{"id":2972,"date":"2020-07-23T12:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T11:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2972"},"modified":"2020-07-23T12:46:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T11:46:38","slug":"week-29-signs-the-city-via-verde-again","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2972","title":{"rendered":"Week 29: signs, the city, V\u00c3\u00ada Verde again"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week during which I worked and cycled as usual. But also a walk in the centre, a beer at my favourite bar there, and another visit to the V\u00c3\u00ada Verde, the abandoned railroad converted to gravel path.<\/p>\n

29_1<\/strong>
\nA grab shot while driving around. I loved the paint job on this van, especially since my son in New Jersey has recently adopted a black cat:
\n\"DSF6512\"<\/p>\n

29_2<\/strong>
\nTwo more grab shots, this time from my garden. An unidentified flower growing in the neighbour’s garden, but the blossom is on our side:
\n\"DSF6514\"<\/p>\n

29_3<\/strong>
\nMy magic cactus is still at it from time to time:
\n\"DSF6516\"<\/p>\n

29_4<\/strong>
\nWhile walking around the centre of Alicante one afternoon, it occurred to me that there are many interesting signs around, and I decided to start photographing those signs more systematically, especially because some of these businesses may not survive the current crisis. A hair stylist:
\n\"DSF6518\"<\/p>\n

29_5<\/strong>
\nOld-school optician sign:
\n\"DSF6531\"<\/p>\n

29_6<\/strong>
\nCultures blend:
\n\"DSF6529\"<\/p>\n

29_7<\/strong>
\nA cheap hostel:
\n\"DSF6530\"<\/p>\n

29_8<\/strong>
\nMy favourite bar in Alicante:
\n\"DSF6521\"<\/p>\n

29_9<\/strong>
\nAt this point in my walk, I could not help noticing a vacant table outside Malatesta, so I sat down; the blackboard explains why I like this place:
\n\"DSF6522\"<\/p>\n

29_10<\/strong>
\nMalatesta is the only place outside Belgium (that I know) where I can get Tripel Carmeliet, one of the world’s truly great beers, on draught:
\n\"DSF6523\"<\/p>\n

29_11<\/strong>
\nThe outside tables at Malatesta are not in the most attractive location (just a sidewalk on a busy street), but the urban fauna provides some entertainment:
\n\"DSF6527\"<\/p>\n

29_12<\/strong>
\n\"DSF6526\"<\/p>\n

29_13<\/strong>
\nOn the way back to my car, another sign of the times, outside an ice cream place:
\n\"DSF6528\"<\/p>\n

29_14<\/strong>
\nThen some cycling pictures. This tree stump outside Aig\u00c3\u00bces has been painted blue by the artistic types on the main street, whose work I have shown in previous weeks:
\n\"1160288\"<\/p>\n

29_15<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday I took my mountain bike and headed for the V\u00c3\u00ada Verde del Maigm\u00c3\u00b3, an abandoned narrow-gauge railroad now converted into a wonderful 22 km gravel track for cycling and hiking. To get there, I go on paved roads, but also a few km on this field path:
\n\"1160290\"<\/p>\n

29_16<\/strong>
\nAt the start of the V\u00c3\u00ada Verde there are large vineyards:
\n\"1160300\"<\/p>\n

29_17<\/strong>
\nThe bags are to protect the grapes from insects and birds. According to a friend in the business, they are normally put on all bunches, but some must have fallen off:
\n\"1160292\"<\/p>\n

29_18<\/strong>
\nThe prettiest part of the route is around km. 10:
\n\"1160304\"<\/p>\n

29_19<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, I walked down to the beach and had a pint at a bar on the promenade, while enjoying the view; there were certainly people in the sand, but fewer than would be normal on a July afternoon in a normal year:
\n\"DSF6532\"<\/p>\n

29_20<\/strong>
\nThe local authorities have tried to make the beaches a bit safer in these Covid times, for example by encouraging one-way traffic on the walkways:
\n\"DSF6532\"<\/p>\n

29_21<\/strong>
\nThere are also signs explaining the various rules (social distance etc.), although curiously, the municipality chose to put them up only in Valenciano, the official language here, that is understandable to speakers of normal Spanish but is certainly not the preferred language of 99% of the visitors to this beach. A case of political correctness winning over common sense:
\n\"DSF6534\"<\/p>\n

29_22<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday night, we went out for dinner with friends, sitting outside as usual. The restaurant was a modest bar in El Campello’s fishing harbour that we expected to have good seafood. While the food was a disappointment, the ambience was nice:
\n\"DSF6541\"<\/p>\n

29_23<\/strong>
\n\"DSF6544\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week during which I worked and cycled as usual. But also a walk in the centre, a beer at my favourite bar there, and another visit to the V\u00c3\u00ada Verde, the abandoned railroad converted to gravel path. 29_1 A grab shot while driving around. I loved the paint job on this van, especially since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2755,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2978,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2972\/revisions\/2978"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}