Beni

I have to say that Maggie wasn’t to blame for my eviction over the drunk in the car episode. She has put up with a fool for years and has the patience of a saint. Thank you darling. I brought it all on my stupid self.

We love Spain at this time of year. It’s full of oranges in orange trees, lemons in lemon trees and both oranges and lemons in a halfway house.

Over the past forty years we’ve come to different parts of Spain in December, February, March, April and May, from Madrid to Majorca to Mojacar to the Costa Blanca. We’ve eaten some of the world’s best seafood in places where the toilet is a hole in the concrete floor and you squat to release your doo dah on to the mountainside below holding on to crates of San Miguel for support. Sorry – that’s a bit graphic for tea time but we just love places that you wouldn’t normally consider going to. This year we returned to a favourite of ours, driving inland over the mountains to a place called Parcent where there is an out of town restaurant called La Piscina. So called because it has a Piscina (swimming pool) full of mud coloured water, lilies and big fish. The starter is in the back room, a big help-yourself salad buffet in a huge open-topped fridge. It’s heavenly. I always have rabbit with garlic for main and Maggie usually has lamb on the bone. Thanks Martin and Linda Baverstock for letting us stay at your house in Calpe over the years. It’s beautiful and we enjoyed seeing you in Leeds this weekend. One of Martin’s nicknames is Bear – we’ve seen your bar in Beni mate!

This year we’ve eaten some great meals at very cheap prices. Thanks exchange rate! We’ve found a real gem, Isa and Toni’s place at Sella in the main village square. The food is traditional country Spanish and it’s great. Today we stayed in Benidorm and wandered around the old town. To our astonishment and delight we found the Calle de Santo Domingo, a street specialising in tapas joints which rival those we’ve come across in Madrid and elsewhere. The middle of Beni and it’s a centre for the real McCoy!

We went to one place for a few bits and pieces, then next door for a bowl of snails in chili sauce and then down the street for a plate of fried quails’ legs and a bowl of baby eels (sort of) great, great, great.

Problem is Benidorm sets itself up by being so commercial in half of it, and summer will be unbearable. But where can you find a seafront restaurant charging £8 for a four course meal including wine and with a view like this?

We’ll be back same time next year. No problem. Maybe same apartment in the hotel with this view.