{"id":1724,"date":"2016-11-01T10:39:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T09:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1724"},"modified":"2016-11-01T10:39:43","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T09:39:43","slug":"week-43-last-few-days-of-irkas-visit-guadalest-rain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1724","title":{"rendered":"Week 43: last few days of Irka’s visit, Guadalest, rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was the last week of my sister’s visit, so I took three days off to be with them and to show them around. Most of the pictures are from our day trips around the area and in the city of Alicante.<\/p>\n

43_1<\/strong>
\nOur first day trip was to the mountain village of Guadalest. It is a very popular tourist destination, as it is close to the beaches of Benidorm and the rest of the Costa Blanca, so the parking lot is always full of tourist buses. People want a break from the beach and this is a good option for that. Guadalest is built around a castle on a hilltop, and the views are spectatular. This is the emblematic image of the town:
\n\"DSF3007\"<\/p>\n

43_2<\/strong>
\n\"DSF2995\"<\/p>\n

43_3<\/strong>
\nThe surrounding mountains:
\n\"DSF2975\"<\/p>\n

43_4<\/strong>
\nThe river, also called Guadalest:
\n\"DSF2984\"<\/p>\n

43_5<\/strong>
\nWhy have one dog when you can have three?
\n\"DSF2983\"<\/p>\n

43_6<\/strong>
\nAs is evident from this image, the main business of the village is to separate the tourists from their money:
\n\"DSF2988\"<\/p>\n

43_7<\/strong>
\nInside the village church:
\n\"DSF2979\"<\/p>\n

43_8<\/strong>
\nNarrow passage:
\n\"DSF2978\"<\/p>\n

43_9<\/strong>
\nIrka and Telesfor struggling uphill but taking it in stride:
\n\"DSF2993\"<\/p>\n

43_10<\/strong>
\nIt does feel like the Via Dolorosa<\/em> at times:
\n\"DSF2992\"<\/p>\n

43_11<\/strong>
\nThese two young women asked me to take a picture of them with their phone. I obliged but then also asked them to pose for me:
\n\"DSF2994\"<\/p>\n

43_12<\/strong>
\nThe small hilltop cemetery:
\n\"DSF3011\"<\/p>\n

43_13<\/strong>
\nLost her head:
\n\"DSF3012\"<\/p>\n

43_14<\/strong>
\nGate integrated into the rock:
\n\"DSF3016\"<\/p>\n

43_15<\/strong>
\nStatue of a saint on the central square of Guadalest:
\n\"DSF3015\"<\/p>\n

43_16<\/strong>
\nThe next day we went for a walk around the centre of Alicante, visiting the MACA, the Museum of Contemporary Art. This is the entrance, next to the Bas\u00c3\u00adlica Santa Mar\u00c3\u00ada in the old part of the city:
\n\"R000391\"<\/p>\n

43_17<\/strong>
\nFrankly speaking, MACA is not the world’s most interesting art museum. There is a lot of empty space, and few truly interesting works. This is one of them, a sculpture by Rafael Canogar depicting an arrest during the Franco dictatorship:
\n\"R000394\"<\/p>\n

43_18<\/strong>
\nThis young man was taking a nap on a bench inside the gallery; for a moment, my sister thought that this was art installation:
\n\"R000393\"<\/p>\n

43_19<\/strong>
\nDuring the week, we had some clouds that eventually delivered their payload:
\n\"R000417\"<\/p>\n

43_20<\/strong>
\nWhile walking Cheeta in the morning, I looked for different ways to depict the autumnal weather. One way was to focus on the beautiful skies and colours and water on the road:
\n\"DSF3018\"<\/p>\n

43_21<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3020\"<\/p>\n

43_22<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3023\"<\/p>\n

43_23<\/strong>
\nAnother way was to focus on the rain drops, such as here outside one of the restaurants in the neighbourhood:
\n\"R000397\"<\/p>\n

43_24<\/strong>
\nOr on the flowers on Avenida Vicente Ramos:
\n\"R000398\"<\/p>\n

43_25<\/strong>
\nStrange case of vandalism or an artistic statement?–overturned bench with neatly arranged bottles:
\n\"R000400\"<\/p>\n

43_26<\/strong>
\nIrka and Telesfor were leaving Wednesday night. This is their last lunch with us this time around. Given the occasion, a vodka toast is part of the standard procedure:
\n\"R000405\"<\/p>\n

43_27<\/strong>
\nAfter lunch, we went for another drive. First, we stopped at the memorial tree in the park, where I put up a ribbon for our lamented late kitty Taco:
\n\"R000410\"<\/p>\n

43_28<\/strong>
\nThen we drove on to Aig\u00c3\u00bces and walked on Calle Mayor which, despite its grand name, is only about 100 meters long. There are some artistic types living there, though:
\n\"R000418\"<\/p>\n

43_29<\/strong>
\n\"R000419\"<\/p>\n

43_30<\/strong>
\n\"R000420\"<\/p>\n

43_31<\/strong>
\nThen we sat down for a coffee:
\n\"R000426\"<\/p>\n

The remaining pictures were taken earlier in the week during a walk in the centre of Alicante. I decided to go back in time, and took my Leica M2, loaded with Fuji Acros film.<\/p>\n

43_32<\/strong>
\nStreet corner conversation near the Mercado Central:
\n\"2016_13_22\"<\/p>\n

43_33<\/strong>
\nEye contact:
\n\"2016_13_23\"<\/p>\n

43_34<\/strong>
\nAt the flower stalls behind the Mercado Central:
\n\"2016_13_17\"<\/p>\n

43_35<\/strong>
\nWoman on the bench. In the background, bar La Rotonda, behind the Mercado Central:
\n\"2016_13_15\"<\/p>\n

43_36<\/strong>
\nInside the Mercado, the fish mongers usually constitute the most interesting photo opportunities:
\n\"2016_13_4\"<\/p>\n

43_37<\/strong>
\nAt the time we were in the Mercado, they were getting ready to close, so there were few customers and the mood was one of relaxation:
\n\"2016_13_9\"<\/p>\n

43_38<\/strong>
\nBIG fish:
\n\"2016_13_6\"<\/p>\n

43_39<\/strong>
\nThe butcher:
\n\"2016_13_8\"<\/p>\n

43_40<\/strong>
\nThe final part of our itinerary took us to the area around Alicante’s town hall and the Bas\u00c3\u00adlica Santa Mar\u00c3\u00ada. This is the street that leads from the Plaza de la Sant\u00c3\u00adsima Faz to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento:
\n\"2016_13_30\"<\/p>\n

43_41<\/strong>
\nLone woman on a bench, Plaza del Ayuntamiento:
\n\"2016_13_25\"<\/p>\n

43_42<\/strong>
\nA smoke on the balcony, Plaza de la Sant\u00c3\u00adsima Faz:
\n\"2016_13_29\"<\/p>\n

43_43<\/strong>
\nAnd one of the last pictures I took of Irka and Telesfor, on Plaza de la Sant\u00c3\u00adsima Faz:
\n\"2016_13_28\"<\/p>\n

Irka turned 71 during her visit here, and her husband is 7 years older. I think both are keeping well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was the last week of my sister’s visit, so I took three days off to be with them and to show them around. Most of the pictures are from our day trips around the area and in the city of Alicante. 43_1 Our first day trip was to the mountain village of Guadalest. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1535,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1726,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724\/revisions\/1726"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}