Wednesday arrived and we headed to the station after breakfast to catch the tram to Villajoyosa, one of our favourite places in the Costa Blanca. When we got there we had a coffee and a wander around the shops before heading to the Valor chocolate factory, we never miss a chance to visit here and take the free tour. Tours are limited to 50 places, and it wasn't far off this number on this visit. We've never actually seen so many people. The 11am tour is in English, but as always many Spanish people turned up expecting everything to be delivered in Spanish too. First stop on the tour is a short film, telling you about the history of Valor - how is started and how the company has grown and is still family run. We were pleasantly surprised to find the film had changed, its been updated as has the rest of the tour. After the film we were taken to the museum when we got to look around for a while. There are many artefacts from years gone by, its an interesting collection. Following on from that, you are taken around the factory and can see the production line, labs etc. Lastly you arrive in the chocolate shop where you are able to sample the chocolate bars, bonbons and hot chocolate. They are very generous, especially as this is a free tour. We bought several bars of chocolate as always, it is truly delicious! 
After we left Valors, we headed down to the beach. You walk down a serious of steps which take you past a playground and little gardens. Its so pretty. The beach is lovely, one of my favourites. We stopped for a while to eat a few snacks, we had by this point given up on lunch. Even though we were full board at the hotel, you can only eat so much. Villajoyosa beach front is very colourful, all the houses are painted in different colours and look very attractive. We walked, we hung out on the beach and we stopped at a bar we like for coffee. It was actually too cold for beer - a first! As you head away from the beach, there are a series of escalators to take you back up to street level.
When we got back to Benidorm we went back to the hotel for a little while, then we headed down to the old town. We took a walk up to Placa del castell. Its a beautiful location with views across playa del Poniente. We hung out there for ages, listening to the music and people watching. Its the sort of place you have to drag yourself away from. I just feel so lucky that we had the chance to be there.
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