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.