Operation Spain.

As my camera's memory was getting full I decided to transfer everything onto my computer and, in the process, found a whole folder of holiday photos from mine and Gary's trip to Spain last summer. I thought I'd share them on here both as a keepsake for myself and a chance to show those of you who haven't been perhaps some of the highlights (amidst many other irrelevant but amusing pictures).

Gary and I on the plane out there - it's funny how much we've changed in six months.

We were lucky enough to have the free use of Gary's uncle's apartment for the fortnight we stayed. It's in a gorgeous building called The Bellagio and we had an amazing three bedroom apartment to ourselves. It massively helped us financially and the security* of the complex took a little weight off our minds. (* 24 hour security guards on duty and an inability to enter the complex without a key to the front door or gates - hence, no strangers).

The entrance hall to the apartment.

The corridor of wardrobes and en-suite bathroom leading to the master bedroom.

 It was funny really because we had an amazing master bedroom with en-suite and all the storage we could ever want but, after one week, we moved out of it and into the smaller kids' room because it was too big and we didn't like it!

The view off our balcony.

What the building looks like from the gardens.

My favourite bit: The Buddhist shrine just outside the side gate of the complex.

I love the seaside and I always love to holiday there - whether it be home or abroad. There's just something about the sea that clears my mind and the fresh sea air is one of my favourite smells. Fortunately we were a single minute's walk from the beach and so we got to go there every day and, although Gary didn't particularly enjoy sunbathing, he did indulge my love of the beach a few times. Bless him.

The Gazatron on the seafront.

As well as the beach, we stayed directly opposite Paloma Park and it was lovely just to have a stroll around, watching the turtles and peacocks, and getting horrendously sunburned.

Me overlooking the pond in the centre of the park.

The inventively named Mr Peacock.

Although we're not actually big drinkers (we never go out to drink and very, very rarely have one at home), Gary and I did rather take to cocktails and, in his case, sangria. The particular night in question, Gary and I went out for a meal and went to a little pub that was offering two steaks with sides and a bottle of wine for some kind of reasonable price. Before said meal, we ordered a cocktail (see below) and quite underestimated how strong the wine would actually be. After the cocktail and half of the bottle of wine between us we were more than tipsy. So much so that we had to sit on the beach for an hour before we could walk back to the apartment because neither one of us could walk in a straight line. No more Spanish wine for us, then.

The offending, but delicious, jug of cocktail.

During the holiday we took a few day trips - one of which was to a little inland village named Mijas and one down to the marina. At the marina, Gary and I called in to the SeaLife Centre but, at almost £20 per person to enter, we larked around in the gift shop and left without seeing a single fish. Nevertheless, we had a lovely day strolling around the Marina and sweating more than humanly possible during our journey back to the apartment.

Best pirate in the world. He wanted to buy the hat. It was a no from me.

Spain was lovely and, if you don't mind commercial holidays, then it's definitely a cheap and cheerful break. Perhaps not cheap from the States but that's by the by. It's a shame the area has become so commercialised in the past ten years and it was obvious to Gary and I that the locals almost resent tourists now. It is their primary source of income but they seem to be a little bitter, and quite rightly I guess, that tourists go to their country and refuse to speak their language. Unfortunately, we fell into that category: between us, the entirety of the Spanish we know are insults, obscenities and 'cheese'. But all in all we had a lovely time and I hope you all get to enjoy holidays as much as we do. :)

PS. A little word of advice from me: don't put bubbles in your bath and then turn on the jacuzzi setting...