A CATTERY IN SPAIN

Chapter One

Chapter One

Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a move can be?  In the mid-eighties, close friends Juan and Jenny, bade goodbye to England and went to live in the village of Albir on the Costa Blanca in Spain.  We kept in touch with letters, videos and telephone calls (pre world wide web).  Eventually, they moved to the USA when Juan, a shoe designer, was offered a job he couldn’t refuse.  They left their house in Albir unoccupied, having decided renting out could be too problematical.  However, they had little objection to friends or relatives giving the house an airing, so one August in the mid 1980s we arrived at Alicante airport clutching a bunch of keys and directions.  It was my husband Louie’s first visit to Spain and he fell in love with it instantly. 

We collected a hire car from the airport and set off along the coastal road, taking in the fresh sea air by Alicante port, admiring the tall palm trees growing in beds amongst the marble promenades.  We soon got in the holiday mood, smiling at other motorists as cars overtook us (we were in no hurry), loaded down with luggage on their roof racks.  We passed the town of San Juan and the village of Villajoyosa (meaning jewelled town), a typical Spanish village, with a sandy beach and fishing port.  Villajoyosa celebrates the "Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos" from the 24th to the 31st of July every year and the central act is orientated around the Moros unship.   The town is famous for its colourful rows of houses facing the sea painted in brilliant colours of yellow ochre, indigo blue and red.  It is thought they were painted in such gaudy colours to enable the fisherman to see clearly their way home while out at sea.  There is a fish market in the harbour, supplying fresh fish to the local people and restaurants.  

 Villajoyosa is also known as the chocolate town because of its production of turron, (a nougat dessert), as well as chocolate at the Valor chocolate factory.  The museum housed in the village tells the story of Don Valeriano Lopez Lloret, a Master Chocolatier in 1881 who began a career in chocolate making, setting off a chain of activity leading to the present day factory.

A few kilometres further north, we were impressed by the skyscrapers of bustling Benidorm.  After a few wrong turns, we found ourselves at our destination, the small village of Albir, 5 kilometres north of Benidorm.  We marvelled at the whiteness of the villas covered with purple and pink bougainvillea, the sea glinting in the distance and the warmth of the Mediterranean sun making the car quite stifling.

Mid afternoon found us climbing “The Hill” as it is known locally in Albir.  We followed Juan’s directions, passing landmarks like the Ventorillo II restaurant on the way.  We couldn’t wait to join the people sitting outside enjoying a late lunch, surrounded by cats and kittens looking for a morsel or two. 

Soon we parked in the driveway of the house in a no-through road.  Their townhouse (called bungalows in Spain) was in a block of 10 climbing progressively up the hill. 

The property was on three floors, a garage and bedroom on the ground floor, kitchen and lounge on the first floor and two bedrooms on the top floor.  The kitchen was at the front with a large terrace overlooking the Puig Campana mountain.  This proved a favourite place to have a vodka and orange, watching the sun set behind the mountain, until the mountain appeared to be black.  Off the main bedroom we were delighted to find a small balcony overlooking the communal pool, a field of pine trees and beyond them, the spectacular bay of Albir.  In the distance we could easily see the Penon de Ifach, a massive rock, jutting out from the coastline in Calpe.

Tired from the journey, we unpacked and wandered down to the tiny supermarket in the village to stock up on the usual essentials.  Trolleys were nowhere to be seen and passing another customer with the shopping basket was a tight fit.  As well as all the basic foods, it doubled up as a souvenir shop and sold the usual brown ceramic bowls used to serve gambas al ajillo, patatas bravas and other such delights.