{"id":4688,"date":"2025-06-14T06:04:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T05:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4688"},"modified":"2025-06-14T06:28:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T05:28:31","slug":"week-23-euipo-sunset-party-desfile-del-ninot","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4688","title":{"rendered":"Week 23: EUIPO sunset party, Desfile del Ninot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most important fiesta in Alicante is the Hogueras de San Juan<\/em>, a week-long celebration culminating on June 24th. But already now there are various related events taking place. On Saturday it was the Desfile del Ninot<\/em>, a gathering of about 90 civic associations in the centre, all dressed up in themed costumes. We also had a new event at the office, a charity party in an outdoor amphitheatre in the park that is part of our campus. I also did the usual walks with the dog and bike rides. <\/p>\n

23_1<\/strong>
\nI start with some canine pictures. I spotted this driver in the parking lot of the Consum supermarket:
\n\"R001780\"<\/p>\n

23_2<\/strong>
\nA furbaby in the centre:
\n\"DSF0833\"<\/p>\n

23_3<\/strong>
\nThen some photos from my morning walks with Mochi, taken during the week. First, a woman exercises on the beach (this is very much a thing here in Alicante):
\n\"DSF0803\"<\/p>\n

23_4<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0804\"<\/p>\n

23_5<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0805\"<\/p>\n

23_6<\/strong>
\nThe rubbish bins on the beach are full in the morning. We are now in full season, but at least people are mostly doing the right thing:
\n\"DSF0802\"<\/p>\n

23_7<\/strong>
\nOne morning, the sunrise on the beach was golden:
\n\"DSF0829\"<\/p>\n

23_8<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0826\"<\/p>\n

23_9<\/strong>
\nPreparing for the day:
\n\"DSF0844\"<\/p>\n

23_10<\/strong>
\nFootsteps in the sand:
\n\"DSF0845\"<\/p>\n

23_11<\/strong>
\nHazy morning:
\n\"DSF0847\"<\/p>\n

23_12<\/strong>
\nKeeping a safe distance from Mochi and me:
\n\"DSF0806\"<\/p>\n

23_13<\/strong>
\nSunday 1 June was the second round of Poland’s presidential election. Since there are many Polish people living around Alicante, two polling places were set up in local hotels (there is no Polish consulate in Alicante, so the consulate in Barcelona rents space and sends some members of staff to supervise the voting). My daughter and I went to do our civic duty around lunchtime:
\n\"DSF0809\"<\/p>\n

23_14<\/strong>
\nAfterwards, we went to have a drink on the terrace of this hole-in-the-wall (almost) bar:
\n\"DSF0811\"<\/p>\n

23_15<\/strong>
\nAfterwards, we went for lunch at a place my daughter wanted to try, called Mango Sushi & Wine, described as a “Japan-Mediterranean” fusion place. It was actually excellent, a feast for both eyes and palate:
\n\"DSF0815\"<\/p>\n

23_16<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0816\"<\/p>\n

23_17<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday afternoon we had a new kind of event at our office. Part of the office complex is a park, accessible to the general public during working hours. Our charity club organised a “sunset party”, with a concert by a local band, and drinks and snacks for sale to raise funds for the charities they support. Our executive director said a few words before the music started:
\n\"R001797\"<\/p>\n

23_18<\/strong>
\nThe leader of the band introduces them (most of us had never heard of them):
\n\"R001793\"<\/p>\n

23_19<\/strong>
\nThe band in action:
\n\"R001805\"<\/p>\n

23_20<\/strong>
\nFany records the proceedings:
\n\"R001799\"<\/p>\n

23_21<\/strong>
\nOverall view of the amphitheatre:
\n\"R001809\"<\/p>\n

23_22<\/strong>
\nThe audience:
\n\"R001806\"<\/p>\n

23_23<\/strong>
\nI walked around the crowd, stopping to photograph people I know particularly well. Here, Raymond, Caroline and Inge:
\n\"R001791\"<\/p>\n

23_24<\/strong>
\nKatarina from Croatia caught me in the act:
\n\"R001790\"<\/p>\n

23_25<\/strong>
\nOn Friday I met for lunch with my former trainee Antanina, now a lecturer at London Metropolitan University. She was visiting Alicante, and as always, we got together for lunch. This time we went to a restaurant in the centre called Casa de Leo:
\n\"DSF0835\"<\/p>\n

23_26<\/strong>
\nWhile Antanina and I were waiting for our food, I noticed another restaurant across the narrow pedestrian street. As a testimony to the increasing number of Polish visitors and residents here, the menu was in Spanish, English, French and Polish:
\n\"DSF0834\"<\/p>\n

23_27<\/strong>
\nI love Casa de Leo. It is owned by French people, and the food is an eclectic mix of cuisines. This is my main course, a delicious tuna tartar:
\n\"DSF0836\"<\/p>\n

23_28<\/strong>
\nSaturday was the highlight of the week. My Australian friends Geoff and his wife Bron are visiting Spain, and they spent a couple of days in Alicante. I really enjoyed meeting them on my home turf. We had dinner at one of the nice restaurants in the centre, Taberna del Gourmet:
\n\"DSF0875\"<\/p>\n

23_29<\/strong>
\nBesides the pleasure of meeting Geoff and Bron, the evening was special because Saturday marked the start of the midsummer festive season which will culminate on June 24th, when the many installations around the city, called Hogueras<\/em> or Ninots<\/em>, will be burned. Each Hoguera<\/em> is organised by a neighbourhood society, and on Saturday they all marched through the city in a series of parades, collectively called Desfile del Ninot<\/em>. The groups arrived by bus at a large square called Plaza Luceros (where Geoff, Bron and I were having a beer), from where they walked to the town hall, about 1 km away:
\n\"DSF0850\"<\/p>\n

23_30<\/strong>
\nPeople who dress up and go out in a public are an obvious target for an urban photographer like me:
\n\"DSF0851\"<\/p>\n

23_31<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0852\"<\/p>\n

23_32<\/strong>
\nAs is usually the case with Spanish fiestas, this was very much a family event:
\n\"DSF0860\"<\/p>\n

23_33<\/strong>
\nChess pieces:
\n\"DSF0861\"<\/p>\n

23_34<\/strong>
\nCards:
\n\"DSF0863\"<\/p>\n

23_35<\/strong>
\nA Mexican-themed party:
\n\"DSF0865\"<\/p>\n

23_36<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0862\"<\/p>\n

23_37<\/strong>
\nMore chess pieces:
\n\"DSF0866\"<\/p>\n

23_38<\/strong>
\nColourful:
\n\"DSF0868\"<\/p>\n

23_39<\/strong>
\nHearts:
\n\"DSF0871\"<\/p>\n

23_40<\/strong>
\nCanine conversation:
\n\"DSF0869\"<\/p>\n

23_41<\/strong>
\nFascination:
\n\"DSF0870\"<\/p>\n

23_42<\/strong>
\nThe street party continued well into the evening:
\n\"DSF0880\"<\/p>\n

23_43<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0881\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most important fiesta in Alicante is the Hogueras de San Juan, a week-long celebration culminating on June 24th. But already now there are various related events taking place. On Saturday it was the Desfile del Ninot, a gathering of about 90 civic associations in the centre, all dressed up in themed costumes. We also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4543,"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\/4688"}],"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=4688"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4696,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4688\/revisions\/4696"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}