Day trip to Valor Chocolate Factory and Benidorm

This past weekend one of my friends, Britta, came up with the idea to go to a local chocolate factory just a few towns up for a little day trip. It was an awesome idea, we got a group of nine people together and headed out at 9:00 in the morning. We all were able to pick up the tram at different location and the ride was only 40 minutes, not bad at all. Since we were able to use our bus passes for the tram, the ride was pretty much free! We got to the Valor chocolate factory around 10:15 and found out the tours only start on the hour so we walked around the town until 11:00. The tour was free too! It was a decent tour for being free. It started with a little video that got all of us salivating right away, then a tour of all the old equipment that they used and it ended with a walk through the delicious smelling factory and free samples of chocolate in the gift shop. We realized by the time we got to the gift shop that the reason they don't have to charge an entrance fee is because pretty much everyone is craving chocolate by the end of the tour and they end up buying a ton.

This is the tram that we road. It kind of reminded me of the MARTA in Atlanta.

The tram ride was beautiful so I of course took lots of pictures.

They were a little hard to take because the tram was going fast and there was a reflection on the windows, but I got a few good ones.

As you can see besides us the tram was pretty empty. There were a few more people on the ride back though.

Britta, Garrett, Erin, and Kat

The sky was so pretty, very few clouds and sunshine!

A random huge billboard toro.

Kat and Alex.

Sarah and Michelle.

Mandy and Me.

Looking at this picture you could guess that it was taken in AZ. With the dirt, cacti, blue sky, and mountains.

The original sign.

I have an obsession with taking pictures of all the cacti I see. It just makes me so happy to have a little piece of home with me :)

Waiting for the tour person to come let us in.

Kat, Garrett, Erin, and Britta

Michelle, Alex, Mandy, and Sarah.

Before we went in for the tour we were able to get a group picture in front of the old school delivery truck.

This is what they used to use to grind down the cocoa beans.

The old molds.

I had never really seen what cocoa beans looked like so I though this was interesting.

After the chocolate factory we got back on the tram and continued on to another town, Benidorm. It is definitely a tourist spot for all the old British people but it was a nice town to walk around and take pictures in. While we were there it got pretty hot so we sat on the beach and took in some sun. It was fabulous.

When we first got to Benidorm we found a spot to sit and ate out sack lunches :) I felt like I was in elementary school again on a field trip.

Erin and Alex apparently don't have as cool of moms as the rest of us so they had to buy lunches for themselves.

Just so you know I am not lying about where we went :)

The beach was so beautiful!

We had seen other people's pictures from when they had gone to Benidorm and most of them had pictures up on this white balcony thingy so we were determined to find it and take some photos there. It didn't really take us long to find and it is definitely a must for some amazing pictures.

Michelle and me.

I liked this spot for pictures cause it looks like it just drops off behind me. Those are where the stairs are down to the balcony.

I was able to stack some stuff up to put my camera on and take a group shot. You can't really see the ocean very well but it is still a good picture of all of us.

We had to do a goofy one too just for good measure.

Me and the GORGEOUS view. This is most definitely my facebook profile picture :)

Look how clear the water is!

Just chilling on the beach in February, no big deal...

We hung out until about 6:30 and headed home. It was a perfect little day trip that was inexpensive and fun!

This weekend in Carnaval which is a big deal in Spain so I am sure I will have lots of pictures to post of the festivities. Hope all is well back home!