Our most gracious hostess, Alica, once again, went out of her way to have breakfast ready for us as the sun rose over the town at 7 am, (an hour early) so we could tackle this blasted mountain in the cool morning air, though it would have been worth the wait and the late start.  Besides the delicious café con leche, orange juice, fabulous granola and yogurt, there was this platter.

How we went anywhere this stuffed, is beyond me; and to leave this little slice of paradise was difficult.  People had been telling us for the last two days that this was a tough mountain with steep grades, so we were anxious to get it behind us.  We started on what appeared to be flat roads and still struggled; the sight of others out being active helped to push us along.

These “flat” roads led straight to the mountain we had to climb.  It took us an hour to get to the beginning of the climb, covering only six and a half miles.  Amazingly, we were able accomplish the 3 mile climb in less than an hour, we were stoked.We would come to curse our mini-celebration at the top of this mountain.  We wound our way down slowly because of the sharp turns, but it allowed us an opportunity for photos of the countryside once again dotted with olive trees.  Finally able to see one close enough to check them out, then we noticed trees dripping with olives.

Round-abouts are a commonplace in Europe and we enjoyed how many were ‘dressed up’

About 10 am the light breeze started to gain strength, but once again our constant direction turn kept it from being a continual threat.  On our approach to Mazarron we picked up a continuous parade of cars; we’d enjoyed having the roads to ourselves.  But they turned to the beach and we headed back into the hills.

Picked up another mountain climb somewhere before noon, that just would not quit; not sure why no one warned us about this one.  Had to stop for lunch in the middle of it, just to replenish.

Tired and exhausted as we’d given our all in the morning, we only managed one picture.

It took us at least an hour and a half to get to the top.  We kept looking for our destination in the distance, but to no avail.  We pedaled hard down the mountain as we really wanted to get checked in and relax.  Though our gas station stop told us it was less than five miles to the city, it was twelve plus a flat tire…..which really slows down the momentum.

Managed to get into the city in time to take in the sights before dinner.  We stayed right at the port, as there is no beach in Cartagena, unlike it’s Colombian sister city, though here too, the old city is protected by a fort wall.  There is a huge arsenal and a compound wall with “Capitana General” on the doors, but it seemed too large for a residence.  City Hallwas huge and covered in marble, signs of better times.  There were not a lot of cafés along the streets, but plenty of well restored buildings.We managed to find a great street side restaurant for dinner and people watching.And with a French aircraft carrier having just come into port for a one week stay, it was plenty entertaining.  We had another fabulous plate of paella (we’re 3 for 4), incredible dessert (this is one serving) and a delicious toast compliments of the house (thought of you, Justin)Just reward for a long day of mountain climbing.

We climbed up and out of Cartagena into fabulously, flat farmland.  Gone were the plastic greenhouses and the wind and this was as close as we got to a mountain. It was good to see green again after so many days of rock.  Huge orange groves and lemons almost the size of grapefruit.  The farms were very much like the US,

crops being harvested and an occasional palm tree….okay, maybe not the palm tree. We passed a sign for Roda and thought we would be able to offer a picture for our servicemen that may have been stationed there, but it was a different Roda.Had a friendly chat with this gentleman, that wondered if we were on “vacation”!  More interesting round-aboutsand a few huge homes.Saw the beach only once on our ride today and it was wall to wall people.We have found the Spanish people like to be close to each other.  Much like their homes, they cluster together on the beach, too.  Not much else to say or show about our 44 mile day today.  Had a nice view of the canal

that led to the Med but nothing else about where we were staying.  One point we’ve not mentioned that has been the case for a least a week;  several of the towns we have stayed have offered a “Menu of the Day”.  Which usually comprises of three courses and we can “almost” understand the food choices, plus they’ve been very good.  Since we were not near anywhere, there were not a lot of choices.   So as to not show you another picture of Gazpacho (which we’ve been enjoying nightly) we will simply tell you tonight, was once again deliciouso!

Today was a short ride (supposed to be a day off)as we wanted to spend as much time as possible touring Alicante.  We sailed through the salt flatssaw lots of flamingos (they don’t like cameras)and began to wonder why we did not do these miles yesterday.  That was until we had to climb the Santa Pola ridge, but that became a distant memory as we came around the corner and had Alicante in our sights.  We wound our way to the boardwalknear the harbor and got a taste of what the town had to offer.But this city was a-buzz with vendors and people stringing lights across the streets. They were getting ready for Festival Bonfires of St. John celebrated during the summer solstice, simply crazy.First, we needed a room and to rest.Our balcony offered a tremendous view of City Hall and the Santa Barbara Castle.The streets were amazing, the buildings impressive and the beach packed.We visitied the Basílica de Santa María with the ever present castle in the background.As tired as we were, there was no way we would make it up the steep hill to see it first hand, so we resiegned ourselves to take pictures of it from every angle.We did a lot of walking including the two mile walk to the packaging store to ship our tent and cold weather gear back home, not much of a rest for the legs, but such a great citywith so much to see.The promenade Explanada de España, lined by palm trees, is paved with 6.5 million marble floor tiles creating a wavy form and is one of the most lovely promenades in Spain.  It is also a great place to watch the Spaniards on their traditional “paseo – evening stroll.”After dinner we stopped for a glass of Sangria and had a most magical moment, when the lights of the city came on.We debated to stay a few more days for the festival and see the final productbut knew in truth we did not want to be there for the mayhem.  So good night to the castle and the city.

We had one last glimpse of the castle and the wall that surrounded the old townas we pedaled away from Alicante.  Then we enjoyed a glorious ride along the boardwalk (ie: no mountains), joining the strollers and those getting a little exercise first thing in the morning.There was also the occasional yacht and a view of the shoreline we just traversed.We lost our beach after and hour and a half and climbed mountains,but the scenery continued to keep our mind from the chore.

An hour or so later our course took us closer to the beach and into the large city of Benidorm; filled with contemporary buildings, the likes of which we had not seen before; even the boardwalk had a contemporary flair.This looked like a city that hit it’s boom before the bottom dropped out; tons and tons of modern high rises and based on the amount of people on the beach, they were occupied.  Seriously, have you ever seen so many people on a beach? Though it was a bit early, we stopped here for lunch as the duckies had found a shady spot to rest.We seemed to climb the hills past beautiful homeslooking out to the sea with not as much pain as in previous days….there is a lot to be said for having the wind at your back.  Thank goodness we had the wind at our back as the climbs were toughwith a few tunnels thrown in for good measure.But the height did allow beautiful views of the seaand the town of Calpe in the distance.With a little more climbingwe arrived in Calpe around 2:00

and had a refreshment at a cafe to decide whether to continue on or stay here.  Based on availability in the next ten + miles and the scenery, we decided to check in with 44 miles done.  Calpe boasts a rock as impressive (in our opinion) as the rock of Gibraltar.There are two side to this town, the port with a rocky shoreline, where we stayed and the sandy beachon the other side of the rock.Since we stayed on the ‘port’ side we decided to enjoy fresh seafood, of which we had a lot to choose, calamari and white fish won out,absolutely divine!

The heavy winds died overnight and left beautiful calm waters as we left Calpe.  Our first hour and a half this morning, we snaked our way UP and down the cliffs

that hung on the coast of the Mediterranean, through beautiful neighborhood streets, flowers dripping from the high stone walls that kept us from the spectacular vistas they enjoyed.  We were enjoying the morning cooled by the shade of the narrow tree lined roads, but knew we had some severe climbing to do, so when we reached the town of Xabia, we decided to stop for breakfast.We’d left too early for breakfast this morning, so two and a half hours later, we were hungry, but managed to save a crumb for our breakfast companion.And is par for the (our) course, we had an immediate climb, a truly wicked climb.The water ran off of us as we slowly, ever so slowly climbed the steep mountain.The homes continued to dot the hillsideas we slowly crept along.We had a wonderful and cooling fly down, all the way to the seaonly to crawl back up again.After 25 miles the climbing stopped,

but the wind picked up and changed direction to challenge us for the last half of our ride.  The wind was strong, hot, dry and in our face.  Our only relief was in the one or two towns we went through that blocked the direct blow with their tall buildings.  However, the “Farmicia” signs reminded us of the 97 degree heat (the bike read 110).  It was the first time this trip, that our water on the bike became too hot to drink within a half an hour.   After five hours of biking in the incredible heat, we arrived at our destination, found a hotel and checked in to cool off.   It was too hot to go outside to explore, but all there is to see is a very, very wide beach.  We vegged in the room until dinner.  As we are heading back to the hotel after dinner (at 9 pm) people are just walking off the beach, simply crazy.

Sunrise this morning was like waking up in Virginia Beach with the sun burning it’s way over the horizon. We turned the corner onto the boardwalk and were hit head on with a wind even stronger than yesterday. With the sky clear,

it was going to be a long, hot day; thank goodness today’s course was flat.Missed getting a picture, but assume the kids that were leaving the beach late last night were the same ones that were partying on the boardwalk this morning, as we pedaled away.

Less than an hour into our ride, the clouds began to form over the mountains, occasionally offering us a break from the sun.  As we could see the rain begin to fall over the mountains, the clouds increased near the coast where we were riding, cooling the day.Thankfully, we managed to skirt this mountain,We continued through miles of small private farms guarded with fences, some homemade. We have heard that with the failing economy, many farms are being pilfered so it was very understandable.

Once again, we left much earlier than the offered 9:00 am breakfast, but found a little bakery along the way with plenty of good things to eat.

Around 25 miles into our bike a local offered us a lift, via a draft.  We’d been struggling to maintain 10 mph in the heavy head wind, but he picked it up to 15 plus.  For five miles our legs screamed trying to keep the draft and the strong pace.

Even had a couple of tag-alongs behind us;must have been quite the draft behind our heavily laden bikes.  After five miles he made a turn on a round-about that was not our direction.  We stopped, but he returned to us and communicated that he was taking us into the city; a wonderful shortcut we would have never found but another five miles of aggressive speed.  We flew by a couple of interesting sights, but could not get past a buzzing noise that was getting louder and louder.  The European Formula One Championship was in town.  Scott and Pam, if Nascar is even half as noisy as these cars, forget it!  Our entry into the city was beautiful,accentuated by many contemporary buildings, this is part of the Oceanograpic Museumand we think this has something to do with Modern Art.

But the real gem of Valencia is the old city.  With the race in town and it being a weekend, rooms were hard to come by or they had no room for our bicycles (that’s a first).  Did manage to find a room on the outskirts of the third largest city in Spain (two and a half hours later).  So tomorrow, we’ll take a much needed rest day and explore the city.

Almost managed to sleep in, but did have a leisurely breakfast until we learned that we did not have a room for tonight……..ever heard of ‘last in, first out’, that and a bit of miscommunication, but bottom line was we had no room and there was no room for 50 miles in any direction (apparently Formula One is really big here).  So we loaded our bikes and pushed away from the birthplace of Paella at 9 am.  Shortly after leaving the city we did find a Monastery

(Monestir de Sant Miquel Dels Reis) which will have to replace the architecture we missed in Valencia.  It was a beautiful cool morning through flat farmland and small villages with big churches This blue tiled dome is much like the monastery dome; must have been common in the 1500’s.  We enjoyed quiet roads and dedicated bike paths with a lot of bikers out for their weekend long ride.  Rode the foothills of this huge castle that seemed to stretch on forever.   Our wind picked up by ten, not nearly as strong as yesterday and a bit cooler, so it didn’t seem to slow us down, just annoy us.

After 30 miles we came to a stand still at a round-about, trying to figure out which way to go.  Jerry flagged down a passing biker and he led us for miles in the direction we needed to go, thankfully at a humane pace.  It was also about the time we lost our quiet roads and picked up traffic.  But with ample shoulder and polite drivers it was bearable.  Reached the edge of Castellón/Castelló just as the stores were closing for their afternoon siesta; it is still strange to us that a city closes down for several hours in the middle of the day.  And when it closes down, it gets quiet, we had the city to ourselves.

Castellón is an old city, originally founded in 1251.  We went out for a little exploring and almost immediately were rewarded with wonderful architecture and the “Plaza de Toros.” Thought we’d see more old buildings, but only facades or corners showed, consumed by newer buildings and artwork, with some exceptions. Found a great square, that was anchored by the Cathedral de Santa Maria,

Originally built in the 13^th century but rebuilt in 1936 after it was burned to the ground in the Spanish Civil War.   Wanted to see the inside, but there was a wedding going on; which explains why there were SO many dressed up people sitting in the cafes that lined the square.  So we did what they and all Spaniards seem to do at this time of day, sat down and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria

and waited until the wedding was over, it was most entertaining.

It seemed as if half the people showed up while the wedding was going on and waited outside, but the dresses…..Inside the church was pretty, decorated with hundreds of flowers from the wedding

but not nearly as ornate as I would think for a Cathedral.  Siesta and photo taking session over, the only thing left was dinner.  Our hotel recommended a great local restaurant, where we enjoyed beef that cut like butter and a victorious soccer match.  Certainly not Valencia, but a beautiful day and most enjoyable city, nonetheless.