A week at home, with cycling, the local holiday Santa Faz, and a BBQ with friends at our house.
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We started the week by going to a Dominican restaurant in the centre, a neighbourhood that I am not too familiar with, definitely not posh by any means. Across the square there was a bar with a funny name, “have another drink”:
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Dominican food turned out to be delicious (and very similar to Puerto Rican food with which we are familiar):
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My dish, mofongo, which I know from Puerto Rico and like very much. The ball is made of plantains:
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Thursday was Santa Faz, a local holiday here in Alicante to commemorate a religious miracle from the 16th century. The main event is a procession from the centre to a monastery about 7 km away, in which more than 300,000 people participated this year. When we came to Alicante 17 years ago, the young people in the procession would go down to the beach afterwards and have a huge botellón there. But a few years ago the city began cracking down on the excessive drinking, so no more shopping carts filled with bottles. Instead, a “0.0%” party is organised on the beach. Here, a group of young people is being interviewed by local media:
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Nevertheless, some young people were still having a good time, possibly because they had managed to smuggle some non-zero bottles onto the beach:
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Local police and local TV keeping an eye on things:
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Even while the beach promenade is still full of people, the cleaning starts:
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I sat down for a beer at 100 Montaditos and photographed this nice couple at the adjacent table:
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On the way home, I stopped by the small supermarket Día, 200 meters from my house, and had another canine photo opportunity:
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On Saturday I cycled on the Vía Verde, stopping in Verdegás on the way to check on the cats next to the church:
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A bit further on, I stopped to look at the grape orchards near Agost. Those are table grapes, not to be turned into wine:
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On Sunday morning, I cycled to Jijona. Just before entering the town, I stopped to pee and noticed smoke from a brush fire in the distance:
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In the afternoon, we had our friends over for a BBQ, giving me the usual photo opportunities. Alejandra, a delightful young woman:
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Lucas, Alejandra, Assumpta and Esteemed Wife having a welcome drink:
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Our favourite four-legged guest was there too:
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As usual, Eliot the Argentine was in charge of the grill:
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There was an impressive spread of goodies, besides the meat, contributed by our friends, like this camembert with cherry tomatoes:
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Foie:
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Shrimp:
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Potato salad to accompany the meat:
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For desert, Balu gets a hug:
