Benidorm

Well I wonder how many people are going to comment on this post? these two Bunnies have travelled all around the World, seen many wonderful countries, posted our travels on Facebook with barely a comment or reference, but post the word `tacky` against my update on Benidorm, and suddenly every man and dog has a grr at me. Each to their own people!

These Bunnies went to Benidorm for one reason, and one reason only. To catch up with Daddy Bunny having not seen him since December. In winter Benidorm is ideal for the older person, and the reason why both him and my mum would spend many happy weeks there away from the cold and misery of the UK winter. It suited them then. It suits him now. We hate it. Actually, I don`t hate it, I just hate the cheap nasty tacky t shirts and tourist tack that adorns every street corner. Why on earth do these sellers think that granny needs to read F..K (with every letter in full) my cat, you get me drift, or Suck My xxxxx, or other graphic expletives shoved in their faces? Save it for the summer months when the families with young children arrive, yeah, wow, great! That aside, then you get the Phallic anything and everything. Sure, give little Charmaine (or should I indulge modern stupidity and spell it Sharmayne?) a lolly in the shape of a xxxx! Put phallic magnets next to the colourful donkey magnets, wonderful, just what you need. Sorry people, but I don`t get it, and neither do I want to. I am no prude, I can laugh with the best of them, but sex tat? Nope. I am also perfectly aware that this kind of tat is found everywhere around the world, but I`ve never seen it quite as prolific as here in Benidorm.

As for Karaoke. Nope, no comment, not my thing. I do not deny we sat in some pretty busy places with Karaoke as the choice of entertainment, and granted at times I forgot these were not actual singers, just people having fun. It was a suitable volume and averagely ok. But the bar in which we were seated had a flag on the wall, on which the word See You Next Tuesday, was written iykyk. Why???? Why is it necessary to write such a word? oh the common nastiness of people just winds me up. Do you want to call me a snob? Go ahead. Feel Free. The average age of the clientele that afternoon was probably 75.

Smoking. Everybody smokes. Cheap town, cheap beer, cheap cigarettes. and Cheap English Breakfasts to be found everywhere. Shirley Valentine eat your heart out.

There are parts of Benidorm that are very clean and nice. Away from the tack, the brash, the cheap, there are some truly pleasant places. The sea front is lovely, and the beach well kept and clean. Away from the tack there are green and pleasant parks. With very little effort Benidorm could be a genuinely nice place. A place for the older retired generation (more so in the winter months rather than the heat of summer) and perfect for families in the Summer months when hotels, beaches and pools are their calling.

We stayed in a lovely self catering apartment overlooking the sea, and spent much time there. A week was a long time. The time was well spent, and we enjoyed the company of Daddy B very much.

Have we been to Benidorm before? Yes we have, for the same reason. To visit Mrs Mummy Bunny and Daddy B. Did we like it then? No, for much the same reasons, but the company more than made up for the tacky stuff. I also went as a child, and young as I was I remember Benidorm even then being very English tourist driven. I don`t however recall seeing the crass t shirts. We went in Summer, it was far too hot. I even have a photograph of myself and that tin man. He was orange back then and in a different place, but still the same old tin man.

Will we go again? Probably, but it will be out of necessity rather than choice.