{"id":3858,"date":"2023-01-11T06:35:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T05:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3858"},"modified":"2023-01-11T07:21:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T06:21:39","slug":"week-01-new-years-day-and-the-three-kings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3858","title":{"rendered":"Week 01: New Year’s Day and the Three Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first week of the year was very much about welcoming the new year in the company of friends. Our office reopened on January 3rd, but since Three Kings’ Day is a public holiday in Spain, it was a quiet, three-day work week with plenty of time for life and cycling.<\/p>\n

1_1<\/strong>
\nI started the year with my usual morning bike ride. The first sunrise of the year over the harbour of El Campello was a bit hazy:
\n\"1020977\"<\/p>\n

1_2<\/strong>
\nThe fishing boats were all in the harbour, nobody works on January 1st:
\n\"1020978\"<\/p>\n

1_3<\/strong>
\n\"1020975\"<\/p>\n

1_4<\/strong>
\nIt is our custom to get together with our friends for lunch on New Year’s Day, and this year was no exception. We were 18 people altogether, and we met at an Arab restaurant in the centre of Alicante called TK Arabesco, my first visit there:
\n\"1060723\"<\/p>\n

1_5<\/strong>
\nOur table:
\n\"1060727\"<\/p>\n

1_6<\/strong>
\nDalaal:
\n\"1060726\"<\/p>\n

1_7<\/strong>
\nArabesco is mainly Moroccan, and I loved the food. Here is one of many small dishes that preceded the main couscous:
\n\"1060731\"<\/p>\n

1_8<\/strong>
\nThe main dish, the couscous:
\n\"1060732\"<\/p>\n

1_9<\/strong>
\nAnd the overwhelming sweetness at the end of the meal:
\n\"1060735\"<\/p>\n

1_10<\/strong>
\nA sort of environmental portrait of one of the cooks:
\n\"1060734\"<\/p>\n

1_11<\/strong>
\nOn January 2nd, I was out again, stopping to take in the view of Busot, a place I always enjoy:
\n\"1020979\"<\/p>\n

1_12<\/strong>
\nAn image 200 m from my house, a small roundabout with a palm tree in the middle:
\n\"1060738\"<\/p>\n

1_13<\/strong>
\nThen the following day I went back to work and did not take many pictures during the next couple of days. But then it was Three Kings’ Day and I could cycle and photograph again. I took a break on the Plaza da la Iglesia in Aigues. The lamppost in the centre of the square has been turned into a kind of Christmas tree:
\n\"1020984\"<\/p>\n

1_14<\/strong>
\nAigues is a small village, and setting up such a tree and decorating it is very much a community endeavour:
\n\"1020985\"<\/p>\n

1_15<\/strong>
\n\"1020983\"<\/p>\n

1_16<\/strong>
\nAnd people also decorate their houses:
\n\"1020982\"<\/p>\n

1_17<\/strong>
\nThe rest of the blog is from our holiday lunch with friends, in La Nuc\u00c3\u00ada near Benidorm. This is also something we do every year on Three Kings’ Day, with everyone bringing some food and drink. The smorgasbord is set up outside:
\n\"1060749\"<\/p>\n

1_18<\/strong>
\nSome of the foods on the table, starting with my wife’s salad:
\n\"1060742\"<\/p>\n

1_19<\/strong>
\nRoastbeef with dressing:
\n\"1060743\"<\/p>\n

1_20<\/strong>
\nLeek pie:
\n\"1060744\"<\/p>\n

1_21<\/strong>
\nA selection of pat\u00c3\u00a9s:
\n\"1060745\"<\/p>\n

1_22<\/strong>
\nThe usual Spanish assortment of embutidos<\/em>:
\n\"1060746\"<\/p>\n

1_23<\/strong>
\nSome fresh shrimp:
\n\"1060747\"<\/p>\n

1_24<\/strong>
\nAnd finally, my favourite, a selection of French cheeses:
\n\"1060748\"<\/p>\n

1_25<\/strong>
\nThe hostess Mariluz putting the finishing touches, while our Algerian friend Mustafa is getting a sneak preview of the goodies:
\n\"1060750\"<\/p>\n

1_26<\/strong>
\nThen everyone digs in, with a very interested spectator:
\n\"1060753\"<\/p>\n

1_27<\/strong>
\nThis cat is not a stray, she belongs to Mariluz (or vice versa):
\n\"1060751\"<\/p>\n

1_28<\/strong>
\nMati, being colourful:
\n\"1060755\"<\/p>\n

1_29<\/strong>
\nAs the afternoon wore on and it became colder, we moved inside for the traditional Three Kings’ Day dessert, Rosc\u00c3\u00b3n de Reyes<\/em>. It is an extremely seasonal dish, eaten only during this holiday:
\n\"1060756\"<\/p>\n

1_30<\/strong>
\n\"1060757\"<\/p>\n

1_31<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, some of the hardy smokers were still outside on the terrace:
\n\"1060759\"<\/p>\n

1_32<\/strong>
\nThe party most certainly is winding down:
\n\"1060760\"<\/p>\n

1_33<\/strong>
\nAnd I finish the first weekly blog of my 23rd year of doing PAWs with the hills around La Nuc\u00c3\u00ada, illuminated by the setting sun:
\n\"1060762\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first week of the year was very much about welcoming the new year in the company of friends. Our office reopened on January 3rd, but since Three Kings’ Day is a public holiday in Spain, it was a quiet, three-day work week with plenty of time for life and cycling. 1_1 I started the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3855,"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\/3858"}],"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=3858"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3864,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3858\/revisions\/3864"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}