Arrival in Spain

We left the house at midday on the 31st and made great time to the airport. We arrived just as the check in desk opened so luckily didn't have to queue but we did have to sit and wait for our gate for ages! The flight was easy and uneventful (apart from the small side effect of me going deaf in my right ear for half the flight, annoying to say the least!). I still find it amazing that in the time it usually takes us to get from Basingstoke to Sutton Coldfield we had arrived in a completely new country, and not even the closest part of that country but almost the furthest away you can get!!

On arrival we drove for about 30 mins to get from the airport (Jerez de la Frntera) to the town where Vince and Esther (Megan's Aunt and Uncle) live, Chiclana de la Frontera. Its a really nice, small town, split into two parts, one on the river and one on the beach.

When we got to their house we were told "Mi casa es sous casa" (if that's how you spell it!!) which means "my house is your house", this is really common in Spain, they are very generous and welcoming. The cultural differences between us Brits and the Spanish were immediately obvious. For them it is common practice to have 4 meals a day and all later than we would eat. A late breakfast, lunch at around 2.30 - 3pm, tea at about 6pm and dinner at 10pm. Strange but I wasn't complaining as we were just in time for a late dinner! Perfect!

First port of call on Friday morning was the food market, we were told that it was a cultural experience and that wasn't wrong! It really was amazing, lots of different stalls with everything completely fresh. The best stall was the fruit and veg, everything was absolutely massive and so colourful, the grapes were the size of our strawberries, the strawberries the size of our apples and the apples were as big as our grapefruits!!

Later on we went and saw Vince and Esthers Beach House which is less house, more mansion! We also had a look at the beach which was around 9km of white sand with rolling waves and a picturesque castle just off the shore, a lovely first day, finished off well with a traditional meal of tapas, wine and beer!