This week nothing special happened. I continued my recovery from the ailment that had kept me from cycling most of May, I made the first visit this spring to Hostal Maruja, and as usual I enjoyed the beach in my own way.
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But I start with a photo from the office. We have a piano in the atrium, and when I happen upon one of my colleagues playing, I usually take a picture. This is Iris in action:
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A visit to our neighbourhood mercadillo has become part of my Sunday routine, partly because I like buying my fruit and vegetables from the people who grow them (for the most part), and partly because I like to prowl the place for photographic opportunities. The market has two parts, food and junk. Here, the latter:
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Nuts and bolts vendor:
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A reading corner for children, although I did not see it in use:
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A hearty laugh:
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Potatoes and onions:
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Honey vendor:
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Melons and oranges, with free samples:
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I bought some fruit from this guy, and when he saw my camera, he asked me to make a selfie of the two of us. He then gave me his e-mail address and of course I sent the photo to him later that day:
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This being Spain, there must be a café, no matter how makeshift (in fact, there is also a bar in the non-food part):
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My cycling recovery continued later on Sunday, with my first ride to Aigües in three weeks. The square in front of the church was quiet as usual, with a service going on inside and these three boys playing around outside:
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On the way home, I saw this old timer riding an old timer, and I stopped and asked him to pose for me. I no longer have a motorcycle, but I still like them, and especially classic designs like this BMW boxer model from the 1950s or 60s:
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I often go to the beach at sunrise, but sometimes it is just as nice at sunset, when the late afternoon sun illuminates the buildings of El Campello:
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The mountains also look nice in that light:
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A woman walking towards to the water to dip her feet. This is one of the many pictures I have taken recently with the 1970s vintage 90mm Leica lens, mounted on my modern Fuji camera, a great combination of technologies 50 years apart:
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Cycling is prohibited on the beach promenade due to the many pedestrians, children and dogs running around etc.:
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Some years ago I bought a pinhole body cap for my Panasonic GF1 camera, and occasionally I indulge in pinhole photography with this setup. It gives a sort of painterly, old-fashioned look where everything in the frame is equally (un)sharp:
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Since my wife was in Puerto Rico visiting her family there, I was in no rush to come home to an empty house after work, so one day I stopped for a pint at Malatesta, a wonderful bar in the centre with a great beer selection as seen on the blackboard (these are just the beers on draft, there are many more bottled beers also):
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Part of the enjoyment is to look at the other people at the bar:
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But at the end of the day, it is about the beer. Tripel Karmeliet is one of the outstanding Belgian beers, and Malatesta is the only place in Alicante that has it on draft:
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The bartender went outside for a smoke, and some friends of his happened to be passing by:
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A very determined (or angry?) passer-by:
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Well-dressed lady in the barrio:
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On Thursday, knowing that a dentist appointment after work would most likely leave me unable to eat that evening, I wanted to have a good lunch, so I went to Hostal Maruja with two co-workers. The place was crowded, even though we went early, just after 1 p.m.:
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With the weather and the setting (and the quality of the food) it is not surprising that the place is popular. This year, they have put up a plastic screen along the terrace (leaving a few tables exposed, still) because the prevailing wind is from the sea and it can be annoying when eating:
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The ubiquitous seller of beach clothing and such:
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Three generations in the water:
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Carolina, pensive:
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Francisco, looking up something:
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One of the star dishes at Hostal Maruja, sepia a la plancha:
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Since Carolina hails from Spain’s foremost seafood region, Galicia, she always gets the job of dissecting the sepia:
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As I suspected, I had a tooth extracted on Thursday evening, so dinner was just cold beer (with the dentist’s approval) and on Friday I was a vegetable. Fortunately, it was a day off at our office, so I could just rest during the day. In the afternoon, Monica came by and we walked down to the beach to have a beer in the sand:
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An African peddler on the beach. At least he is selling beach stuff rather counterfeit sunglasses like many of his compatriots. I do not blame the individual sellers; these are the guys who have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean to get here, and they have to eat. The real crooks are the people smugglers and the criminal organisations that supply the fakes:
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On Saturday morning I was well enough to cycle up to Aigües. Clearly, we are in the midst of the First Communion season:
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But children are children, no matter how well-dressed they are:
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In the afternoon, I went to do some shopping at a nearby mall and happened across this cute pair:
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And to finish the weak, some backlit leaves in the park:
