Day 13 - Sightseeing and THE BEACH!
The freedom in being in street clothes and having a somewhat relaxing day ahead provided us chaperones with what seemed to be a refreshed batch of singers! We met this morning at the conservatory with our host families and boarded the bus, two very full busses to accommodate both choirs. We weren't quite sure what the exact plan was, but we knew some time at the beach was involved.
We were on the bus for a little over an hour in route to Dénia, first stop, the castle. Dénia is a tourist/beach town, streets lined with Mediterranean style beach condos and fun little shops, but up on the hill was a fairly large fortress overlooking the sea. In order to get to the top, we had to go through a little cave. We were told to imagine that we were under attack and that we were running through the cave to safety. Once on the grounds of the fortress, we were told to imagine we were pirates of the Caribbean, and we were in our safe grounds!
We all had a great time taking in the views and getting ice cream of some sort once we got to the top. The hot, humid weather was beckoning us to the beach.
After about 30 minutes visiting the fortress, we were back on the bus for about a 10 min drive down to the beach. The conservatory choir and Ana had arranged for us to have lunch at this beautiful, and delicious restaurant on the patio, right on the water. A few chaperones enjoyed watching as all of us ran to the water.
The water was amazing! I think everyone at least got their toes wet!! Many went way out, about a good maybe 50 yards from the beach. Kids were having chicken fights, laughing, and just relaxing. In my eyes, one of the best ways to beat the heat!
After about an hour, we met at the restaurant for lunch. The typical Spanish lunch, not really quite aware of the pre ordered menu, consisted of lots of tapas for what we later found out was JUST starters, which included meatballs, fried squid, tuna salad, cuttlefish and squid in garlic and potatoes. We were all stuffed and ready to jump back in the water, but Ana let us know that the main course hadn't come yet... We couldn't believe our eyes!!! The main course was a very delicious, traditional dish, which was a seafood noodle based paella instead of rice. It was simply amazing! Most of the kids did a pretty good job of putting a decent dent in their dish considering they had already eaten for two+!
This traditional Spanish meal lasted about two hours, and we were definitely ready for a siesta. We extended our beach time by eliminating our shopping time and everyone just slept or played off their meal.
At 6:30, our sleepy, warm singers and chaperones were back on the bus for another nap, back to the conservatory. Not so sure about the kids, but the chaperones all were quite fine skipping dinner that night!! What a great great day!!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
