Some excursions

Whilst in Altea, you have Albir right next door, a simple and gentle walk along the sea front away. Just past Albir is a rather pleasant walk out to a lighthouse that the Toddlers had done many times during their visits to the area and they told us we should follow in their footsteps. We obeyed and were glad that we did:

Some nice views back to the towns from the walk as you wind your way towards the headland and lighthouse:

and up to the old Lighthouse building too - although it did look like a long way off and up which seemed to put off a few walkers:

Whilst we were enjoying blue skies and kind temperatures, we spared a thought for folks who might be on the ferries from Spain to the UK / Ireland. This was the wave height forecast:

Not something we would contemplate tackling in a huge ferry, let alone in our Nordhavn. Fortunately our home berth is pretty well sheltered and any ripples on the surface of the marina are not too significant.

Walking along the breakwater at Altea you get to see what is a pretty small and very very busy marina there. We needed our boat fix:

The pesky cloud things you can see in the picture were a brief aberration luckily and normal service was resumed the next day.

Although Altea is lovely and we spent many happy hours walking the waterfront and sampling the local cafes, we felt the urge to try out a few interesting local towns too. Guadalest was the first pick, strongly recommended by the lovely lady who owned our rental apartment.  The drive up the scenic winding road gave some wonderful views, as did the walk up to the castle:

with the castle, church and some buildings perched at the top of an impressive hill:

From there, you get to view the lake come reservoir rather nicely:

The local school children had their artwork on display in the school window. This was pretty typical of the offerings (please excuse the reflection of the serious looking captain, we could not avoid that grim bit of the image):

One child's handiwork really stood out amongst all the others:

and we do worry about him a little bit. The parents must be so proud.

The only disappointment of the trip was that most of the café places had a very bad Google rating and they lived down to it as well. Sad how touristy places don't need to try very hard. However, the little town itself was lovely apart from one shopkeeper. We wandered into the shop through the open door for the crew to look at some tops. Place was empty. Then Mr Shopkeeper came in from the street and in Spanish told us to "bugger off as he was closed". Not sure if that is an exact translation but the way it was said suggested those words. Proper sales prevention guy.

On the way back to the coast, we were kind to the car and stopped to wash off the dust using a pressure wash facility in a garage. It cost less than 20% of the equivalent time and service here in the UK. Depressing really.

Back on the coast, the crew found a new canine friend in Albir:

We felt that he would be cheap to feed but the grooming might be a challenge. He stayed where he was. 

All in all, a great stay and a most chilled time. We were getting the hang of Spanish life, if not the language. 

Altea happy time

Having really enjoyed a week in Altea last year with the lovely Tina, we had booked an apartment for 10 days this time in a similar area. Only shortly before our arrival we had a curt note via Booking.com to tell us that it was "no longer available". How nice of them. A hurried search for an alternative that was free for the specific 10 days really turned out well though. The building was just off the main road through town so a bit noisier but was about the most comfortable and certainly the best equipped of any we've rented. Right down to a wide range of herbs and spices in the kitchen. It was owned by a Swedish lady who had escaped to the warmth many years ago and originally it had been her home, that really showed.

Below us was a Dutch call centre operation - loads of Dutch people here both visitors and residents (the half-Dutch crew felt quite at home):

However, when you look closer at the sign, it becomes less appealing:

Gorillas in a call centre? Who knows. Spookily, the place shut down overnight during our 10 day stay there. Maybe too many customers had been mauled?

One massive benefit of the revised location was that it was around a three minute walk to Differens. A rather nice coffee come breakfast come lunch place that we'd discovered and enjoyed last year. Although it felt bad leaving a fantastically equipped kitchen in the apartment, only getting three minutes of exercise and then flopping into a chair, we did so. The Captain enjoyed a rather good local beer with lunch:

whilst the crew enjoyed some still water. Just not as much. Waterfront walks were frequent, warm and enjoyable with the view towards Albir:

We felt very sorry for one lone swan that had obviously been in a bit of a scrap with something so we named it "wounded wing":

The good news is that old WW seemed to be recovering and even started using that leg again. Trying to phone Spanish swan rescue was well beyond our "Dos Cafe con Leche" type of language skills.

The local supermarket (around 4 minutes walk away) had a few strange offerings:

No comment needed.  On the whole, we just enjoyed the sun, views, chilled lifestyle and great walks:

even the view from the apartment was OK: pool, some sea and we could easily check on the car in the gated private parking area:

We settled into the lifestyle rather too quickly and rather too well. A walk up to the main church through the old town is a must do, so we did:

and once more admired the power / wealth of the church in Spain:

even if the congregation looked a bit sparse that day! Worth the hike for the even better views towards Albir:

and towards the Morro de Toix in the other direction:

We also found a new and rather good Belgian owned and run café for the compulsory coffee and cake stops. Por Flavor was excellent. The joint owners were ultra friendly, let us practice our Dutch (crew) and German (both of us) and delivered excellent home-made cakes. Here is a Facebook link to their information. They deserve to do very well indeed.