We were pleased to welcome an Italian family who came to stay with us for a few days last week, Christian and Paola with their daughter Elena and their two beautifully behaved black setters – Maggie and Martha. They soon settled in, and Maggie and Marta became part of the menagerie here at Villa Florencia! It was the first time they had visited us, and they were doing a trip all around Spain but decided to make us their base for their time on the Costa Blanca.
Maggie and Marta felt at home very quickly indeed, and when the weather was too hot for them in the garden they had no hesitation in taking themselves up to their room and staying there in the cool! Most of the time, however, they preferred to keep close to their owners and accompanied them on trips to Gandia and local village restaurants, as well as on a whole day excursion which took in the Albufera wetlands, a paella lunch at El Palmar, as well as a boat trip on the lagoon and a quick visit to the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia City! Well-travelled dogs indeed and perfectly behaved all the time!
Another family from Belgium, Herwig, Lut and their daughter Isa, were visiting us at the same time – in fact this is approximately their fifth stay here. The pet-friendly accommodation that we offer was even taken up by them too. They did not arrive with a dog, but they found an abandoned puppy on one of their day trips to the surrounding countryside. They brought her back here with them, and of course were totally won over by her and soon decided to do whatever was necessary to take her back to Belgium with them. Julia, as she was soon named, also settled in amazingly quickly and loved playing with our dogs, learning so much from them in a very short space of time.
Herwig and Lut made veterinary appointments to vaccinate Julia and thereby obtain the necessary papers for her to be able to travel with them back home. Due to restrictions on their airline they could not simply take her with them on the flight they had already booked, so Herwig stayed with us for an extra night and booked himself on a pet-friendly airline the following day and was able to take Julia back to Belgium with no problems at all. We have since had news (and photos!) from them to show that Julia had a very uneventful trip and is happily settled in her new home with them in Belgium. It seems they had been thinking of having a dog anyway, so it seemed that this was somehow simply meant to be – a happy ending for everyone!
