Our taxi collected us at 07:00 to whisk us to a very quiet Newcastle airport. No queues meant I had plenty of time for a beer before the flight. We sat in the beer cellar in the same seats I had sat in before going to Benidorm. These are now my Jet2 seats.
On board we had arranged to have breakfast which was better than I thought it was going to be. After that there was little to do but sit back & read, with the occasional beer. Three small cans of Stella over an almost five hour flight was never going to cause me any mischief.
When we landed we were at first confused by the shiny object in the sky surrounded by blue. It of course was just the sun in a cloudless sky. Not seen in the toon for many months.
The hotel that we had looked at had been chosen as it was away from the main tourist areas. We knew we had done well when our minibus was waiting outside to take us & two other guests to the hotel. Approaching the hotel it did not look much from the outside, inside however it was top notch. The large reception area with comfy sofas & not to mention a indoor pond with live fish made for a welcoming relaxing environment. The room was incredibly spacious. Upon walking in despite being the afternoon the curtains were drawn. I have been in enough hotels to realise that when that happens you either have an amazing view. Or a view of a wall. Thankfully the former was true in this case as you can see from the photos.
We quickly unpacked & headed down to the pool & grabbed sun-loungers for a couple of hours. This was followed by some snacks & Cava on the balcony of the room.
At the stage we all were beginning to tire so we took and hour out to regroup before dinner.
We had opted to go half board, but when we checked in we were invited to dine in the a la carte restaurant as part of our package. This option was too good to not take advantage of straight away. The five course tasting menu I thought was incredible. As you can see from the photo it was a seafood tasting menu & everything was excellent.my mother was starting to feel tired following the travel & the sun. This meant I ended have her welcome drink, her wine & in the end her main course!
After dinner the parents retired for the evening & I sat outside on the terrace half watching a parrot show. I ended chatting to numerous people on Facebook for a couple of hours, finishing up in the lounge of the hotel. Some good conversations with people back home, & four other countries for good measure.