Another week at home between my many trips this spring. The highlight was our monthly department meeting, followed by an outing to one of my favourite watering holes, the 100 Montaditos bar on the beach. And later in the week, we had our monthly book club meeting.
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I cycled to Villajoyosa on Sunday morning, stopping at Playa Bol Nou. The air was clear and there was a good view of Alicante in the distance:
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Looking the other way, I saw a small group of cyclists on top of the cliff. They seemed to be discussing which way to go (straight was clearly not an option):
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On the main beach in Villajoyosa, there were early morning beach goers taking advantage of the nice weather:
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The fishing boats were all in harbour, given that it was Sunday:
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The small lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour:
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The traffic in the harbour was of a recreational nature this morning:
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On Tuesday we had our monthly department meeting at the office. Per a new tradition, we met after work for a drink together. The informal committee that runs this worthy initiative had chosen 100 Montaditos, very convenient for me since it is just 2 km from my house:
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As always, I focused on my co-workers, here my French colleague Bérengère:
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Anne-Sophie shares a laugh with Tamara:
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Anthony and Antoine, and Italian guy and a French guy with basically the same name (Anthony’s real name is Antonino but he prefers the English version of his name):
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Eri posed for me on the beach:
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It had been raining over the Mediterranean, and at one point this resulted:
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As always at 100 Montaditos, pigeons were hanging around to take advantage of opportunities provided by tables that had not yet been cleared:
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Wednesday was a day off (Labour Day) so I could do a longer bike ride, this time along the twisty road from Aigues to Relleu:
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The view from the highest point on the route, about 500 meters above sea level. In the foreground is the village of Aigues, in the distance Alicante:
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On Thursday our book club had its monthly meeting, this time to discuss a book I had chosen, “Anecdotes of Destiny” by the great Danish writer Karen Blixen, which contains five short stories, one of which is the well-known “Babette’s Feast”. My Finnish colleague Kari talks about the importance of Blixen’s work to him:
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Christine talks:
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Maria with a nice smile:
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I finished the week the way I started it, on my bicycle, this time cycling south to Santa Pola. I first stopped at Urbanova Beach, south of Alicante. It was early and the first beach-goers were only beginning to emerge:
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About an hour later, there was a lot more traffic on the beach in Santa Pola. In the background is the island of Tabarca:
