We arrived in France at the beginning of April to start our Spring/Summer house/pet sits in Europe. Arriving into Paris we picked up our car for the summer.
As we are Australian passport holders and thus outside the EU, we qualify to use Europass. This was set up to help the French car industry, This system is sponsored by the French Government and allows non-EU passport holders to lease/ a car (between 1 – 6 months). Europass buy back the car at the end of the lease and do not pay tax on the car. We have use this three times in the pass Basically, we pick up a brand NEW car, unlimited mileage, full insured, no excess and no quibble guarantee* and it works out very a competitive rate for a car for a long period. For more info visit the website: www.ttcar.com
The scheme is run by Renault, Peugot & Citreon but you have to have a passport from outside the EU.
(*We can vouch for the no quibble guarantee as we unfortunately had a couple of bumps in the first two car….incidentally we were not at fault….Europass were extremely helpful and everything was sorted out quickly and efficiently and there no problems when we handed back either of the cars).
We had allowed ourselves 4 days to travel through France and down into Spain. We took the decision to stick to the motorways through France and then we could take a more leisurely drive through Spain.
We have now just completed a wonderful 3 and a half week house/pet sit in Polop, Spain, looking after 3 charming dogs. A beautiful Alaskan Shepherd called Mijuki (meaning snow in Alaskan), pure white and cream coat….hence the name! A funny, playful 2 year old Boxer called Chicco, a rescue dog, his owner having found him by the side of the road as a puppy. He very quickly became best buddies with Tom. Last but by no means least, Finley, a miniature Schnauzer, a little old boy, 15 years in age and a real “snuggle buddy” and constant companion for me.
We had also been told we’d be looking after 2/3 outdoor cats, we arrived to find that one of them was very pregnant and expected to give birth at any time. They are stray cats that the owners feeds, but that more or less live in her back garden.
Two days after the owner left we discovered that the pregnant cat had given birth to 4 kittens. Sad story really, one was dead at birth and the other 3 where struggling as the mother decided to abandon them!!!
We tried in vain to feed them and wrapped them up overnight and decided we'd take them to the nearest Animal Rescue Place in the morning. Unfortunately, we lost 2 of them overnight.
The remaining little one we took to the Rescue Centre, they took it along to the vet but did not feel hopeful that it would survive. So sad. Apparently the mother abandons her litter if she thinks that there is something wrong with them. Learning new stuff all the time!
The rest of the sit, thankfully, was uneventful. A walk twice a day for the two younger dogs and lots of snuggles for Finley. I did learn not to stand still for too long near Chicco when out walking on one walk after the day he mistook me for a “lamp post” and decided to pee on me (much to my husband Tom’s amusement!),
The charming villa we stayed in, was just outside the village of Polop. Polop is a 15 minute drive from Benidorm and 45 minutes from Alicante. Both places we visited during our sit, as we had not been to either of them. Found a fantastic Indian Restaurant in Benidorm (yum!) and some lovely tapas bars in the old town.
However, the best place we discovered and fell in love with the beautiful town of Guadalest. High up in the mountains but only a 10 minute drive away. The countryside was spectacular, a beautiful rugged terrain, with breathtaking 360 degree views over the valleys and stunning turquoise lake, from the white washed town that clings to the side of hill.
We also enjoyed the local Leisure Centre, it has got to be one of the best that we have ever visited. For a set fee (6 euros) you could use all the facilities (at any time during the day) of which there were many, football pitches, paddle tennis courts, various exercise halls etc, a 25 metre Swimming Pool, Spa Pool, Vichy Showers, Steam Room, Sauna and Massage Jets. Wanting to lose some of the excess kgs we managed to gain recently we took ourselves along and threw ourselves into the pool and did some lap swimming. Personally, this was made all the more enjoyable by the fact at the end of the hard exercise bit was the promise of some pampering…..bliss! Wish we could find a place like this on the doorstep of every house/pet sit!
Our 3 and half weeks passed really quickly and it was another teary farewell as we left our new furry friends and Maggie their owner, bound for our next house sit back in France.