The majority of this week’s images were made during three morning walks on the beach and in my neighbourhood, one of them well before sunrise, the other two shortly after sunrise. And in a sign of the approaching spring, Hostal Maruja, the beach restaurant south of Santa Pola, opened for the season on Saturday.
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I start with a couple of dog photos, from the vestibule of the local supermarket, a never ending source of pleasure for me when going to buy groceries:
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On Sunday morning, I walked down to the beach with an unusual outfit–my tiny Panasonic GM5 camera with the Cosina/Voigtländer 1.4/35mm lens. I was curious about the results, and I must say I was quite pleased. First, the sunrise:
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I was not the only person photographing the sunrise:
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The small beach storage sheds provided a nice focal point for the morning sunshine:
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Looking north towards Benidorm:
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The final image of this particular walk; I have no idea why someone put up a pirate flag in their apartment:
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On Friday morning, I went for another early walk, this time well before sunrise. I like to wander around the neighbourhood at such an early hour; everything is quiet and there are few people around. But this small bar just down the street from my house already had some customers inside, having breakfast:
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A small side street:
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Lone walker on the promenade:
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The coastal light rail, direction Alicante:
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In the distance, I saw two guys on the beach volleyball court, practicing–a real dedication at this early hour:
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I walked closer to have a better look. They were really doing serious practice:
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On Saturday morning, I went for a walk again, a longer one since I had time, to a French bakery about 1 km from my house. People were out walking along the beach, like these two and their dogs:
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As always, even mundane objects were interesting when illuminated by the rising sun:
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A restaurant on the promenade, not yet open this early:
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A cat on a walkabout:
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I came home with the two wonderful baguettes; we are in Spain, but these are the real French thing:
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Later in the morning, I went on a bike ride as usual. The colourful houses of Busot looked particularly nice this morning, set against the hazy mountains in the distance:
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After my ride, we went for lunch at Hostal Maruja, our favourite seafood place on the beach south of Santa Pola. It is a sure sign of spring when they open for the season, and Saturday was the first day of 2020. Our daughter Monica had spent the night and came along with us:
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We enjoyed some of our usual favourites, like patatas bravas:
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And pulpo a la plancha:
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As I always do at Hostal Maruja, I took pictures of the beach; here, looking north towards Alicante:
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And looking south towards Guardamar de Segura and Torrevieja. The traces from the January storm are still visible in places, and coupled with an unusually high tide, the beach was much narrower than normal:
