It was a week with work but also lots of cycling. And the Christmas season is in full swing, albeit in a low-key sort of manner for us.
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On the first Sunday of the week, I cycled to Jijona to have a look at the town’s Feria de Navidad. The main street of the town was turned into a long Christmas market:
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On one end of the street stands Jijona’s official Christmas tree, in front of the town hall. Lots of family pictures were taken this afternoon:
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Although this young couple were interested in other things:
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Jijona’s main claim to fame is its turrón, a bar made of nougat, sugar and other flavours. It is a protected geographical indication and exists in two main varieties, the hard turrón de Alicante and the soft turrón de Jijona, both of which are actually made in Jijona. In the Christmas fair there were many different versions on offer. I bought some from this stand and took it home in my bicycle handlebar bag:
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As is usually the case with this kind of events, people invariably end up in the local bars:
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Just on the southern edge of Jijona another Christmas tradition was on display, a large nativity scene set in a natural setting, a rock face above a dry river bed. It seems that the whole town comes to look:
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Especially parents with children:
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And this is what they were viewing:
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I kept going to the beach to look at the morning sky. This is Monday morning, looking north towards Benidorm:
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Looking east over the Mediterranean:
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A couple of doggie pictures. This sad-looking little creature was waiting for its human in the vestibule of the Consum supermarket:
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My daughter has recently moved to an apartment a bit outside the city, very close to my office. She shares it with a couple of Italian friends, one of whom has brought a cute dog into the household:
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On Thursday some of the Danes in the office gathered for our traditional Christmas lunch; compared to a Christmas lunch in Denmark, it was low key, held in our office restaurant, and the food was not Danish. But we had akvavit:
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Birgit serves akvavit:
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Birgit smiles at me:
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My main dish, lamb:
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Friday morning, back on the beach:
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During the night a cold front enveloped the Iberian peninsula, and some moisture came in from the Atlantic. While here in Alicante we stayed dry and above freezing, one did not have to look far to see a sign of winter. This was the view from my office around noon on Friday (by Saturday the snow on Sierra de Aitana was gone):
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Another sign of winter is that chestnuts and churros stands appear in the centre of town:
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Early on Saturday, I drove to the fishing harbour in El Campello, at the northern end of the town, about 4 km from my house. This is the view of the main beach promenade from the harbour:
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The part of the harbour where the fishing boats are is normally closed to the general public, but on this Saturday morning the gate was open, and I took advantage of the opportunity to take a walk among the boats and the nets:
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Even though the sun was shining and the temperature was pleasant, the sign on the auction house announces the cancellation of the day’s fish auction due to bad weather:
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It was probably too windy for these small boats to go out on the open sea. So I walked around a bit, taking in the details:
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On the beach promenade near the harbour, the restaurants were still closed but the customers were already waiting outside:
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Later on Saturday, I cycled south to Santa Pola, a town about 25 km south of Alicante and an important fishing harbour as well. As in El Campello, the fishing boats were in the harbour and the nets were laid out to dry:
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Mending:
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On the way home, I passed this rather spectacular ruin in the beachfront community, Arenales del Sol:
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The billboard explains that the construction has been stopped by the ministry of the environment. It turns out that someone bought an old hotel and started renovating it; but in the process, the company enlarged the building and in effect transformed the project from renovation to new construction, something that was illegal according to the law that governs the use of coasts. So in the winter of 2017, the company was ordered to demolish the building, and since then it has stood on the promenade as an ugly eyesore while the wheels of Spanish justice grind (slowly, presumably):
