This week’s pictures are from two events: a visit to a bodega on Saturday, and several nights of watching Euro 2008 football during the week.
First, the visit to Salvado Poveda, a bodega about 80 km from Alicante. It was organized by our wine club at work, Bacchus. The bodega is an old family business but the current methods of working are modern, yet resulting in old-fashioned, organic and non-filtered wines.
Main
Here is the owner, pouring wine for testing from the barrel:
The alternates:
Alternate 1
These are the vines. As is evident, the weather was not conducive to walking around outside:
Alternate 2
Retired barrels are sold to people for use as garden decorations and the like:
Alternate 3
This barrel is very much in use:
Alternate 4
Bottle labelling machine:
Alternate 5
The owner in animated conversation with some of the guests:
The rest of the pictures are related to the Euro 2008 championship, around which the lives of a few hundred million people, myself included, revolve this month. Since I have multiple allegiances, I can have a good time almost no matter who is playing.
Alternate 6
Monday night the Netherlands were playing Italy. I went to a local Belgian/Dutch bar to watch the match. Part of the deal was a free round for every goal scored by the Dutch. Since they won 3-0, it was a very pleasant and very inexpensive evening. Here is the barlady ringing the bell after another Dutch goal, to signal the coming of free beer:
Alternate 7
The free beer is cheerfully poured:
Alternate 8
On Thursday night Poland played Austria in a crucial game. The Polish needed a win to have a chance to progress in the tournament. They scored a somewhat lucky goal and hung on to a 1-0 lead until Austria was awarded a very questionable penalty in injury time and equalized for the final score of 1-1 (which in the end did neither country much good, as both were eliminated in the group stage). I joined a group of my Polish colleagues in a downtown bar to watch the game. Before the start, everyone was in a good mood and full of hope:
Alternate 9
Ania concentrates:
Alternate 10
Poland is ahead:
Alternate 11
But in the end, it is all despair:
Alternate 12
This is the general scenery of the street where we watched the game:
Alternate 13
On Friday, I went back to the Dutch bar to watch the Netherlands take on France. Apparently the win over Italy was too expensive for the bar, since this time there was no free beer on offer. Good thing too, since the Dutch won 4-1. This is what the bar looked like from the outside:
Alternate 14
Here is a typical Dutch snack, bitterballen, in very attractive surroundings:
Alternate 15
Since England did not qualify for Euro 2008, the local English people are wandering aimlessly from bar to bar, looking for a game worth watching:
