{"id":2003,"date":"2017-10-23T20:35:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T19:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2003"},"modified":"2017-10-23T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T19:56:08","slug":"week-41-irkas-visit-rojales-alicante-villajoyosa-moros-y-cristianos","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2003","title":{"rendered":"Week 41: Irka’s visit: Rojales, Alicante, Villajoyosa, Moros y Cristianos"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was the second week of my sister’s visit. Conveniently, Monday was a public holiday, and I took Friday (her birthday) off. So I had ample time to spend with Irka and Telesfor before they went back to Poland at the end of the week.<\/p>\n

41_1<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday we drove to Rojales to visit the Cuevas del Rodeo artist colony, housed in man-made caves. Unfortunately, because of the long weekend, most of the galleries were closed, so we had to make do with wandering around and looking at the outside art, starting with this emblematic work with a view of the town:
\n\"DSF9815\"<\/p>\n

41_2<\/strong>
\nMan at work:
\n\"DSF9816\"<\/p>\n

41_3<\/strong>
\nThe entrances are often works of art in themselves:
\n\"DSF9820\"<\/p>\n

41_4<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9803\"<\/p>\n

41_5<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9813\"<\/p>\n

41_6<\/strong>
\nThere are also interesting murals:
\n\"DSF9798\"<\/p>\n

41_7<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9800\"<\/p>\n

41_8<\/strong>
\nGuard dog:
\n\"DSF9799\"<\/p>\n

41_9<\/strong>
\n“The Guardian of the Sun”, a sculpture by a Danish artist that I had not noticed during earlier visits:
\n\"DSF9805\"<\/p>\n

41_10<\/strong>
\nChair and tiles:
\n\"DSF9808\"<\/p>\n

41_11<\/strong>
\nPainting:
\n\"DSF9811\"<\/p>\n

41_12<\/strong>
\nDonkey in the grass:
\n\"DSF9814\"<\/p>\n

41_13<\/strong>
\nSculpture among trees:
\n\"DSF9818\"<\/p>\n

41_14<\/strong>
\nOn Monday we went to a craft beer festival at the Plaza del Puerto on Alicante’s central waterfront:
\n\"DSF9822\"<\/p>\n

41_15<\/strong>
\nThe beer was excellent, and some of the servers were delightful too:
\n\"DSF9830\"<\/p>\n

41_16<\/strong>
\nBecause we had arrived early we got a good table in the shade and had what amounted to a nice liquid lunch:
\n\"DSF9825\"<\/p>\n

41_17<\/strong>
\nAfterwards, Irka and Telesfor wanted a picture with the surfer statue, a well-known Alicante landmark:
\n\"DSF9836\"<\/p>\n

41_18<\/strong>
\nOn the way back to the car, I passed the book market on Plaza del Ayuntamiento (town hall square):
\n\"DSF9835\"<\/p>\n

41_19<\/strong>
\nOne of the traditions connected with my sister’s visits is that she makes pierogi<\/em> (traditional Polish dumplings) for us:
\n\"DSF9841\"<\/p>\n

41_20<\/strong>
\nThe pierogi are filled with potato and fried onion (vegan version), or farmer’s cheese:
\n\"DSF9839\"<\/p>\n

41_21<\/strong>
\nAnother tradition, a family photo with Cheeta in front of the main entrance:
\n\"DSF9848\"<\/p>\n

41_22<\/strong>
\nA mojito on the beach, late afternoon:
\n\"DSF9851\"<\/p>\n

41_23<\/strong>
\nFriday, my sister’s birthday, started with the usual festive breakfast–an omelette, fresh bread, cheese etc., and of course champagne (or Catalan cava<\/em> in this case):
\n\"DSF4290\"<\/p>\n

41_24<\/strong>
\nI had taken the day off, so after breakfast we drove to the mountains, which especially my brother-in-law loves. We took a walk in Aig\u00c3\u00bces, one of my standard cycling destinations:
\n\"DSF4297\"<\/p>\n

41_25<\/strong>
\nWhile having coffee at an outdoor caf\u00c3\u00a9 on the main square, I photographed these two young women who were busy making a selfie with their phone propped up on the concrete lamp post:
\n\"DSF4295\"<\/p>\n

41_26<\/strong>
\nThe priest’s mail box:
\n\"DSF4296\"<\/p>\n

41_27<\/strong>
\nRat mural, Calle Mayor, Aig\u00c3\u00bces:
\n\"DSF4299\"<\/p>\n

41_28<\/strong>
\nWe drove around the hills some more, stopping to look at this strange mountain with a hole in it:
\n\"DSF4302\"<\/p>\n

41_29<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, I did a short bicycle ride, stopping to photograph this funny Dutch car in El Campello:
\n\"R002748\"<\/p>\n

41_30<\/strong>
\nWe spent the evening relaxing at home:
\n\"R002758\"<\/p>\n

41_31<\/strong>
\nMy dear 16-year old Cheeta gives me the look of love and devotion:
\n\"R002757\"<\/p>\n

41_32<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, we drove up to Villajoyosa and spent some time on Playa Bol Nou, a wonderful little beach just south of the town:
\n\"DSF4327\"<\/p>\n

41_33<\/strong>
\nThe rock and the sea:
\n\"DSF4307\"<\/p>\n

41_34<\/strong>
\nJust rock:
\n\"DSF4318\"<\/p>\n

41_35<\/strong>
\nLone paddler, Alicante in the background:
\n\"DSF4311\"<\/p>\n

41_36<\/strong>
\nReflective gate:
\n\"DSF4304\"<\/p>\n

41_37<\/strong>
\nSaturday night, dinner is being prepared, Telesfor enjoys a Bloody Mary on my kitchen terrace:
\n\"DSF4328\"<\/p>\n

41_38<\/strong>
\nIrka and Telesfor were flying home on Sunday night. We started the last day of their visit in El Campello, where they had been celebrating the Moros y Cristianos<\/em> festival for several days, and today was the culmination:
\n\"DSF4340\"<\/p>\n

41_39<\/strong>
\nThe main event of the afternoon was a fireworks display, called masclet\u00c3\u00a0<\/em> in the local dialect of Catalan, Valenciano. It may seem silly to have fireworks at 2 p.m. in bright sunshine, but Spain is a country that likes smoke and noise. So lots of people were making their way to the area where the masclet\u00c3\u00a0 was going to take place:
\n\"DSF4339\"<\/p>\n

41_40<\/strong>
\nThe crowds waiting for the fireworks to start:
\n\"DSF4347\"<\/p>\n

41_41<\/strong>
\nThese people had a front-row view:
\n\"DSF4348\"<\/p>\n

41_42<\/strong>
\nSmoke and noise:
\n\"DSF4352\"<\/p>\n

41_43<\/strong>
\nThis little girl did not appreciate the noise:
\n\"DSF4350\"<\/p>\n

41_44<\/strong>
\nWell-dressed people leaving the grounds:
\n\"DSF4355\"<\/p>\n

41_45<\/strong>
\n\"DSF4356\"<\/p>\n

41_46<\/strong>
\n\"DSF4357\"<\/p>\n

41_47<\/strong>
\nIrka and Telesfor’s flight was leaving at 20:40, meaning that we had to go the airport around 18:30. And since they were going to arrive home in Wroc\u00c5\u201aaw around midnight, there would be no real dinner for them. So my wife decided to prepare a big, late lunch for them to tide them over. The centerpiece was a vegetable paella:
\n\"DSF4361\"<\/p>\n

41_48<\/strong>
\n\"DSF4364\"<\/p>\n

41_49<\/strong>
\nFor the non-vegans, there was also a delicious, oven-baked dorada<\/em> (gilt-head bream):
\n\"DSF4365\"<\/p>\n

After digesting the lunch for a couple of hours, I took my visitors to the airport and we said goodbye, once again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was the second week of my sister’s visit. Conveniently, Monday was a public holiday, and I took Friday (her birthday) off. So I had ample time to spend with Irka and Telesfor before they went back to Poland at the end of the week. 41_1 On Sunday we drove to Rojales to visit the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1779,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2003"}],"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=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2003\/revisions\/2010"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}