Most of this week’s pictures are from a trip to the island of Tabarca last Sunday. Tabarca is an island about 1 hour from Alicante by ferry. It has about 100 inhabitants but on summer weekends the population swells. Tabarca is a great destination for a day trip from Alicante. The waters around the island are extremely clean, there are no cars, and in general this is the place for peace and rest. I went there as part of the Lightbox photography club. We spent a total of 5 hours on the island, about half of which consisted of lunch–a real, relaxed, drawn out Spanish lunch. I have put up a gallery of the island itself here; what I show below are mostly the people.
Main
View of Alicante from the boat to Tabarca. The expensive boats in the marina belong mostly to wealthy people from Madrid and members of the Russian mafia, for whom our part of Spain is a favourite place to spend their money:
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The crossing takes an hour. This couple was not part of our party, but they did contribute to my pictorial record of the trip:
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This being a photography club, equipment is being discussed and compared:
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I question this lady’s equipment choice, but still found her interesting, pictorially speaking:
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This is Tabarca harbour, as seen through my GF-1 with a pinhole “lens”:
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The main (and only) town on Tabarca is a small village with a main street and a few side streets, some of which are even paved. This is the local fashion emporium:
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Political and economic commentary. On the left: “I am apolitical; I am indifferent between the left and the right”. On the right: “Due to the crisis I fuck for free”:
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Big brother does not want to share:
After walking around the island and taking pictures for a couple of hours, we sat down to lunch in one of the leading restaurants of Tabarca (believe it or not, there are quite a few, between 10 and 15, mostly closed in the winter).
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Maria’s dad is Scottish and her mother is Spanish. The result is a delightful little girl:
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Maria in a pensive mood:
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Picture being taken:
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Now we get down to business. The food arrives. It is very much a standard lunch in this part of Spain. Always start with a salad:
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The appetizer consists of calamari and boquerones fritos, again very standard in these parts:
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And the main dish, or plato fuerte, is of course paella:
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All this for around 10 Euro:
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Tabarca is full of semi-stray cats, which hang around under the tables of the restaurants, hoping for accidental or not-so-accidental food drops:
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The food is eaten, the adults are talking and finishing the wine, the children entertain themselves:
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Child in the crowd:
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We are on the way to the ferry for the trip back to Alicante. Maria hitches a ride with Javier:
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Chimping is an integral feature of photography today:
To finish off the week, some of my customary pictures taken while walking the dog or just driving by the beach.
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Our neighbour’s dog, Lupi, looking out:
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Our local park at dusk:
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Lamp and branches:
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One afternoon, we had really threatening clouds over Playa San Juan, but in this case it was an empty threat:
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On Saturday morning, I had to take my wife to the airport for a 7 a.m. flight. On the way home, I stopped at the Albufereta beach to have a look at it before dawn and empty:
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The beaches in Alicante are cleaned during the night. At 6 a.m. all that is visible are the tracks left by the equipment:
