{"id":4376,"date":"2024-07-17T05:59:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T04:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4376"},"modified":"2024-07-17T05:59:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T04:59:07","slug":"week-26-a-walk-on-june-24th-and-stephanies-summer-party","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4376","title":{"rendered":"Week 26: a walk on June 24th, and Stephanie’s summer party"},"content":{"rendered":"

The blog for the last full week of June has two main parts: a walk in the city centre on June 24th, the local San Juan holiday, to watch the Hogueras on the last day before they are burned at midnight and the people partying in the streets; and on Thursday evening, our department’s pre-vacation party, held in the garden of Stephanie’s beautiful home, that also ended up as a leaving do for me–as a result of a reorganisation of our office, as of July 1st a new department has been created with me in charge, so I am no longer part of the department in which I have worked since 2012.<\/p>\n

26_1<\/strong>
\nBut first a few images from the cycling at the beginning of the week. One ride went to Busot. As always, I enjoyed the view of the village from above:
\n\"1040189\"<\/p>\n

26_2<\/strong>
\n\"1040191\"<\/p>\n

26_3<\/strong>
\nI noticed some works on the castle ruin above Busot. It is unclear whether this is a restoration project or just works to stabilise the structure:
\n\"1040192\"<\/p>\n

26_4<\/strong>
\nThe following day I cycled to Jijona. The mountains above the town were shrouded in clouds, but I stayed dry:
\n\"1040195\"<\/p>\n

26_5<\/strong>
\nThen Monday the 24th arrived, a day off here in Alicante and in many other parts of Spain. It is a culmination of a week-long fiesta, with large parts of the centre closed to make room for temporary party structures called barracas<\/em>, and the large installations that would be burned at midnight. I decided to take a walk during the afternoon to have a look at the festivities. While walking from the parking to the first place I had picked, I photographed this lovely mosaic restaurant sign:
\n\"DSF3880\"<\/p>\n

26_6<\/strong>
\nMy first stop was Plaza Luceros, a large roundabout lined by bars, all of which were doing brisk business:
\n\"DSF3896\"<\/p>\n

26_7<\/strong>
\nI walked around to look at the entrances to the different barracas<\/em>:
\n\"DSF3893\"<\/p>\n

26_8<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3889\"<\/p>\n

26_9<\/strong>
\nAmusing image. One drunk guy asks, “How long till the fiesta is over?”, the other one replies, “it just started yesterday”. And we are talking about a week-long event:
\n\"DSF3890\"<\/p>\n

26_10<\/strong>
\nA group of young women having fun on one the main avenues in the centre:
\n\"DSF3900\"<\/p>\n

26_11<\/strong>
\nThese women were curious to see what went on inside the barraca:
\n\"DSF3901\"<\/p>\n

26_12<\/strong>
\nAnd this is what was going on, good times for all:
\n\"DSF3885\"<\/p>\n

26_13<\/strong>
\nAlthough this looks like a serious conversation:
\n\"DSF3886\"<\/p>\n

26_14<\/strong>
\nAn innovation imported from the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, urinals like these are common in places where a lot of men consume a lot of beer. But here it is a novelty, particularly fascinating for the ladies, it seems:
\n\"DSF3887\"<\/p>\n

26_15<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3888\"<\/p>\n

26_16<\/strong>
\nI moved on to Plaza Seneca. There was a large installation there with people admiring and discussing the various details:
\n\"DSF3911\"<\/p>\n

26_17<\/strong>
\nAnd there were many nice details:
\n\"DSF3904\"<\/p>\n

26_18<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3905\"<\/p>\n

26_19<\/strong>
\nThe hogueras often have a theme reflecting current political or social issues, in this case fake news:
\n\"DSF3909\"<\/p>\n

26_20<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3914\"<\/p>\n

26_21<\/strong>
\n“We are going to tell lies”:
\n\"DSF3912\"<\/p>\n

26_22<\/strong>
\nThe technicians were putting the fuel for that evening’s burning:
\n\"DSF3906\"<\/p>\n

26_23<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3907\"<\/p>\n

26_24<\/strong>
\nI walked back to the Esplanada de Espa\u00c3\u00b1a, the seaside pedestrian promenade, also decorated for the day, and full of people:
\n\"DSF3918\"<\/p>\n

26_25<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3919\"<\/p>\n

26_26<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3922\"<\/p>\n

26_27<\/strong>
\nDespite the widespread drunkenness, there is surprisingly little vandalism during the fiesta week. This street light on the Esplanada was an exception:
\n\"DSF3917\"<\/p>\n

26_28<\/strong>
\nThe Esplanada ends at Plaza Puerta del Mar where there was a large hoguera:
\n\"DSF3925\"<\/p>\n

26_29<\/strong>
\nAs I was walking towards the underground parking under Puerta del Mar, an impromptu marching band passed by. This is the general vibe in Alicante during the Hogueras de San Juan:
\n\"DSF3928\"<\/p>\n

The rest of the images are from Stephanie’s summer party, which also functioned as a farewell for me. Even though I was just moving to another building on our campus, it felt quite emotional to leave a group of people with whom I have worked for 12 years, and I am close to several of them. Of course I will continue to see them from time to time, but it will not be the same.<\/p>\n

26_30<\/strong>
\nStephanie had provided a generous supply of stuff (and of course her house and garden), but we all brought some goodies to share:
\n\"DSF3934\"<\/p>\n

26_31<\/strong>
\nAs usual, I set upon my colleagues with the camera. Here, our director (in my case for another 4 days) Patricia talking to Silvia:
\n\"DSF3937\"<\/p>\n

26_32<\/strong>
\nSilvia, reflected:
\n\"DSF3936\"<\/p>\n

26_33<\/strong>
\nOur gracious hostess Stephanie:
\n\"DSF3939\"<\/p>\n

26_34<\/strong>
\nMy French colleague B\u00c3\u00a9reng\u00c3\u00a8re with Anthony (from Italy). I have recently made some photos of B\u00c3\u00a9reng\u00c3\u00a8re making funny faces during conversations, but here she was happy to pose and liked the result:
\n\"DSF3941\"<\/p>\n

26_35<\/strong>
\nAntoine with my trainee Romy who is always hamming it up for the camera:
\n\"DSF3942\"<\/p>\n

26_36<\/strong>
\nBen with B\u00c3\u00a9reng\u00c3\u00a8re:
\n\"DSF3947\"<\/p>\n

26_37<\/strong>
\nThe moment arrived for me to give an impromptu speech. I had prepared nothing, so it was pure improvisation from the heart. It was quite emotional for me:
\n\"DSF3944\"<\/p>\n

26_38<\/strong>
\nCooling their feet:
\n\"DSF3952\"<\/p>\n

26_39<\/strong>
\nA lovely tableau:
\n\"DSF3961\"<\/p>\n

26_40<\/strong>
\nStephanie’s husband is an architect, and he designed their house. One of the unique features is an indoor climbing wall, which my colleague V\u00c3\u00a9ronique decided to try:
\n\"DSF3966\"<\/p>\n

26_41<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3967\"<\/p>\n

26_42<\/strong>
\nEri looks at V\u00c3\u00a9ronique climbing higher and higher:
\n\"DSF3968\"<\/p>\n

26_43<\/strong>
\nEri is scared on V\u00c3\u00a9ronique’s behalf:
\n\"DSF3969\"<\/p>\n

26_44<\/strong>
\nI had said to people that I wanted no going away presents, as I already have too much “stuff”. Of course they disobeyed me, but all the presents were things that could be consumed, thus not contributing to the clutter in my office or my house. And there were many lovely personal touches, such as this box of Belgian beer that V\u00c3\u00a9ronique gave me:
\n\"DSF3973\"<\/p>\n

26_45<\/strong>
\n\"DSF3978\"<\/p>\n

And thus ended an eventful week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blog for the last full week of June has two main parts: a walk in the city centre on June 24th, the local San Juan holiday, to watch the Hogueras on the last day before they are burned at midnight and the people partying in the streets; and on Thursday evening, our department’s pre-vacation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4205,"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\/4376"}],"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=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4380,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4376\/revisions\/4380"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}