Murcia

May 19th - May 23rd 2010

Wednesday 19th May 2010

Home to Murcia

Here we go again. Just three weeks after Portugal we're off again. Well three weeks between holidays is a bit much!

Flight wasn't until 14.25 so a quiet start to the morning. Did some packing and re-packing thanks to Ryanair's stupid 15kg baggage policy. 15kg isn't a lot - particularly when your case weighs 6kg when it's empty. Got the pillow and fan into the small carry-on case which wasn't allowed to be more that 10kg. Got it to exactly 10kg. Using the bathroom scales we figured the main case was about 14kg.

Left for the airport around 11.15 and stopped at the post office in Swanbourne to get some Euros. We'd booked executive parking so it was easy enough. Pulled up outside the airport and the guy was there to meet us. Got all our stuff and went up to the airport. Met Stuart just inside and headed off to the check-in desk. One desk open for Murcia and one for Marrakesh. Not too many people at all so we got to the front quite quickly. Of course we'd had to print off our boarding passes on the right sort of paper so it was a nervous time while we were checked over. It's like being a spy in a John Le Carre novel trying to get from West to East Berlin in the Cold War. The level of suspicion with which you are treated sucks any joy out of the idea of air-travel.

Weighed our case and it was 14.9kg. Woman tagged it and then its weight shot up to 42kg - luckily it was only Stuart leaning on it.

Overheard the person checking in at the Marrakesh desk and they had 2 cases of 22kg each so they were being told to dump stuff or pay the £140 per case needed for the extra! How do you dump 7kg from each bag?!?

Security was straight forward enough so we headed to Est for some lunch. All had breakfast-based brunches with nice bloomer bread and scrambled eggs along with very good coffee. Quick dash round the book shop and Dixons before heading to the gate.

Now all the other airlines at Luton get you to go to the special assistance desk and then they take you a back way to the plane. Not Ryanair. They say get yourself to the gate and someone will come for you there. Duly got ourselves to the gate and waited. There were two women walking around with cardboard boxes showing the maximum size of cabin baggage and wearing money belts to charge extra if your case exceeds that. Ryanair really are scum. Their business plan seems to be based on catching you out whenever possible. From hiding the "I don't need travel insurance" on their booking site, to getting money out of you for excess baggage - they are just the most grasping company I've ever come across. As I mentioned earlier, you could argue that the joyful, carefree days of air travel in that pre-9/11 period is starting to return. You know what to expect from security, facilities air-side are good and most airlines are now pushing customer service as that extra that makes you choose them. Not Ryanair. They are like the Death Eaters in Harry Potter. Any happiness will be sucked from you. I guess it's not even the fault of the staff but the ethos from the top. If you're told to get every bit of money from the passengers, then that's what you have to do. In all seriousness EasyJet are in a different league!

The special assistance guys came and got us loaded onto the plane. A row had been bagged for us so we were fine with that. Stuart was down the front, we were up the back - but we had three seats between 2 so that was OK. On-board Ryanair have removed the bit that used to contain the sick-bag and magazines etc and the seats are rigid so they don't recline. Leg-room is a bit of a joke and there's no room in the overhead locker as everyone has got 10kg of case to get in there rather than pay the fee for checked baggage. Seats OK and staff OK but that's about as far as it goes.

Flight time was 2'05" so we watched a film on Nikki's iPod. Started with Sherlock Holmes which was truly awful and then moved on to Transformers which was surprisingly good.

The landing at Murcia was basically the closest you're going to get to a crash without actually crashing. The pilot slammed the plane down on the runway and then seemed to struggle to bring it to a halt. When he did, there was much relief in the cabin. I seriously though we were going to go off the end of the runway. Probably the worst landing I've ever experienced and walked away from!

It was wheels-down at 17.45 - took ages to get everyone off the plane and then took ages for Special Assistance to come. Eventually they got us into the terminal building and Stuart had got our bag so I went to tackle Avis. Remember, I'm a Gold/Preferred member with a pre-booked car. Had to wait for ages while a couple in front of me was told how you hire a car. Woman at the desk was useless. She eventually got my contract sorted and after half an hour we were sent out to the lot where her colleague would be with the keys. Was she hell. Waited another five minutes before this leisurely woman turned up and pointed out our car. Totally unsuitable and not what I ordered. After a bit of arguing I eventually got the car I wanted but she said we'd have to go back in to the terminal to queue up again and get the contract changed. Stuart suggested she might like to do that for us and then bring it back to us. She did and we were on our way. Took us 1'15" to get through an airport which is probably the smallest I've seen since Western Australia.

Drove through San Javier and headed up to the hotel. Slightly disappointed there wasn't someone to help with the bags but we managed and got checked in quite easily.

Regular readers will know we'd come back here at the Manager's invitation as the last stay had a few glitches. He'd put us in a Suite and had put a bottle of wine on ice with a nice fruit selection laid out. Room is gorgeous. Massive bathroom, nice living room and separate bedroom. Top marks so far! View from the balcony is across the pool with the golf course in the distance.

I had a quick shower and Nikki unpacked and then Stuart came for a look at the room at 20.15 before we drove to San Javier for dinner at the Wentworth. When we came last year this was a quiet pub run by a British couple who did excellent food and were very friendly. Obviously that business model wasn't a success so it had now changed hands to a sports bar with live music and a very mediocre menu. Time was getting on so we decided to stay. Pretty average meal to be honest.

Drove back to the hotel via a couple of garages for some supplies and in bed by 22.45. At least tomorrow we have to have NO dealings with Ryanair so it MUST be a better day!

Thursday 20th May 2010

Murcia

What a nice way to start the day. Woke up unsure as to what the time was because of the excellent black-out curtains in the bedroom. Went through to the lounge and found it was 07.00 so made myself a cup of coffee and sat on the balcony watching the sun get higher and the hotel start to stir.

Some crazy golfers were already on the golf course. They must get up when it's still dark to get there on time. Nikki got up around 08.15 so we had more coffee on the balcony. I jumped in the shower and got ready while Nikki checked emails. Stuart called and we arranged to meet for breakfast at 09.20.

Breakfast is still as good as the last time we were here. Lots of different fruit, breads and cakes and also a cooked section with an omelette chef. Breakfast took well over an hour as we just chatted and grazed. The omelette chef made Nikki a soft-boiled egg and brought it over so she had egg and soldiers!

After breakfast we checked out the pool and worked out where we'd like to sit. Nipped back to the room to grab our stuff, including a copy of The Times which had been left for me. Very quiet morning spent watching the world go by. Didn't try the pool as it was freezing!

Had a look at the pool bar but decided €16 was a bit steep for a burger. Decided to go across to the supermarket for some supplies instead. Back to the room where it was being cleaned. As we were getting ready someone from the hotel turned up with a plate of cold meats, a bottle of red wine and platter of fruit. The joys of being a Platinum Ambassador!

Supermarket trip was well worth it. Spent €11 and got enough for a small army - and enough for tomorrow as well. Decided to go to Stuart's room as his balcony had more seats on there. In fact we just sat at the table in his lounge and had fresh bread, cream cheese and tomato with free drinks from his mini-bar. Nikki and Stuart managed to get through a bottle of champagne so everyone was happy!

After lunch it was back to the pool for a quick bit of relaxing. All day there was a photographer and his crew doing a shoot for a French supermarket of patio furniture. Watched them for a bit and Nikki fell asleep for half an hour. Me and Stuart decided we should become MEP's so we could go on fact-finding trips around the world!

Back to the room by 17.00 and as I write this Nikki is fast asleep in bed! This evening it's the hunt for a nice Italian restaurant.

We decided to go down the coast a bit to Torrevieja which a bigger town. Got there and found the Italian restaurant we'd had a nice meal in last November. As is proving par for this trip - it had closed! Drove around the town a bit and discovered a sea-front we'd completely missed last time we came.

Parked up and had a walk up and down. Amazing ice-cream shops with incredible flavours on offer. As we were having a nose, the staff behind the counter passed us little bits to taste. On this, we decided which ice-cream shop would get our desert custom.

A bit further up we saw a restaurant called El Muelle which was offering nice sounding Italian food. Sadly the sound of it was probably the best thing about it.

On the menu it was down as bread with garlic and tomatoes - what arrived was a pizza base with tomato puree and covered with garlic. Next I went for cannelloni with a Napoletana sauce. What arrived was a dish with layers of pasta with what appeared to be pureed chicken or rabbit in it. Nikki ordered straight pasta with the Napoletana sauce - and her pasta was stone cold with basically a tin of chopped tomatoes on top! Stuart had Spaghetti Bolognese and while the mince was edible, the spaghetti was stone cold. Summoned the waiter over and explained our displeasure. He then summoned his boss over who told me they didn't get complaints - I explained that he was getting one now. He brought the bill minus the main courses and we departed.

Next stop was the ice-cream place. I had Ferrero Rocher and After Eight, Stuart had After Eight and Nikki had Ferrero Rocher on its own. Gorgeous. Got brain-freeze and then had coffee to cure it. Very friendly staff. Stuart took pictures of the other creations being handed out some of which had sparklers in them. The kind of place it would be impossible to walk past without having a look in!

Drove back to the hotel and were in bed by 23.20.

Friday 21st May 2010

Murcia

Bit of a lie-in this morning - didn't wake up until gone 08.00.  Showered and ready by about 09.30 so met Stuart and went for breakfast.

Again an excellent breakfast. Sat in a room by ourselves and had loads of food! Took about an hour before heading back to the room to get pool stuff.

There was no Times delivered today as the supermarket didn't have any so we were left with the Daily Mail. Nothing like appearing slightly racist reading Britain's worst newspaper while sat by the pool! Why, oh why didn't they have the Daily Sport - I'd have felt less xenophobic with that.

Sat by the pool until about 13.15 and then decided to drive to the next village for a look around their supermarket. It's not a big village and there were lots of signs for the supermarket but we just could not find it! Drove around for a good 20 minutes, asked for directions and begged the locals to help - but nothing. In the end we gave up and went back to the resort. So much for helping the local economy!

Got some lunch things and went back to Stuart's room for lunch. Nikki and Stuart again polished off a (half!) bottle of champagne and we had fruit, fresh bread and cheese. Nice!

Very tired by the end of lunch and a quick trip to the pool ended up with me wanting to go to bed so that's what I did. Had a good hour in air-conditioned luxury before getting up for coffee on the balcony.

We were planning to go to Cartegena which we'd seen on the road signs. I Googled it and saw it was the main base for the Spanish Navy plus there was a good article on the Independent's website about it so off we went. Easy drive there with motorway pretty much up to the city centre. Had a drive around and decided we liked the look of it. Found an underground garage near the port and set off to explore.

Really nice city. Lots of pedestrianised streets with shops and bars. Nice waterfront area and all level so easy to get around. BUT the one thing they lack is restaurants! Loads of bars but no sit down restaurants. We walked up and down checking out each back alley but to no avail. We asked a woman in a shop who drew us a map back to where we'd come from but nothing. In the end we found a bar down a back-street which would do us a paella and some spaghetti. We were in a backroom on our own. I had a quick explore and realised it led through to the main street where they had tables on the pavement so we relocated there. Stuart asked for some balsamic vinegar and to the waiter's credit, he went off and Googled it as we didn't know what it was in Spanish - and then brought some. Food was a major success. Paella was first class and it was about a tenner a head in total.

After a leisurely dinner we relocated to a nearby ice-cream bar where I had Kit-Kat ice-cream. Result.

Drove back to the hotel talking about radio in the old days and crashed into bed around midnight!

 

Saturday 22nd May 2010

Murcia

 

Another of those lazy days. Woke up around 08.00 - the room doesn't have an alarm clock and is totally dark so you have NO idea what the time is when you wake up. It involves a trip into the sitting room and stumbling round to find a light switch.

Had coffee on the balcony and met up with Stuart for breakfast around 09.30. Another long, leisurely affair with lots of coffee and lovely food.

Quick trip back to the room and hit the sunbeds by around 10.50 - just in time for the bar to open and the man to bring coffee! Lazed around reading The Times until just gone 13.00 and decided it was time for lunch. Went across to the supermarket to get some provisions and retired to Stuart's room for more champagne for them two and lots of food. Quality.

Back on the sunbeds by 15.00ish and did more lazing around until 16.45 when me and Stuart came up to our room for a conference call at 17.00. Nikki stayed on the sun-lounger soaking up the last of the rays until I went back down to get her.

Off to La Manga tonight to see what that's like.

(Later)

Well I can report that La Manga looks rubbish! We drove down the peninsula and had a quick butchers and it's strip mall after strip mall with little or no character and slightly dodgy looking people in places. Gave up and decided to try Cartagena again. I'd had a look on Google Earth earlier and found what looked like a nice Italian restaurant so thought we'd give that a go.

Parked in the same car park as last night and made our way down the main street. Again totally packed with people walking up and down. Found the restaurant and it was quite empty so thought we'd give it a go. Really nice looking menu - exactly what we fancied. They brought bread and balsamic vinegar while we worked out what we were having. Stuart asked the maitre d' if he could have a small green salad with some tomatoes on there and the guys English meant we had a very succinct and non-idiomatic response. He said "We could do that, but we're not going to". Just brilliant! Excellent food - I went for risotto which was dripping in cheese, Nikki had a huge salad with pine nuts, balsamic vinegar and loads of different types of greens and Stuart had a massive spag bol.

By the time we were finished the restaurant was packed with locals and tourists so we knew we'd picked a good one.

Had some ice-cream and headed back to the hotel. We've started to suspect that the valet is syphoning off petrol from our car so Stuart took a picture of a mileage counter as it shows how many miles are left in the tank. Yesterday it went from 280 down to 260 overnight - we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Sunday 23rd May 2010

Murcia to Home

I was in the middle of a dream about showing Jennifer Anniston around a hotel in London. It was a new 91 storey hotel that was accessed through the front room of a terraced house - and then the alarm went off. Most annoying. 06.15 Spanish time is 05.15 in the UK so it's painful. We'd booked a wake up call, set my mobile phone and set the TV to

come on. To say the noise confused and upset me was an understatement. The guy on reception then rang back 5 minutes later to make sure we'd got up - by that time we were in Basil Fawlty response territory.

Did the final bit of packing and met Stuart by his room and grunted our way down to breakfast. All was good and after some food and coffee we felt a little more human. Got our bills printed out and went back up to the room for cases and were ready in the car by 08.00.

The great petrol syphoning debate continues - mysteriously ten more miles have disappeared off the clock!

About a 20 minute drive down to the airport at San Javier. Dropped the car off and went back to the terminal. Check-in hadn't opened for Ryanair so we joined a queue of about 15 people. They opened soon after and we got checked in. Loads of people were 2,3,4 kilos over their paltry 15kg limit and were being sent away to pay the £20 per kilo fee. Worked out Ryanair can pick up an extra £1,000 per flight on this scam!

Went through security and sat in the departures lounge - very small with a Subway and coffee shop and that's it. Plane came in early and we were loaded on and took off just before 10.30. Flight was awful. Leg-room pretty much non existent - somewhere over France the three of us vowed NEVER to fly Ryanair ever again.

At Luton there was a delay getting us off with the chair - it meant passengers were being loaded on the front of the plane for the next flight while we were sat at the back waiting. Got off eventually and got the car and came home. I'm afraid I stand by my comments on day one - Ryanair suck all the joy out of travelling and make a stressful and annoying experience. That is the final time I mention that company on any future blogs!!

On the upside it was a stunning day - warmer here than in Spain!