This week’s photos are mainly from two very different events: a Harley meet in the little town on the outskirts of Alicante where I live, and a demonstration in front of Alicante’s city hall against a new law granting amnesty to Catalan separatists.
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I start with a few photos from my two favourite places to have a beer, both of which I have shown before–I am a repeat customer. First is a beach bar called 100 Montaditos (a montadito is a very small sandwich). What I like is the cheap beer and the location, providing nice views of the beach at night:
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The promenade:
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The bar:
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My other favourite watering hole is a bar called Malatesta, in the centre of Alicnate:
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This little dog is often there:
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On Saturday, my town El Campello was invaded by a large group of Harley riders, but it was a very benign invasion:
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This beautiful machine caught my eye (and that of many other passers-by):
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The locals came out to admire the bikes:
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The bikers also checked out each other’s machines:
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The bike in the foreground in this photo was the most customized ride on display:
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I looked around for little details on the bikes:
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Besides the Fuji X camera that I used to take the photos above, I also had my Leica M2 with me, loaded with Ilford Delta 400 film, and I used it to focus on some of the people around the motorcycles.
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Taking a picture:
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Couple in a sea of bikes:
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Checking out the scene:
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Taking a break. When I showed my daughter the photos, she commented about the rather high average age of the bikers. I explained to her that most young people cannot afford Harleys:
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On Sunday, I went to the centre of Alicante to witness a bit of history. Following the election in June, the governing Socialist Party was forced to look for coalition partners to get a majority to continue in government. This included two Catalan nationalist parties whose goal is an independent Catalonia but which also have deputies in the national parliament. To gain their support, the government agreed to an amnesty law for Catalan officials involved in an illegal independence referendum held in 2017. The conservative party and its right wing allies went ballistic and organised large demonstrations across Spain, including here in Alicante. The rally was on the square in front of city hall, and I went to photograph it. As it happens, by the time I had parked and walked to the site, the speeches were over, so I just saw the aftermath of the rally:
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Spanish flags were everywhere, as the main beef the protesters have with the amnesty is that (in their view) it rewards an effort to break up the country:
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Post-rally analysis:
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Since Alicante is a tourist town, and perhaps hoping for coverage in international media, some of the signs and banners were in English:
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This man was carrying the flag and a sign calling the prime minister a traitor:
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Enlisting the young to the cause:
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This being Spain, many protesters headed to nearby bars for a refreshment:
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Not sure if this woman was part of the protest, but the scene was cute:
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I finish with an image of El Campello, illuminated by the setting sun that afternoon. Because of the location of the town, both sunrises and sunsets can be spectacular:
