{"id":5231,"date":"2026-10-18T18:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T17:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=5231"},"modified":"2026-10-18T18:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T17:08:25","slug":"week-41-protests-in-alicante-art-and-books","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=5231","title":{"rendered":"Week 41: protests in Alicante, art and books"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a week of expectation: on Friday I was departing on a week-long business trip to Bangkok, something I obviously very much looked forward to. There were a lot of preparations at work–we were going to attend the IMF\/World Bank annual meetings, with lots of sessions, and lots of bilateral meetings with various senior officials, all of which had to be carefully prepared.
\nBut the week was still interesting. I had the chance to see the protests here in Alicante, similar to what I witnessed in Madrid a week earlier. There was also the opening of an art exhibition, and the usual beach walks, often in darkness, given that sunrise is well after 8 a.m. now.<\/p>\n

41_1<\/strong>
\nThe week started with cloudy weather on Sunday morning. I took Mochi for his walk well before sunrise. A couple was walking along the water’s edge:
\n\"DSF0565\"<\/p>\n

41_2<\/strong>
\nLooking for coins:
\n\"DSF0564\"<\/p>\n

41_3<\/strong>
\nThe man seemed to be meditating, but then the two women caught his interest:
\n\"DSF0570\"<\/p>\n

41_4<\/strong>
\nThe sunrise:
\n\"DSF0573\"<\/p>\n

41_5<\/strong>
\nOn the way home, we encountered this cat, watching us from his hiding place:
\n\"DSF0578\"<\/p>\n

41_6<\/strong>
\nLater on Sunday, taking Mochi on his midday walk (now possible since the heat is not at the July\/August level anymore), I passed a popular rotisserie chicken shop. It was lunchtime, and there was a queue:
\n\"DSF0579\"<\/p>\n

41_7<\/strong>
\nOn Tuesday afternoon, I had an errand in the centre on my way home from work. I took advantage of the opportunity to visit Plaza Monta\u00f1eta, where I had heard there was an encampment to protest the high prices of housing, similar to what I had seen in Madrid (see week 40). As I emerged from the underground car park, the first thing I saw was this strange figure, representing some charity:
\n\"DSF0580\"<\/p>\n

41_8<\/strong>
\nThe encampment. The building in the background is the local office of the central government. There is another government building on the square, the tax office. Because of the presence of those government buildings, Plaza Monta\u00f1eta is a popular spot for various protests:
\n\"DSF0588\"<\/p>\n

41_9<\/strong>
\nAn elderly couple stops to look at the posters and slogans:
\n\"DSF0581\"<\/p>\n

41_10<\/strong>
\n“Housing is a right”. Indeed, Spain’s constitution lists housing among the basic human rights:
\n\"DSF0583\"<\/p>\n

41_11<\/strong>
\nProtests against “vulture funds”, investment funds that buy apartment buildings to convert them into tourist apartments:
\n\"DSF0586\"<\/p>\n

41_12<\/strong>
\nA somewhat strange slogan, “a gay landlord is still a landlord”. Seems neither here nor there:
\n\"DSF0587\"<\/p>\n

41_13<\/strong>
\nVarious other causes, unrelated to the housing crisis, were also on display:
\n\"DSF0590\"<\/p>\n

41_14<\/strong>
\n“I am closer to war than to my own apartment”:
\n\"DSF0591\"<\/p>\n

41_15<\/strong>
\n“We are not leaving, we are staying!”:
\n\"DSF0592\"<\/p>\n

41_16<\/strong>
\nEnjoying themselves and the good weather:
\n\"DSF0593\"<\/p>\n

41_17<\/strong>
\n“Down with the vulture funds, they do not even leave space for the cats”:
\n\"DSF0594\"<\/p>\n

41_18<\/strong>
\n“Towns for living, not for speculation”:
\n\"DSF0597\"<\/p>\n

41_19<\/strong>
\nConversion of apartments into AirBnBs is part of the explantion for the housing crisis, at least in touristy towns like Alicante:
\n\"DSF0599\"<\/p>\n

41_20<\/strong>
\nAn apartment building of sorts:
\n\"DSF0600\"<\/p>\n

41_21<\/strong>
\nA face in a sea of tents:
\n\"DSF0601\"<\/p>\n

41_22<\/strong>
\nInformation desk:
\n\"DSF0596\"<\/p>\n

41_23<\/strong>
\nSpeeches and discussion:
\n\"DSF0598\"<\/p>\n

41_24<\/strong>
\nOn Wednesday morning, the exercise crew on the beach was at it again, in the dark:
\n\"DSF0603\"<\/p>\n

41_25<\/strong>
\nLater that day, we opened a new exhibition at work, in the small exhibition space the office has given us. The artist was a local photographer called Dani Pastor, and theme was…eggs. Here he explains the concept while Kari, the president of our art club, listens:
\n\"DSF0606\"<\/p>\n

41_26<\/strong>
\nPeople listening to Dani, including my friend Eri:
\n\"DSF0608\"<\/p>\n

41_27<\/strong>
\nDani introduces Patricia C\u00f3rcoles, another local artist, who performed a couple of songs for us:
\n\"DSF0610\"<\/p>\n

41_28<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0613\"<\/p>\n

41_29<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0614\"<\/p>\n

41_30<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0615\"<\/p>\n

41_31<\/strong>
\nWendesday evening walk. The darkness does not stop the volley players:
\n\"DSF0616\"<\/p>\n

41_32<\/strong>
\nIt may be October, but the chiringuito<\/em> is still open:
\n\"DSF0622\"<\/p>\n

41_33<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday, the Nobel Prize for literature was going to be announced at lunchtime, so some of us got together in a meeting room to watch the announcement while having some snacks and drinks:
\n\"DSF0629\"<\/p>\n

41_34<\/strong>
\nOur new Korean trainee dealing with Spanish ham:
\n\"DSF0628\"<\/p>\n

41_35<\/strong>
\nTwo new trainees posing for me. They are delightful and highly intelligent young people:
\n\"DSF0627\"<\/p>\n

41_36<\/strong>
\nOn Friday morning, I photographed the beach exercise crew again, but this time from the front (that is, from the water’s edge):
\n\"DSF0632\"<\/p>\n

41_37<\/strong>
\nLater Friday morning, I drove to the airport and began my long voyage to Thailand. The shortest way is to transit in Doha or Dubai, but these days no sane person would transit in that part of the world, so my route was Alicante-Zurich-Bangkok. While changing planes in Zurich, I enjoyed the modern architecture of Zurich Airport:
\n\"DSF0635\"<\/p>\n

41_38<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0634\"<\/p>\n

More informtion about Dani Pastor is available on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a week of expectation: on Friday I was departing on a week-long business trip to Bangkok, something I obviously very much looked forward to. There were a lot of preparations at work–we were going to attend the IMF\/World Bank annual meetings, with lots of sessions, and lots of bilateral meetings with various senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4915,"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\/5231"}],"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=5231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5234,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5231\/revisions\/5234"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}