Her Gorgeous Life: Spain Day 7 - Guadix_Alicante

It's mother's day & I would like to give a shout out to all lovely mummies out there: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! MUM ROCKS!!! :D

It's down to the 2nd last day of my Spain trip. For once I think I might actually be able to finish blogging about my trip. I didn't manage to do that with my Czech, HongKong & Japan trips. I wonder if it might be too late to blog about a trip that took place 2 years ago? Wahahahaha ....... :p

We were travelling to Valencia but we'll 1st make stop-overs in Guadix & Alicante. The most famous feature of Guadix is the cave dwellings in the Barrio Troglodyte where almost half the population live. These caves are in no way primitive dwellings and are a solution to the fierce heat of the Granadian summer.

It was most interesting that we were able to visit 1 such cave house.

The owner of this cave house had kept lots of animals!

Although now I wonder if the rabbits were reared as pets or food. That's cos I realised much later that the Spanish eats rabbit meat! It's in their signature paella :(

We're in the cave now which was similar to what we had seen when the gypsies did their flamenco dance.

Here's the owner of this cave house. He's extremely friendly & very house proud.

He mentioned that his wife is expecting & so he's busy digging out another room to accomodate the new bundle of joy.

The walls of the entire cave is marked with lines like these after the digging. Can you imagine how much effort is required to build up a house? Totally all heart & sweat ...........

We were told they never threw anything away & it's apparent in how they were used to decorate the house. It's pretty amazing how they can maintain everything so neat & clean. Instead of cluttering everything, they hang everything up on the walls & it lends a most unique feel to the house!

It's tradition for Troglodytes men to make these urn on their own, then stuff it money to be delivered to their brides' house as wedding gift.

You step right outside the house & you get magnificent views such as these. What wouldn't I give to see it everyday!

Snow-capped mountains in the distance

Our stop-over for lunch - Alicante. It is often associated with relaxation & synonymous with the rich & famous. Check out the pleasure crafts docked along it's coast.

Alicante has wide boulevards & long white sandy beaches.

The scene was totally surreal! I've never seen the sky so beautiful in my entire existence.

The wind that was blowing was pretty insane & so I admire the 2 of them lying there fully clothed, with the sands flying wildly around. Quite a sight to the suaku me :p

Palm-lined promenade of Postiguet beach.

I love this photo!!! The timing was just perfect ....... at the right place ....... at the right time.

This IS the highlight of my entire trip! When I think about my Spain trip, I think about this moment. I swear I'm not kidding! *straight face*

Highlight = TAPAS SHOP!!!

We were given 45mins to look for our own lunch & our heart brimming with joy at the thought of tapas at last, we went in search for it. Thinking that it's right next to the the Mediterranean sea, we would have no lack of seafood tapas. But to our dismay, there was no tapas shop in sight! Many of my colleagues gave up the search & ended up in McDonald instead. I was so glad that we (Noel, Dionne & Diana) didn't! Through sheer perseverance, we finally found 1 in the back alley. And it was PERFECT! The very best ..........

You know those anime that shows the characters with exaggerated expressions likened to being in paradise after tasting great food? I was like that! Mmmm ....... Mmmm ....... Mmmm ......... What can I say? The tapas was absolutely the best! And the prawns .......... I can taste it even till now. *smacks lips*

Moving off to Valencia & enjoying the gorgeous scenery after a most hearty meal. I wished there was time to spend in that tapas shop though. I could have ordered at least 10 more of those prawns!

I don't think anyone noticed it but me (most sleeping by now). I saw the moon high up in those clear blue skies. Don't know why but at that moment, everything felt so tranquil. It was very soothing to know that even the night & day were at peace with each other.

Can you spot the moon?

Edging in closer to Valencia. Valencia is renown for their oranges & we passed by many orange plantations on the way.

My attempt at being artistic! Wahahaha!!!

Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral was our 1st stop. One of the supposed Holy Chalices, present around the world, is revered in one of this cathedral's chapels; this chalice has been defended as the true Holy Grail; indeed, most Christian historians all over the world declare that all their evidence points to this Valencian chalice as the most likely candidate for being the authentic cup used at the Last Supper.

It seems to draw you in, doesn't it?

This is the Chapel of Resurrection & features the mummified hand of St. Vincent the Matyr

It was too late by the time we got there & The Chapel of the Holy Chalice was closed. It's such a shame that we went all the way there & didn't manage to get a glimpse of the Holy Grail. We had to make do with just the banner then. 'No fish, prawn also good lah' :p

Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain & I was told by the tour guide that the schools in Valencia are moving towards taking Mandarin (not English) as their 2nd language. Impressive!

The Llotja de la Seda is a late Gothic style civil building. The UNESCO considered it as a World Heritage Site in 1996 since "the site is of outstanding universal value as it is a wholly exceptional example of a secular building in late Gothic style, which dramatically illustrates the power and wealth of one of the great Mediterranean mercantile cities.