Group Weekend Excursion to Calpe

The same week that I went to Pamplona, our program took a weekend trip to several different coastal towns in the Valencian province. The first was La Albufera, which is a natural park that harbors a ton of birds and plants. We took a boat ride through the lake there and I was able to get some great pictures and some not so great ones because I took them while bobbing up and down on a moving boat. Next we made our way down to Cullera, a beach town with the "Golden Mountain." Not sure why it is called that but the views from it were breathtaking. I wish we could have stayed longer there but with only a couple days to see four places there wasn't much time for each individual spot. After Cullera, we took the bus down to Calpe, a beach town where we stayed on Saturday night. There didn't seem to be a whole lot in the town but it had two big things going for it: Mediterranean water as clear as the Caribbean and a mini-Gibraltar type rock. I was actually hoping to make it down to Gibraltar during my trip but I won't be able to so seeing this was very rewarding, even though we didn't have the time to hike it. I think my dinner in Calpe was the best part of the trip because I got a plate of tortellini, plate of chicken alfredo, piece of tiramisu and a glass of wine for only 9 €. On Sunday, we left Calpe for Gandia where we thought we were going to try out watersports (wind surfing, kayaking and snorkeling) but there was a rip current that day and we weren't allowed in the water, oh well. Instead we sat on the beach, played paddleball (would be the national sport it seems if soccer didn't exist) and beach volleyball. They weren't as exciting as watersports would have been but I still had a lot of fun trying out beach volleyball. Even though I hardly ever play volleyball I can run, dive and have fun with the best and anyone who has ever competed with or against me knows that I will play anything hard. Pictures from excursion: http://picasaweb.google.com/joshfisherncsu/AlbuferaCulleraCalpeAndGandia.