were pretty typical of the area, wide, tree lined, pedestrianised, clean and all ready for the outside seating café lifestyle:

We checked out the top rated bakery come coffee shop and were far from disappointed. So much so that we needed to check it out the following day as well. Wandering around the town we found the usual mix of interesting buildings and exhibitions that we didn't bother to visit as it was sunny and tempting outside:

We'd seen the UK forecast that was for days of unending rain and grey skies. Although we felt sorry for the boat and knew that we would have some nice green GRP to return to, we were very happy to be here. Despite the hill, we did drag ourselves up to the old castle and were very pleased that we did. Quite a history and some great views back across the port area to enjoy:

together with some back to the old town itself:

Having seen the "cheaper" marina area, we also walked around to the rather posher "Marina de Denia". Designer shops, some strange restaurants, several really tasteless Sunseeker motor yachts and several tasty cars driven by people who thought they were tasty too.  Most were very delusional in our humble opinion The view across to the boatyard gives you an idea of the kind of craft that had been dragged out for maintenance:

We would look like a rowboat amongst that lot. 

Denia was a happy surprise, way nicer than we expected and it had the obligatory Ale Hop tourist trap shop that helped Anne with her Xmas present search. We ended up with a bag full of stuff for her that we had to smuggle back into the UK. OK, just bring back in the very full car, we were not above the customs allowances.