Last Sunday we were still in Santa Pola. It was to be a strange day weather wise. In the morning it was sunny and quite warm but it got colder and colder as the day advanced and later there were strong winds. In the many parts of Spain the weather was much worse, especially in the north which is a bit unusual for the end of October. It snowed there and also in our beloved village Montrondo. I almost regretted not having chosen to go there instead of here as I love Montrondo when it snows. Here is a photo Jenaro, one of the villagers, posted on his Facebook. He said there was about 15cm. Oh I would have loved it.
We spent the morning in the flat and ended up spending the whole day there, as it was too unpleasant for a walk in the afternoon. I only ventured out a few times to take Pippa down to the garden to do her business. The garden was ours for the taking. There never seems to be anyone there, only Pippa and I. I always love the view of the pool and the sea and had to capture the image on camera. Spot Pippa by the way hahaha.
We went up after my own private photo shoot of the gardens and we spent the morning reading on the terrace in the sun. In between chapters I got up to prepare our lunch which would once again be full of fruit and vegetables. I had bought artichokes at the Santa Pola market which we would have with some spicy sausage which was a delicious combination. To keep them as white as possible, once you have removed the hard outer leaves is quite difficult. I always use lemon but the fruit stall seller told me also to put them in cold water with lemon and fresh parsley which is apparently a natural anti oxidant. It actually worked partly.
I had also bought a giant custard apple which was still unripe but wow was it big. It is the season for this unusual fruit. I only got to know this delicious and very exotic fruit when I came to live in Spain. I didn't even know its name in English. In Spanish it is called "chirimoya". When Olivia, my youngest daughter, who loves this fruit, was very small she couldn't pronounce the name and mixed it up with the word "gilipollas" in Spanish which means "a stupid fool" or similar. I was very embarrassed when once at a fruit stall she asked me to buy some "gilipollas". Thankfully it made everyone laugh. We have never forgotten it. This, by the way, was the huge "chirimoya" or custard apple in question which weighed just under one kilo.
I would have joined Eladio for a siesta but was interrupted by more Airbnb business. I shall be having not one but 2 young students of that master in women's pelvic health (haha) staying 2 or 3 times a month for 3 nights each time from now until June. So I had to update the calendar and all my documents again which took me quite a while.
If I wasn't happy with that news, I wasn't happy to hear the outcome of "El Clásico". While we were watching our series, Real Madrid and Barcelona were playing in the "Camp Nou". It was only televised on pay per view channels. Eladio was cross he couldn't see it but I suppose he would have hated to see Real Madrid thrashed 5-1 in the match. That is so humiliating. Real Madrid are going through one of their worst patches in history. Their coach, Lopetegui, had been criticised for their poor performance and in a way he was a man sentenced to football managerial death. On Monday he would be dismissed. He was, you may remember, the Spain coach who left the country's squad on the eve of the World Cup to take up his position with Real Madrid. He left them orphaned and now he is out on the street. I bet he will regret that move forever.
Later we watched a documentary on TV about last year's political fight for independence in Catalonia. It was supposed to be the inside story but some of the main characters were not included, i.e. those who fled the country and those in prison. Those who tried to create an independent republic are those who have created a huge scision in Catalonia and in the country and one big mess in politics. I'm a bit fed up with their pleas for independence. Who are they to cut up the country without all of the inhabitants having a say?
By midnight my eye lids were dropping and it was time for bed.
Monday came and it was a terrible day for weather. The strength of the wind had increased and it felt like a gale force wind. So strong was the wind that when I opened the door of the apartment to take Pippa out, she turned on her heels and went back into the house. It would be like that all day and again I only ventured out for her to do her business. Pippa preferred to curl up on the sofa on her favourite blanket. Here she is curled up and warm thanks to the blanket but also to our gas stove.
There is a saying in Spanish for what to do when there is bad weather and it's "sofa y manta" which means a sofa and a blanket from where you watch the TV in a warm house when the weather is awful. She would stay on that blanket most of the day.
After that we had a very quiet day. We felt a bit cooped up but decided it would be a day for the sofa and a blanket, although it was Pippa who hogged the blanket hahaha. I had some work to do in the morning and got on with it. I made lunch and the morning passed quickly. We had a siesta and decided afterwards that the weather was too awful for a walk. That would be 2 days in a row without a walk; not good. We turned to the TV to watch the 2 remaining episodes of The Bodyguard which we would finish after dinner.
The main news in Spain that day was the official sacking of Julen Lopetegui, Real Madrid's manager. He was a doomed man after Barcelona's thrashing on Sunday but also before that as the team under him had lost most of its matches and is now far down the La Liga table. RM can't seem to find a suitable manager or rather can't agree to some of their terms. It's a difficult job to take as a manager only lasts while the team does well. Lopetegui was in the job for just 139 days. For the moment Santiago Solari, the manager for Madrid's B team, will take the reins. He is from the Argentine and played for Real Madrid until 2005. His role is provisional. Let's see how things turn out. For the moment, no doubt, the saddest person in this saga is Lopetegui who exchanged his job as country squad manager only to be sacked so soon after becoming Real's manager. The picture below is of him during the match against Barcelona. It is in stark contrast to when he became the manager and in the official presentation he cried tears of joy. But don't worry about his future as no doubt his severance pay will be sky high.
We finished watching The Bodyguard and were now bereft of anything good enough to take its place. By midnight we were both closing our eyes and it was time again for bed. It had been a very quiet and somewhat boring day. I hoped Tuesday would be better.
Well Tuesday was better. Finally we could leave the apartment and go for a walk. We chose the walk to the lighthouse cliffs and of course took little Pippa along.
There were hardly any other people and those we saw where "mature" couples like us hahah. Many of them were non Spaniards as lots of English, French and Scandinavian people have property here. We walked to the end of the path where the rocks start and where it could be easy to tumble down the cliffs. I always get a bit of vertigo if I go too close to the edge. Ah and here is Eladio, in his puffer jacket, enjoying the fresh air and the walk.
In other parts of the country, the freak weather killed at least 10 people. What is happening with the weather? Why are we getting these terrible episodes of freak weather? This is something new to our times and it is rather frightening.
Luckily we didn't get much rain in the morning and enjoyed our walk. On our way back as we walked through the gardens of the apartment block we noticed lots of ripe dates hanging from the palm trees. Many of them were loose on the ground. Some hung so low we were able to pick them. Here is Eladio picking some for me.
Both Pippa and I ate one to taste them and they were delicious. I suggested to Eladio we bring a stool from the apartment to pick more but he wasn't game for that. I found it very exotic to be picking dates and amazing to be picking them for free. How many people have date palm trees in their gardens I wonder? Not many. That's Spain for you.
We came back to the flat. I had some work to do and then Eladio had to go off to the local petrol station to buy a butane gas canister for our stove as well as more bottled water. Pippa curled up on her blanket again.
Soon after lunch the rain started and it would rain all day but gently thank goodness. I had lots of work to do in the afternoon, so much so that I became totally absorbed and then suddenly it was nearly 8 pm and time for dinner again. We had duck salad with mango and avocado - superb. This is a salad of my creation and both of us love it.
That night we started watching a new series, "Covert Affairs", on Amazon. It had good reviews but we found it very trivial and did not like the script. It's about a young and beautiful CIA agent and a blind supervisor. We would not continue it. Frankly it bored us and thus we went to bed early, well early for us, at 11.15 pm.
Wednesday came and the sun was shining and I pondered what to do with the day. I didn't want to be cooped up in the flat again. I decided on what options we had for a day out and suggested to Eladio we visit Alicante. We have been to the city many many times but I, at least, had never visited the castle which stands 170m from the base and is quite a climb up. You can see the castle even from our apartment.
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| The view from our apartment on Wednesday morning the day the sun came out. You can see the Santa Barbara castle from our place. |
Every time we go to Alicante we only ever walk along the "Explanada" (like the Ramblas in Barcelona) along the sea front, go to the small Postiguet beach and visit the port but have never explored the city itself beyond the sea, apart from the train or bus station. I had heard the castle was not worth much apart from the views but I was wrong, it was amazing. We also wanted to visit the old town which we had never seen, called "Barrio de Santa Cruz". The castle's foundations were built in the 9th century when Spain was ruled by the Moors from 711 to 1296. It was captured by Alfonso X El Sabio in 1248, conquered by James II of Aragon who reconstructed it. Later it was further reconstructed by successive Spanish Kings. In later years the castle became abandoned only being open to the public in 1963. It's funny but I have been coming to Alicante since the early 70's yet had never visited it. Wednesday was the day I would see it for the first time and I was impressed.
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| The walk up to the imposing Santa Barbara castle in Alicante |
Alicante is a city that enjoys 300 days of sunshine and it was on Wednesday that the sun returned and it would be a glorious day.
After parking we by the port we walked with Pippa across the main road to the Explanada which we know so well.
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| View of the port of Alicante in the sun when we visited it on Wednesday |
From the Explanada we ambled into the old town and across the square where the town hall is. From there we walked up the winding streets towards the Barrio de Santa Cruz and we were not disappointed. The latter reminded us of Plaka in Athens with its steep stony streets and houses with flowers. At the top we would reach the base of the castle.
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| Eladio and Pippa on the steps of the Barrio de Santa Cruz on our walk up to the castle |
The castle can be reached three ways; either on a lift by the Postiguet beach, by car or on foot. We, being great walkers. chose the latter. We had read the walk was steep and tiring but we didn't find it so. In fact we loved it. Pippa didn't find it difficult either.
Soon we entered the castle walls and were rewarded with amazing views of the city and the sea. We could also see 2 large cruise ships and most of the people visiting the castle that day seemed to be on a cruise. There was a large contingent of British, American and Canadian tourists. We talked to some of them including a family from Toronto who were Russian but originally from Lithuania. They had left Vilnius in 1973 and I asked how they had been able to leave a communist country. It turned out they could because they are Jewish and left for Israel. I paid my condolences for the massacre of the Jews in the synagogue in Pittsburgh last weekend.
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| Eladio and Pippa at the very top of the Santa Barbara fortress on Wednesday |
The views were amazing but I was also impressed with the castle and grounds themselves. Everything was pristine and I kept taking photos. A kind American from Utah whose parents were born in Essex took the photo of the two of us which illustrates this week's post.
We spent at least an hour at the top exploring all the corners of this amazing fortress. My expectations had been so low that I was bowled over. It's probably the best castle or fortress I have ever seen. We will be back.
As we were leaving we saw another bride and groom doing a photo shoot. They were a sight to see and I had to have a photo. Later I wished them a happy life together.
The walk down was wonderful in the sunshine and again we went past the Barrio de Santa Cruz. Here we chose a different street to descend and came across a house with so many flowers I was intrigued as to their upkeep. The family who owned it were sitting out in the sun and the lady who lives in it told me she spent nearly all her time looking after the flowers. She does a great job.
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| The house with so many flowers in the Barrio de Santa Cruz with the castle in the background |
Very soon we were back at La Explanada and from there made our way to the car park to get our car. I took one last look at this lovely walk way with its mosaic tiles and had to have a photo.
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| A view of the mosaic paved Explanada in Alicante on Wednesday |
Our day wasn't going to end there. We decided to have lunch out and I wanted to try a restaurant Miguel and Oli had recommended in Elche, some 15 or 20km south of Alicante. I made a reservation at
El Misteri d'Anna and after getting slightly lost, we found it on the outskirts of the town and were sitting down for a lovely meal by about 2.30.
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| Eladio sitting down for lunch at El Misteri d'Anna on Wednesday |
Poor Pippa had to stay in the car but she didn't mind as she was exhausted after the long walk to the castle and back and slept happily during our lunch.
The food was very good, quite creative and with lots of little appetisers. We were not very hungry so did not go for the amazing menus to choose from. Rather we shared a starter and then had a main course each and a dessert of course. Here was our starter, crab, probably my favourite food along with lobster.
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| Crab salad - the starter we had at Misteri d'Anna in Elche for lunch on Wednesday |
We enjoyed a very leisurely lunch and were in no hurry to go back to the flat. All in all it was a great day out, much helped by the sunshine. Thank goodness the sun was back. Everything is much nicer when it is sunny here.
We came back to our apartment which is our bolt hole or get away place and which we seem to appreciate more as the years go by. We weren't hungry at all that night and ended up having just a bowl of my home made vegetable soup followed by fruit.
Entertainment on Wednesday night was a film on Netflix called The Long Walk: The true story of a trek to freedom. Set in a gulag under Stalin in Russia in 1940 it tells the true story of the escape of Gulag prisoners who walk all the way from Siberia to India over the Himalayas. Amazing.
Thursday dawned and it was another sunny day. It was 1st November and also All Saints' Day which is a holiday in Spain. Many people would take Friday off thus having a long bank holiday weekend which is generally called a "bridge" (puente in Spanish). It was also Halloween, a holiday or tradition I was not brought up on in England and which is becoming very popular here in Spain. I hate it as I hate fear and all the dreadful things Halloween seems to celebrate. My Facebook and Instagram feeds were full of friends in the most frightening outfits. We never celebrated Halloween in England when I was a child. England's equivalent is 5th November, Bonfire night. Well that I do like. 4th November used to be "Mischief night" and being quite a naughty girl I used to like that too. One of the few things I miss from my life in the UK here in Spain is Bonfire night. But no, Halloween is not for me and Eladio and I totally ignored it.
On Thursday we decided on another excursion or day trip. We considered the options again and came up with Altea. Altea is a pretty little town on the Costa Blanca about 15km south of Benidorm but is the extreme opposite of Spain's equivalent of Blackpool. It is one of the prettiest villages in Spain and certainly the prettiest in the province of Alicante. It's on the coast and funnily enough the beach there is stony, something I always found strange for the Costa Blanca. Being just 15km too from Callosa, the village where my parents bought a house in the early 70's we went there often. What's pretty about Altea is the "poble antic" (old town in Valenciano) where time has stood still and where the lovely white houses stand out against the deep blue of the Mediterranean sea. It is a steep walk up from the sea front up narrow and winding streets and it is dominated by a a blue domed church in the square at the top. You see these type of churches all over the Alicante region. I love them. Being 1st November, All Saints' Day there was a mass being offered when we arrived.
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| The church in the old town of Altea with its typical blue dome |
I imagine it is much like a Greek island. When Eladio and I first met and fell in love, our very first dinner out together as a couple was to a restaurant in Altea. I think it was called El Caballo Blanco. Obviously it no longer exists, although it does very much in our memories. So it was to be a trip down memory lane for us. Here we are setting off in the car feeling so happy and free. Pippa came with us of course and there is a photo of her too in the back of the car. It was to be her first visit to Altea.
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| In the car starting our trip down memory lane to Altea |
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| Pippa in the car with us. |
Altea has grown so much and attracts many tourists, far more than when we used to visit in the 70's, I hardly recognised the outskirts of the old village and we nearly got lost getting to the top. After finding a spot for our car, we walked along the main street towards the church square, falling in love all over again with Altea. I do wish now that instead of buying an apartment in Santa Pola we had bought one there.
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| Eladio walking up the main street towards the church square |
It was a beautiful sunny day again which of course added a lot to our nostalgic visit of Altea. We stopped at the square to join the many others enjoying a drink or a coffee at one of the many cafés there. It was a sight for sore eyes.
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| At a café in the old town of Altea |
We had plenty of time before lunch to explore the old town and that we did. There are endless miradors to view the horizon where just beyond you can see the tops of the horrible sky scrapers coming out of the skies of Benidorm.
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| One of the views from the top of the old town of Altea |
It was the pretty steep and narrow little streets we wanted to explore and that we did. We went down and up each little street leading out of the church square.
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| One of the steep streets leading down to the sea front of Altea |
The streets and squares vied with each other for their beauty and I loved them all. Above all I loved that they were so well kept.
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| In one of the old streets in Altea on Thursday |
After exploring the delightful streets and some of the rather expensive boutiques, we decided to walk down to the sea front before coming up again to the old town where we would have lunch. While having a coffee earlier I had looked up a good restaurant and came across "
La Claudia" which boasts its own private terrace with spectacular views of the sea and beyond. That turned out to be a good choice.
It was a steep climb down along winding streets with flowers everywhere and glimpses of the sea at every corner. I was gob stopped at the beauty of the place. We even saw lemon trees in the gardens. Just how exotic is that? The views going down were breathtaking too and I kept taking photos. Eladio and Pippa are in most of them of course.
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| One of the views walking down from the old town to the sea front in Altea |
We enjoyed a sunny walk along the seafront which was full of bank holiday visitors like us. The sea was blue and calm and some people were sunbathing and swimming. Mercury reached 21c that day!
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| The beach in Altea |
It was a long walk up again and steep too but great for working up an appetite. We had booked a table at 2.15 at La Claudia and were there on time.
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| Eladio outside the restaurant where we had lunch in Altea on Thursday |
Spain is not a dog friendly country and Pippa wasn't allowed in, even on the open terrace where we had booked a table. We could hardly leave her tied up outside in the street and our car was a bit far away. So when one of the waitresses, a lovely girl from Colombia, Fernanda, suggested taking Pippa up to her flat next to the restaurant which she would occupy with Fernanda's French bull terrier, we were very grateful. I went up with the waitress to her flat which has a terrace looking out on to the restaurant terrace. Thus we would be able to see Pippa from our table hahaha. I was a bit worried the dogs would fight but no, they got on well and kept each other company.
Soon we were sitting on the delightful terrace with its magnificent views of the bay of Altea and beyond. This is the terrace. It's small but very cosy. You can spy Eladio at our table in the shade as he held his arm up for the photo hahaha.
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| The terrace at La Claudia |
Our fellow guests on the table next to us were from Brussels and were Flemish. We got to talking about Puigdemont, the ex President of Catalonia who fled justice there. We told them they were welcome to him hahaha. Well, they are.
We loved the menu at the restaurant. It was all rather original but incredibly tasty. The dishes we ordered were all out of this world and I know we shall be back. For starters we had "pastela" (Moroccan) with oxtail inside. Eladio then had a fish dish he said was delicious. I went for the Angus beef which was served with soya noodles. It was wow. The dessert was wow too; almond cake with cherry ice cream.
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| The "pastela" with oxtail filling at La Claudia |
We enjoyed every moment of that delicious lunch in such a beautiful setting and I can highly recommend La Claudia although I am sure there are lots of other great restaurants in Altea. During our lunch we spoke about how we first met and of course about our first dinner there as a couple. If someone had shown us then a photo of us today or told us how our life would turn out I would have been very surprised. We were a young and love struck couple only thinking about the present. We both agreed that we have had more good luck than bad and have nothing to complain about; the opposite in fact. We couldn't have been luckier. To think we are still in love today, 38 years later, is short of a miracle. The trip down memory lane on Thursday made us reflect on just what a happy life we have had so far and hope to have until the end of our lives together.
We finished our lunch quite late and after picking up Pippa who was more than excited to be with us and after thanking Fernanda for her hospitality, we left beautiful Altea and set off home. I would have loved to explore further, see Alfaz del Pia where my Aunty Masha is buried or even drive to Callosa but it would get dark soon so we hit the road. We were home just under an hour later and back in our cosy flat. We had both missed our siesta so took a short nap, albeit a late one, and were awake again at about 7 pm. Neither of us was hungry that night but we ended up eating as one does, but most of it was salad and fruit.
That night we started another series on Netflix, Deadwind a Finnish police series. It's a bit slow and soon we were both falling asleep. We went to bed at about 11 pm after what had been a lovely day and trip down memory lane.
Friday was our last full day here. The day was overcast although not cold but certainly not a day for another trip away. Thus we stayed at home. We had to do a bit of shopping so off we went to Mercadona which was full of shoppers as on Thursday all the supermarkets were closed because of All Saints' Day. We came home again to unload our shopping and out again, this time with Pippa for a walk to the lighthouse cliffs. There were plenty of people doing the same but it wasn't crowded like in August. As you can see the sky was overcast but even so the view of the sea and the little island of Tabarca was still lovely.
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| The view from the cliffs with an overcast sky on Friday morning |
While I explored the cliffs, Eladio sat on his favourite bench accompanied by little Pippa.
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| Pippa and Eladio with his trusted walking stick by the cliffs on Friday morning |
The sun kept trying to come out from behind the cliffs and it did for a while. Just as we were walking back I heard the familiar ping from my Airbnb application. I had a sudden reservation for that night for the only room free this week, the green room. A guy from Mexico was coming for 4 nights. That would mean we we would be fully booked over the weekend. Whoopee. It's always nice to know the house is earning money for us when we are away. I quickly messaged him with arrival instructions and alerted Lucy about his arrival as he would come in our absence. I counted later and we have had 95 groups of guests this year so far compared to 65 last year. What a great idea it was to start offering rooms in our house on Airbnb.
We came home to a warm house and soon I was making a simple lunch of spaghetti bolognese. I read in the afternoon while Eladio and Pippa took a siesta. I wanted to continue watching Deadwind on Netflix but our Amazon Fire Stick streaming device, for some reason, was giving no signal. I suspected it needed updating and as our TV here is a bit outdated, we would have to update it when we got home.
We spent a quiet and relaxing afternoon and evening. Dinner was simple but delicious. Once again I made prawn salad with the last of the avocados and mangoes we had bought at the street market in Santa Pola the Saturday before. This is what it looked like. I love colourful food and I love those three ingredients together. They make a great combination.
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| My delicious prawn, avocado and mango salad |
There was not much to watch after the news on terrestrial TV and I fell asleep not even knowing what was on. We are so dependent these days on TV streaming there is no comparison. Thus it was early to bed in our quiet apartment on the last night of our stay here.
On Saturday, rather unfairly, I woke up to brilliant sunshine. What a pity the weather was going to be great the day we left. I would have loved to stay but we can't really go away for more than a week at a time as we have my Father to take into consideration, the dogs too who don't get their daily walk and of course we have to be there to replenish the food cupboards which, no doubt, would be quite bare by the time of our arrival.
So it was with a heavy heart that after breakfast, we had to start the ritual of packing, cleaning, washing the sheets, etc and leave our happy little pad by the sea. We love it here. We were ready to set off by about midday and instead of driving straight home, decided at the last moment, to visit
Jumilla, a small town in Murcia where
wine is made. We were prompted to visit the
Juan Gil winery after tasting a bottle of their wine while having dinner at Miguel and Oli's. Miguel told us we could buy it locally at a wine shop called "
Vinoteria los Chilines". I rang the "bodega" too but it's closed on Saturdays. We arrived in the sleepy little town of Jumilla, not far from where my friend Jacky lives at around 1pm. We would have loved to have stopped to see her but it would have been too late to warn her. Next time Jacky if you are reading this!
We found the wine shop and parked outside and here we bought 14 bottles of wine, 2 for Miguel and Oli and the rest for us. The owner recommended other wines too from the region so we got a variety.
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| At the Vinotería los Chilines |
I had booked a table for lunch at a local restaurant,
San Agustin but not until 2 pm which gave us plenty of time to explore Jumilla. It was 3rd on the list of best restaurants in Jumilla but yesterday they were all full. It was cold but sunny with a maximum temperature of only 14ºc as we walked from the modern part of the town towards the "casco antiguo" (old town). There was not much to see and many of the locals seemed to be immigrants. I suppose they have jobs with the wineries in town.
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| One of the streets in the old part of Jumilla |
Perhaps the most interesting thing to do in Jumilla, apart from buy wine, is the visit the imposing castle but there was no time for that yesterday. We shall have to go back if we want to see it.
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| View of the castle in Jumilla |
After a cold but brisk walk around the rather empty streets of the old part of Jumilla, we made our way to the restaurant which was very full. It seemed popular. As soon as we sat down we ordered a glass of wine and it had to be Juan Gil. Here I am holding both my glass and the bottle.
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| Drinking Juan Gil wine in Jumilla on Saturday |
I have to say service was fast and the food was delicious. The helpings were so big we had to ask for a doggy bag. We left quite late and I slept off the wine for about an hour in the car while poor Eladio drove. It seemed a long drive home and it was. I think we got back at about 7.30 or nearly 8 pm. It was too late to greet my Father who was already in bed. There was no sign of the guests although we did see later our Mexican guest, Samir who has an Arabic name owing to a great grandmother being from the Lebanon. He lives in "Aguas Calientes" near Guadalajara in Mexico. He will be here until Tuesday.
We were in bed by 9 pm and happy to be in our own comfortable bed which is like being in heaven compared to our bed in Santa Pola. It was good to be home. There is no place like home but it was also great to have been away for an Autumn break.
And today is Sunday and the sun is shining. However it is cold (4ºc!). This morning Oli and I will have our French lesson and I haven't done my "devoirs". So I must publish this as soon as possible and get on with them.
Wishing you all a great week ahead, cheers until next Sunday.
Masha
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