Just a quiet week of work and cycling. We had some bad weather in the early part of April, culmination of the wettest and coldest spring in the 15 years I have lived here. But towards the end of the week things improved, and I was able to do a long bike ride south of Alicante.
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The beach in the morning after a rainy and windy night:
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Same day, in the afternoon on my way home from work:
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The following day, the weather was greatly improved. The precipitation of the previous days was visible on the Sierra de Aitana in the distance:
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On the beach, the usual activities were taking place:
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On Friday afternoon, I stopped to buy some stuff from the Eastern European grocery store on Plaza Seneca (just visible in the background). It is a lovely urban space that used to house Alicante’s main bus station but is now a breathing space for the people in the neighbourhood:
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Given the current terrible war in Ukraine started by Russia’s fascist regime, it is very poignant to see children playing on Civil War era air raid shelters, today a memory of a time when Alicante was being bombed by Italian planes in 1938. While Alicante children are using the remnants of a war 84 years ago as a playground, Ukrainian children are being killed by Russians:
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An old sign on the fire station on Plaza Seneca, along with some freelance adornment:
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On Saturday morning I cycled south to Elche and Santa Pola, an 84 km ride that is not too challenging because the terrain is not mountainous as on most of my other routes. The beach in Santa Pola was still uncrowded but there were people enjoying it:
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The air was very clear, and the nearby island of Tabarca was easily visible:
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A photo:
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Just outside the fishing harbour. There was very little wind, great conditions for these guys:
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On my way home, I stopped for a last break at the Urbanova beach, about 20 km from home. Sitting on a low bench, I had a unique vantage point of the passing traffic. This photo is not technically perfect but it is the kind of image Garry Winogrand might have shot (if he shot in colour):
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In the afternoon, I walked down to our beach. The recent storms have made a mess of the beaches, and local authorities have been hard at work. All the seaweed and other debris that had washed up was not gathered in big piles, to be carted off later:
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But it does not keep people from using the beach, and I snapped this social interaction on the promenade:
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Two women in conversation, Benidorm in the distance:
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There is a large vacant lot next to the supermarket where a bunch of cats have taken up residence. This has now been blessed with some kind of official status as a protected feline colony. This status is bestowed by the municipal animal protection department, and basically the sign says not to put additional food beyond what the volunteers put, not to remove anything, and so on:
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Two of the inhabitants of the colonia felina:
