Arriving in Benidorm was interesting! We took a slightly wrong turn (although a perfectly reasonable route) just before we arrived at the campsite down a tiny narrow country lane. In front of us was a huge motorhome towing a big box trailer. Lets say his decision to reverse directly at us at speed brought out the Spanish heat in us, we were able to shout, beep and gesticulate just as passionately as he could. Fortunately Agy was unscathed after some quick thinking and manoeuvring by Ian and we arrived at the campsite well ahead of Mr Angry and got the pick of the pitches looking out over Benidorm one way and toward the dramatic mountains the other.
You may be wondering why on earth we would head to Benidorm, we aren’t from Yorkshire (well, I do have Yorkshire heritage, but I am not a Yorkshire resident) nor are we on a Hen or Stag weekend; the population that seems to take over this Spanish town each year.
No we aren’t, but Benidorm is part of our story together. In November 1988 Ian took me on our first holiday there together, just before I started my training as a nurse. Mum and dad did not approve, but we did! So off we went. Over our holiday there we fell in love with the totally crazy holiday life there. I used to drink Tequila Sunrises, and had my first waffles drenched in hot chocolate sauce, we just didn’t have that sort of thing at home. Oh they were delicious, and after a little searching we found the very waffle shop we frequented all those years ago, and later the same day I sipped my cocktail as we talked about our memories and adventures since.
Another reason for visiting was to drop in and see Ian’s friends Jamie and Justin that he used to share a stage with many years ago. They have lived locally for many years and perform regularly under their professional name “The Timewarp Duo”. They are fabulous! Both as performers and people. It is funny how you can go 20 or more years between seeing people, and it feels as if you have never been apart.
We had the most amazing time, we sat in the shade and watched the world go by, and we found little bars near the site that the locals frequented, we ventured into town in the daytime, and for just one evening of madness and mayhem, and Ian tasted his very first Tapas, despite having visited Spain numerous times, and I tried my first Tinto Verano (a fizzy drink similar to Sangria). We highly recommend both!
On our first evening in the main hubbub of the tourist hotspot we received free vodka shots with our beer (we think because we tried out our fledgling Spanish to order when nobody else did), later in the local bar each beer was paired with tapas. To be honest, the Tapas was better for us, but we downed the vodka (Icelandic, not Russian the barman carefully pointed out) with somewhat more gusto than the Tapas….
We did of course also spot the scooters made so famous by Mel’s scooter shop in the TV series set here. There was no way we could miss them!. They are everywhere, mainly ridden by people perfectly capable of walking, often shouting beep beep as they try to pass you at high speed, when they have a perfectly good horn on board!
I don’t know what it is, but there is something about Benidorm we both still love, even though this time we seemed to gravitate towards the little bar the local police stopped at for their coffee breaks over the dodgy night time entertainment at full volume till 4am, but Camping Villa Sol served us well. I suspect we may return and if you have never been, you should, just once.
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