We love our new kind of lifestyle, it did not take us long to adjust to the different way of life in Spain and in Switzerland, it was certainly not difficult, as the climate at both locations, is so much better than living in Birmingham. We now have so many bright and sunny days in our lives.

Our three-day drive between our two homes has involved two hotel stops each way and over the years we have stayed in a lot of different places. I always searched the Internet to find the most interesting small hotels (like old, converted chateaus) with the best guest reviews that are not far off our motorway route. I made sure they included breakfast, have a pleasant restaurant (or with plenty of restaurants nearby) and private parking. Over the years we have stayed in some wonderful places, and because we often go out of season, we have always been upgraded to the best room, or suite without any extra charge.

One hotel deserves a special mention, we only found this one because of our return to Switzerland at the beginning of August 2018, nearly everywhere was booked, but we had a provisional booking at a hotel in Denia where we had stayed many times.

But when I tried to confirm the reservation, I was informed that they were only accepting bookings for a minimum of two nights! This was of no use to us, eventually I found a room was available in a little village called Villalonga that met all our requirements called 'Casa Babel'. We were so impressed with the decor, the food, and the friendly staff, that we have returned every time ever since, the owner, who has become our friend, Fernando always gives us the best rooms (one of them has a magnificent gold four poster bed) and from the very beginning, just before leaving, he has always given us a gift.

We learned that he inherited this beautiful mansion, that had wonderful tiled floors throughout and stained glass windows, from an Aunt and has spent a fortune making it into a fabulous hotel.

Fernando used to come to have a chat with us at the end of our evening meal, and one time we mentioned that we did not understand, why we could not buy really good mature orange marmalade in Spain, every type we tried was far too sweet, yet we know all the best mature marmalade is made with oranges from Seville. He explained that the Spanish do not like bitter things, they far prefer everything sweet.

The next time we stayed, we were presented with a jar of homemade bitter marmalade for breakfast and it was so delicious we asked if we could buy some, but the chef had only made so much, and apparently did not want to make anymore. Fernando told us he had grown to like it too, yet just as we were leaving, he gave us a full jar as a gift. We each get a hug every time we see him.

We have been surprised again as at breakfast the waitress always presents us with marmalade, made especially for us, we have also noticed that no one else is given this marmalade! And we get given an extra jar to take with us when we pay our bill.

In addition, Fernando has given us the hotel perfume, after shave and a special walking stick with his compliments. Sadly, we do not always see him, as he has family commitments, and sometimes we learn that he arrived just five minutes after we had left, but we then exchange a few messages during our drive.

We have met his lovely wife and two young daughters and we guess he must be around the same age as our son Jason.

We now always take a Swiss speciality to give Fernando. We both really do not know how this friendship began, we liked him from our first meeting, but I did mention more than once, that he does not need to keep giving us gifts and his only comment was "some people are very special!"

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