Marina D'Or -- Kitch Paradise

Dear Citizens of the World!

I write to you from the "kitch paradise" of the Mediterranean. Marina D'Or, Vacation City, is located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, about an hour North of Valencia.

Since Kings Day 2010, I have been coming here on weekends...and now the summer. My luck has not been good because it rained every weekend I came for the first six months. There was a bit of rain last night and there is a thunderstorm as I write this, but in general it is hot, humid, sunny and sweaty all summer long.

The main street lights up at night...Spanish Vegas, but without casinos?

Marina D'Or has been designed to attract blue-collar families that dream of spending time at the beach, but feel like they are in need to be surrounded by a cheap version of Las Vegas. OK, maybe I am being a bit harsh, yet it does not feel like the Mediterranean coast of great artists like Soralla and Cezanne.

The good part is that fact that I can easily jump on my bike and see lesser trampled parts of the coast, leaving the lights behind.

Panoramic shot from the mobile phone along the Via Verde (Oropesa-Benicassim)

This panoramic shot taken (with my mobile phone) of the ruins of a tower along the coast is a bit more of what I had in mind when thinking about the Med; it's only a few kilometers away on bike trail that goes towards Benicassim.

Stay cool.

The United Statesian