Wednesday 19 June 2013

Costa Blanca and Valencia (with the Smiths!)





 We had a lovely trip to Spain over Easter week with Trent, Cortney, and Dexter Smith (I can't believe I'm just now writing this!).  It was a very relaxing time and our "last hurrah" of European vacations and we are thankful to the Smiths for making the trip across the pond to spend some quality time with us.




We spent quite a bit of time at the villa enjoying gorgeous views, fine food and drink, and lovely company (including a few lively, late-night games of spades).  The guys grilled out several times and we enjoyed lots of fresh produce from local farmers' markets.

  



















The villa we stayed in is on the Mediterranean coast in the quaint beach town of Moraira.  We went into the village most days and enjoyed the beach, shopping, and restaurants.

Trent and Cortney took Eli for a night and we looked after Dexter so we both got to have a date night!







We all went into Valencia for the day.  We went to the most amazing fresh air market that had every kind of seafood imaginable (living and dead!), gorgeous pastries, and a variety of meats (you can see the pig's head behind Drew here) and veg.




 

After the market we walked around the city a bit and enjoyed lunch in the courtyard of the cathedral.






Perhaps our favorite activity was relaxing on the beach!  The first night we were there the guys went out to get us dinner and they found this little open-air restaurant on the beach.  We liked the food and it was very casual so the boys could run around and we could hang out on the beach while we waited for food (paella--which is to die for-- takes over an hour) so we went there several days.





 



All in all, it was an incredible vacation and we feel really blessed to have been able to enjoy such a beautiful place as a family and with such great friends.