Altea

Yes, I'm lazy and this is not exhaustive. But alas, time is not on my side....

Altea

The most surprising thing about Altea is its beauty, considering it is a stone's throw away from the bright lights of Benidorm (read previous blog to discover just how much I hated Beni-Vegas). Altea, much like Benidorm, is a former fishing village, famous for its beautiful Virgin de Consuelo church with its impressive blue roof. With my amigos in tow, upon our arrival at Altea's tram station (that directly links the town with Dénia and Benidorm) we wandered up the STEEP hill into the town centre.

Luckily, Altea's town centre was nothing like Benidorm's. With its beautiful whitewashed houses, terrace restaurants and general PEACE and QUIET, it was the perfect antidote. Granted, there's not a great deal to do in Altea and the craft/souvenir shops are bloody expensive, but a nice few hours were spent oohing and aahing at the general quaintness of everything. Had a nice meal before wandering into the new town and spending a few hours on the beach- which is best avoided if you don't want to look like a complete idiot when you want to swim in the sea (lots of pebbles= lots of screaming out in pain...).

Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Bous a la Mar, Dénia

Uncomforta-bull??

Being fortunate enough to spend the summer in Spain means I've been fortunate enough to witness traditional Spanish fiestas. After the madness that were Las Hogueras in Alicante, I got to experience Dénia's Bous a la Mar festival, a.k.a. 'Bulls to the sea' if you translate from Valenciano.

After an early start and a 2 hour bus journey, we arrived in Dénia around 10h30, knowing our bus back was at 22h00. Nearly 12 hours in a small Spanish town with, quite frankly, not a lot to do. After stumbling upon the tourist info and discovering that the festivities didn't kick off until the evening, we wondered if we'd made a mistake. After a quick walk along the seafront, like the naive tourists we were headed for the nearest café and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half chilling outside with fanta lemon and the strongest homemade sangria I've ever had the pleasure to taste. How many hours left??

Biding our time...

Luck was not on our side- in Alicante the main attractions in the town are the beach and the castle, and the same goes for Dénia. After walking uphill in 32 degree heat we reached the castle only to find out it had closed a mere 10 minutes before. Bof, alors. Healed the wounds by going for food...

Nevertheless time soon started to pass on, had a nice few hours on the beach, swimming in turquoise sea and drinking the favourite Tinto de Verano (like sangria but with Fanta lemon) at the beach chiringuito (bar). Before we knew it, it was time for Bous a la Mar.

Now I should probably explain what Bous a la Mar is, given that 'Bulls to the Sea' is a bit of a vague title. Bous a la Mar is Dénia's week long annual festival in honour of the Santisima Sangre (Holy Blood) which commemorates a monk who allegedly saved the town from the plague in 1633 by getting townsfolk to redistribute their bread (hola Communism). Highlight of the year is 'watching bulls run down the main street Marqués de Campo, only to be chased into the Mediterranean sea by those daring enough to enter a makeshift bull ring with them'. The makeshift bullring is open on one side, so people can try to tempt the bulls to jump into the sea. Enough said really.

Seeing is really believing. At 7pm prompt, 5 bulls were let loose in the town centre, running through the packed-out streets down to the port and into the makeshift bullring (Plaza de Toros). Much like Pamplona's now tourist-driven San Fermín festival (otherwise known as the Running of the Bulls) people can choose to 'run' through the streets with the bulls, which can sometimes lead to serious injury, etc. Naturally the girls chose to spectate while the guys stupidly/bravely ran with the bulls. Bulls can run BLOODY fast. After waiting half an hour or so for the bulls to run past us they had disappeared in a flash. We headed to the bullring. Our friends were still alive...

Waiting for the bulls to run past us.

After piling into the Plaza de Toros we waited for the first bull to emerge. Our friends decided to participate in the bullring (slightly worrying). 99% of people in the bullring were male, 50% were probably drunk, 100% fascinated. After the first bull steamed around the Plaza, huffing, puffing and charging anything that moved, it was clear that this was going to be a long evening. I'd originally presumed watching the bulls jump into the sea would be a 20 minute affair, but no. Bulls are clever, we should give them more credit.

Anxious moment when the second bull that came out 'to play' (and also the most fierce) jumped onto what we thought was a safety platform where our friends were. One guy was covered in blood after trying to outsmart the 3rd or 4th bull that came out and a few others were injured. It was both fascinating and uncomfortable to watch. And yes, by the end of the 2 hours, all 5 bulls had jumped into the sea, much to the delight of the spectators.

I still can't quite make up my mind about the festival. It's a tradition, definitely more Spanish than Pamplona with its hordes of American tourists desperate to be the hero for 15 minutes. It confirmed what I knew all along- that the Spanish are crazy! This kind of event would never happen in Britain- animal rights groups would kick up a huge fuss and it would be a nightmare for health and safety. Bous a la Mar is cruel- I felt sorry for the bulls and sometimes it was difficult to watch- don't know if I could go to a corrida (bullfight). At least the bulls didn't die in Dénia, I don't know who fished them out of the sea but someone did...

Tradition. Part of living abroad is experiencing local and national traditions, customs and holidays. Yes, sometimes they conflict with your beliefs, but surely that's partly why they're so interesting.

Another Year Abroad anecdote.

Oh and our friends were fine :)

Tabarca

Arriving on Tabarca.

One of the most pleasant surprises I had when I came to Alicante was that it wasn't, well, ugly. I'd always been a bit presumptuous when it came to Spain's Costas, thinking that they were full of sunburned and boozy Brits abroad. Just the kind of people I wanted to escape from, to be quite honest. Hence my surprise as I wandered round Alicante's barrio, or old town as I discovered quiet little squares, colourful houses and not a Brit in sight.

Fast forward 6 weeks and it's still the same. I think Benidorm just up the coast houses all the Brits on the Costa Blanca as I rarely speak English here. In fact, I haven't even had a conversation with a British person here, I hear the occasional voice on the beach but there are far more Germans and French.

Yes, I am not oblivious to the fact that Benidorm and such resorts do exist. However the province of Alicante is famous for its beautiful villages, which I need to start exploring. I started by visiting the Island of Tabarca (or Isla de Tabarca for all you Spanish nerds) last week.

A bit of a history/ geography lesson for you now. Tabarca is the largest inhabited island in the Valencian community and lies a mere 11 miles south east of the brights lights of Alicante. Its population is around 100, which can swell to 3000 during the summer months. Although peaceful nowadays, Tabarca's history is fascinating- in the 18th century, the king of Tunisia invaded the island and took as his prisoners the people living there. In later years pirates used the island to attack the Costa Blanca in the 18th century. Ooh-arrrr!

So after a pleasant 70 minute boat trip from Alicante, we (myself and 4 French) arrived on the island which is just beautiful! It was relatively quiet for a summer day, so we headed straight to the beach armed with home-made sandwiches, fruit and a ridiculous amount of crisps. One sandy picnic later we were ready to hit the water- naturally we spent a few happy hours splashing/swimming around, loving the fact that we could see our on feet beneath us through the clear sea. Absolutely beautiful, peaceful and great for diving/snorkeling too!

After our 3 hour stint on the beach, we started to explore the island, marveling at the sea (which seemed even clearer from a height), walking on coastal paths, eating a much deserved ice cream and annoying the cat population of the island. I felt like I was on a Greek island- beautiful white-washed houses, peace and quiet. Definitely worth the 18 euro boat ride.

Hope you enjoy the photos. My only regret is that we didn't get to sea the island at sunset. I'm a sucker for a beautiful sunset. The trip to Tabarca proved to me that there is much more to the Costa Blanca than obese, red faced Brits demanding a pint and a cooked breakfast. Proof that we really shouldn't judge a book by its cover...

Swimming in crystal clear waters. Bliss.

Escaping the sun.

Leaving Tabarca.

In Spain in the membrane

Sooooo la prochaine aventure has begun!

Home for the next few months.

I am now in Alicante, Spain a.k.a. home for a while. It's been a strange 2 weeks, ups and downs, etc. Working in a language school, which DEFINITELY is not as exciting as I thought it would be when I got the job. So far I've been making databases and finding basketball clubs in England/France/Spain/Ireland and just about every other European country I can think of.The boss is bipolar- one minute moody and huffy, the next rambling on about something completely irrelevant, etc. And to top it all off, I'm unpaid! Bof, alors.

Alicante is a nice city, particuarly el barrio, a.k.a the old town, so cute in the day and home to all of the bars/restaurants at night. Had a few good nights out already with my work colleagues (mainly French, much to my delight) in Carpe Diem, Alicante's equivalent to Sinners in Newcastle. (I seem to find this everywhere...) and a few clubs around the port.

Beach is good, there's an old castle and H+M/Mango/Zara and that's Alicante in a nutshell. There's not a great deal of culture, although I did watch a free screening of Grease in the town hall square last week with some CouchSurfers, v. cultural if I do say so myself. Especially brilliant as characters burst into song in English.

Have spent copious amounts of time in Mercadona, supermarket for anyone on a budget in Alicante. I think the cashier recognises me already- should probably get more of a life...

Aims for the next month:

• Go to Benidorm (only one hour away from Alicante on the tram). Just to see if it's what I've been imagining in my nightmares. I've already started streaming the TV series in preparation.
• Go to the beach. Get something that resembles a faint tan/ colour in my cheeks.
• Learn the lyrics to the Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight'. So far I can do about 20 seconds.
• Revise Spanish. Arrived here and realised I can't remember anything. Mierda!

Boredom?

This is brilliant. Cheers Tucknutt. http://twitter.com/#!/kanyewest/status/27590685489.

• Geordie Shore= my new TV obsession, despite the fact that all of them belong in a skip in Whitley Bay. Trash TV at its finest, although apparently the Geordies aren't too impressed. According to my source (a shit newspaper), Geordie Shore has sparked a backlash for making girls from Newcastle look like 'fat slags'. Brilliant.

• Listening to this a lot. Reminds me of my last few days in France when all I had was a radio and a shit load of food to eat up. Happy memories.

Soooooo Alicante. So far it's nothing on France......

Olé, olé, olé- A trip to Montpellier!

After a fabulous seven months in Nancy, what better way to soften the blow than a cheeky trip down south to Montpellier! After just one hour of sleep (don't ask...) I met Rhiann, Ellie and Fabi at the train station at 6h15 ready for our epic TGV ride south.

Mandatory train photo...

So, after a 4 and a bit hour TGV from Nancy to Lyon and a 2 hour train from Lyon to Montpellier, we finally arrived at our destination. And like the expert travellers we are we spent our first afternoon in Montpellier having une petite sieste! Definitely needed.

After a panini and classy can of Orangina (when in France....), Rhiann gave us a tour of the town (she was first an assistant in Montpellier). It's a great little place, nice atmosphere, you can easily see why it's one of France's main student towns. I think anyone who worked as an assistant down in Montpellier will have had a completely different Year Abroad experience- without meaning to sound pretentious the vibe is completely different. More relaxed- I blame the weather. We ended up meeting up with Sophie, a friend of Rhiann's she had met during her stay in Montpellier and her boyfriend Christopher for some demi pêche-s. Good chat, chilling outside with a beer. So far Montpellier had met my expectations...

Our second day in Montpellier got off to a slow start due to the Royal Wedding, which we watched from the comfort of our Hotel/Apartment room! Can't believe the hysteria that surrounded the day back home, personally I prefer this.

Anyway after oohing and aahing for a bit at the wedding, we headed to the beach! Caught a bus, reapplied suncream every 20 minutes (I'm a little paranoid) and avoided crabs in the Med (ooh-er).

Our evening was spent with Rhiann's 'French family' who were lovely. They drove us to their place, we drank Muscat (the local apératif), ate a LOT of cheese and generally had a nice time. Speaking French too, they were so so so nice. We got to hear stories about school trips to London (trying not to leave the kids on the Tube) and learn all about the local area from genuinely lovely people. Lovely.

French family meal, too good!

Our third and final day in Montpellier was spent in a seaside resort- Palavas-les-Flots with Rhiann's French family, who had kindly offered to take us out. We ate lots of ice cream and took a free boat to a museum. We finished our day by wandering through Montpellier's old town, having a casual Muscat and yet another bloody panini.

Sooooo Montpellier, go if you get the chance! It's completely different to the French Riviera (Nice, Cannes et al)- more laid back and fewer tourists. Personally I can't wait to go back for the Muscat alone...