During the last week of April, I attended my second meeting of our book club, this time to discuss a book I had chosen for April, “Paradise” by Abdulrazak Gurnah. As we did at the end of March, we met at the Pynchon & Co. bookstore and café in the centre of Alicante. Besides that, we had our usual last Friday drink at the office, and I cycled north to Villajoyosa at the weekend.
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At the book club meeting, Tina talks, Ursula listens, and Franz Kafka looks on from the wall:
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Pauliina, the wife of my Finnish colleague Kari:
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Afterwards, I went for a beer at a bar on Plaza Luceros, a large circular square full of such establishments. The bar had an unusual decoration:
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Staying with a “going for a beer” theme, I have a new habit of sometimes stopping for one at a bar on Playa San Juan. It is a place which my daughter accurately labels as “cheap and cheerful”. A pint of local beer is just 2 Euro, and I sit at one of the outside tables, taking in the traffic on the beach promenade and the action on the beach:
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A visitor at my table:
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I continued my pre-work bike rides, including on hazy mornings like this one:
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The Friday was the last Friday of April, so we had our customary mini-bash in the office at lunchtime. Taking advantage of the good weather, we set up the snacks and drinks outside:
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The selection of booze reflects our international make-up:
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Kasia, Véronique and Tamara:
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Eri, Paloma and Lila:
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On Sunday morning I cycled to Villajoyosa, a beach town and fishing harbour just south of Benidorm. As is my habit, I stopped on a secluded beach called Playa Bol Nou:
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Alicante in the distance:
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Just beyond this rock begins the main beach of Villajoyosa:
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I continued to the town and walked around the narrow streets for a few minutes:
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I like looking at small details, like this urban garden with a chair to enjoy it:
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Parking:
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On the promenade, people and their dogs were out and about:
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A photo on the beach:
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On the way home, I stopped to photograph this old watch tower, one of many along the coast. In the 16th and 17th centuries they served as observation posts and early warning systems to guard against the pirates who would sometimes raid the coastal villages:
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I finished the week with another photo for my “dogs in supermarket” series, this time in the local Carrefour, where there are some benches outside the supermarket itself for people (mostly men) to wait for their spouses to finish the shopping:
