I had been waiting until now to write this post as I should have been able to tell you about the last of the coach trips we had been on, celebrating Spain’s final Christmas celebration, the Three Kings, which takes place on Jan 5th every year. We were due to go to Cartagena, a beautiful city south of us, that I have visited many times. Sadly due to a very bad storm, the fiesta was cancelled, so we didn’t get to go. Global warming is certainly changing the weather here, with much wetter autumns and winters and very high summer temperatures.

Thankfully all our other trips went off very well. The first was to the Benidorm Fiesta in late November. I have been before, but this was Mum’s first trip. Last time I wore the tablecloth jacket that I mentioned in my last post and my purple top hat, but they are in England at the moment.

Mum and I decided that we would do a modified version of my steampunk Seamstress Squadron outfit, which has the top hat decorated with sewing themed items. So we bought a couple of posh hats from one of our local charity shops and had a very productive afternoon decorating them. I knew all those orphan patchwork blocks would come in handy one day! I also pinned some blocks to my top, and Mum had some crochet motifs stitched to hers.

We had a brilliant day, it was really hot, around 27 degrees, so we really felt for those who had chosen very furry costumes, like these people. The Artic Explorer costume was so good, and he was constantly being stopped for photos.

Although a lot of people buy costumes from fancy dress shops, (there were hundreds of Fred and Wilma Flintstones), many people create the most gorgeous and elaborate unique costumes. We particularly loved these beautiful mermaids and fairy godmothers.

It is a really fun day out, the culmination of which is a parade, organised by all the bars, restaurants and shows that Benidorm is famous for. So many brilliant floats and dancers, especially the amazing sea themed dancers.

We also had two trips to nearby cities to see the Christmas lights, and the belen nativities that are in every Spanish town and city. The first was to Elche, famous for its palm gardens. As well as a beautifully decorated Christmas market in the square near the town hall there was a stunning, Three Kings themed display next to the cathedral, featuring their crowns, and a small belen.

The second trip was to Orihuela, a small city near my favourite mountains, famous for its many churches and the cathedral. This trip was on a little Christmas train, around the city to see all the lights, and stopping off at two churches to see their belens. It was brilliant and everyone waved at us as we drove around through the narrow backstreets.

I love the detail in these extended nativity dioramas, they are so wonderful in their attention to the tiniest little reproductions of life in the towns and villages of biblical times. The first one was about 20 by 8 feet in length and we walked around it.

The second one was much bigger, it took up two rooms at the back of the church. Not only is it the largest one I have ever seen, the detail and craftsmanship was amazing. I loved the depictions of the textile crafts, and the one of the three kings studying the stars in the library. Look at the detail of all of the scrolls!

As well as some lovely, and unique scenes from the story of Jesus’s birth, there was a separate section detailing the flight to Egypt, with the most amazing modelling that I have ever seen. The tiny little sections, such as the temple carvers, and the embalming and mummification displays were incredible.

We are off on another longer trip tomorrow, so will post about that at some point. I am still playing catch up on my Scottish adventures, so hopefully will get those finished before I leave Spain in a couple of weeks. Although I will be sad to leave family and friends here, I am so looking forward to getting back to Scotland, and to the new camping season starting!

Hope you are all having fun, take care and thanks for visiting.