How time flies - we are already the second week into January. I hope that those of you which made New Year resolutions are still sticking with them... mine didn´t even get to the end of the first day! Things are back to normal in Benidorm - the Christmas decorations have been taken down and packed away and now it´s all about the sales or as they are called here, "rebajas".
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| Red "Rebajas" signs in every shop window |
Traditionally the sales in Spain always start on the 7th of January - the day after the "Three Kings", but I did notice that many shops had started their sales before Christmas this year - one big exception being High Street fashion favourite "Zara".
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| Old and New easyJet sizes! |
It is certainly worth taking a look as often prices are cheaper here than in the UK - but do make sure that you don´t go over your luggage allowance otherwise that bargain may end up costing you twice as much, especially if you are travelling on the likes of Ryanair! Having said that, they have relaxed their stringent policy and are now allowing you to take a small handbag in addition to your hand luggage allowance. Easyjet have also reduced the size of their "guaranteed" hand luggage if you want to ensure it goes with you into the cabin - I am sure it is only a matter of time before the new smaller dimensions are adopted as the new measurements.
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| Popular sandy Benidorm beaches |
As holiday bookings start to be made figures released for last year show that Benidorm registered 11.9 million overnight stays and that 3 out of 4 foreign visitors were Brits! It is certainly a firm favourite and now competing with the likes of Madrid and Barcelona for visitor numbers - quite an achievement for a "small seaside resort".
Things are somewhat quieter in January - after the fanfare of Christmas and New Year many bars and businesses take this opportunity to shut down and have their annual break before the rush starts again - February it´s Carnival then March we have St Patrick´s Day, now becoming a very big event here and also the Fallas.
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| Red Lion - what would Franco have made of this lot! |
Remember, it was only in the 1950´s that bikini´s were allowed to be worn by ladies on the beaches here. A short film is being made called "Bikini - A true story" which tells the story of how the then Mayor, Pedro Zaragoza jumped on his Vespa and rode to Madrid to ask General Franco permission for bikini´s to be worn on the beaches of Benidorm. It seems almost laughable these days - especially if you look around how people are dressed on the streets now, and I don´t mean just here but also on the streets of any major UK city centre.
