Gran Alacant, Santa Pola, Sunday, 6th April, 2025

So happy to be with my dearest and oldest friend. Here on the Explanade in Alicante.
Good morning to you all from Gran Alacant in Santa Pola. 

What a wonderful week it has been here with my oldest friends Andy and Amanda. For those of you who don't know, I went to school with Amanda where we met at the age of 11. We have been the greatest of friends ever since. Andy was Amanda's boyfriend from the age of 15. He went to my father's school, Bradford Grammar and was very much my friend too. Amanda has visited me often over the years and was with us in Santa Pola over 25 years ago and both of them came to see us in Callosa de Ensarría during our Callosa years from the early 70's. To quote Andy "I came here as a boy and returned as a man". It's great that our friendship has lasted so long and long may that be. 

They got  here last Sunday in the afternoon and we arrived a few hours later as we had to babysit for our grandchildren until around 5 pm. Our drive here was made in the fastest time ever, I think. We got here here at about 9.30 pm and after a sweet reunion we all had dinner together. It was a very long day for us all as the clocks had gone forward. Even so, we were up until late chatting and chatting. Eladio and I live in a sort of bubble at home with very few friends so this week has been heaven for me and such a break. Our virus  disappeared and I had lots of fun.. 

On Monday I was up at the crack of dawn and was pleasantly surprised to see we had got our view of the sea back from the terrace, albeit partially. When we first bought this apartment in 1999, the trees in the garden were low enough to see the sea but they grew so much over the years and one tree in particular hid the view completely. It was never trimmed and just grew and grew so I was happy to see it gone and we now have a partial view of the sea from the terrace. Over the years I had written to complain about the tree but nothing was done until it had sprawled so much it fell over last summer and had to be cut down. This was the view at dawn and a little later.


View from our terrace
Keen to show Andy and Amanda the sights in the area and our favourite places, on Monday we took them to Santa Pola which is about 7km from here. It is a fishing town with very long beaches and is a popular place for Spaniards to go on holiday. There are no large hotels, thus there is no mass tourism. 

Our first stop was coffee at Cocco & Latte in the main square by the castle, always a happy place for me and I hoped it would be for my friends.
Coffee in town - Santa Pola - on Monday

You will notice we are wearing cardigans. We did need them a bit but honestly the weather has been superb this week with the highest temperatures around 23ºc; perfect weather to be here in my mind.

From there we took our friends for a stroll along the main beach in the town. Some people were sunbathing and swimming but none of us had brought our swimming gear. Here are some photos of our walk by the sea. The colour of the Mediterranean was what impressed my friends most. They live by the sea in Devon but it never gets that colour in England because of the climate.

On the beach in Santa Pola on Monday

Lunch was at La Sal by the port, somewhere we had been on our last trip here. 
Lunch at La Sal in Santa Pola on Monday

We had a marvelous menu of the day for a very reasonable price. We chose paella and it was a very good one too. This was it.
Paella in Santa Pola on Monday
After lunch we made our way to the Land Registry office where I was delighted to pick up the Registry Code number for our apartment here. I now have  Registry codes for all three of the properties we rent but what a nightmare it has been.

On our way home, we stopped at the proverbial Mercadona to stock up on food for the week after which we came home to chill out. Amanda and I played our first game of ludo - I should add that we play Parchis, the Spanish version which is a lot more strategic. I wonder if you knew that that was the game Rafa Nadal would play in between matches. While we had been having a great day, a tragedy occurred in a mine in the north of Spain in Asturias. 5 miners, 4 from the town of Villablino in León, near Montrondo, lost their lives due to firedamp - an inflammable gas not often detected. I was very upset to hear that news and to know the men who died were from the area we know so well. RIP. 

Tuesday came and we stayed close to home. That was the day we finally did something about a cracked floor in the main living room here. A bump appeared last summer and we got the insurance people to come and take a look. On Tuesday they told us our policy wouldn't cover it. That really got us as we have been paying insurance for 25 years but have never claimed anything. This news had me scurrying to find floor tile specialists as there is no way we can rent this apartment with a broken floor because it is so unsightly. I found 2 men or companies and the estimates could not have been more different. We found out that the root cause is movement underground as the flats are built on a cliff. We also found out that this has occurred in many other flats in the same complex. To cut a long story short, the first builders advised that we change the whole floor of the flat at a price of nearly 8000 euros. The second builders, a Ukrainian and an Estonian, advised the opposite and said we only needed to repair the part that was damaged. The next day they gave us an estimate of 250 euros. Guess which we went for? They will be doing the work at the end of this month which is a huge relief.

That morning it felt as though the flat was jinxed as on top of the cracked floor,  a socket in the pantry had burned and we could not use the hot water, the washing machine or the air con for heat. Thankfully I had the contact of a local electrician and by 10 am, Luis was in our house and fixing it. He did another little job too all for the price of 70 euros. Hurray  I thought. 

Only then were we able to go out and first it was for a coffee and then a little stroll to show our friends the beautiful swimming pool that belongs to our blocks of flats. 
Our swimming pool - spot Andy sitting on a bench
I had booked a table for lunch at La Masia de Chencho, a restaurant we discovered last time we were here. It is located on a very minor road in the middle of an olive tree grove, not too far from Elche. 

La Masia de Chencho
Here we are going in.
La Masia de Chencho
Our friends treated us that day to a splendid meal. Instead of having a first and second course, we opted to share lots of dishes and I'm afraid we ordered far too much. Everything was delicious. The red Santa Pola prawns took the biscuit. They are the best prawns I have ever tasted.

Wednesday was the day we took our friends to Alicante, a city neither of them know and ended up loving. Alicante is quite an elegant seaside town and not as much affected by mass tourism as places such as Benidorm.  Its best claim to fame is that is the sunniest city in Europe. The top landmarks are the beautiful Explanada and the medieval Castle of Santa Barbara. 

After parking by the lovely 5 star Melia Hotel, we walked to the Postiguet Beach just below the castle. Here people were bathing too. It is from this beach that many a TV journalist reports on the weather in Spain. It's funny that I have never ever bathed there but one day I will.
The Postiguet beach below the castle in Alicante
From the beach we took our friends to the Explanada, a beautiful walkway built in 1820 and inspired by the promenade in Copacabana, or so I read once. It never fails to impress and my friends were bowled over by it. It is made of mosaic and is designed to emulate the waves of the sea. It is so well done that it creates an optical illusion and you think it is moving as you walk on it.  We took many photos and I chose my favourite for this week's feature photo,  one of Amanda and I on the Explanada laughing our heads off. Here is another one so you can see the tiles made of millions of pieces of mosaic.
On the beautiful Explanada in Alicante this week
From there we were going to walk all the way up to the castle but in the end decided to use the lift - free for over 65 year olds (yippee). Eladio and I had only ever been up once in 2018 when we walked up so we remember the climb. The lift made it a lot easier. There are some amazing views at the top and the place was not crowded at all; except for an annoyingly noisy group of school children who  sat near us when we had a coffee; damn them. Here are some pics to remember our visit.

At the fortress of Santa Barbara

We were starving by the time our visit ended and very lucky to get a table at an extremely upmarket and famous tapas bar; Nou Manolin. I had been there once with my friends Sandra and Adele who loved it. Amanda and Andy were just as impressed. We were having such a good time and enjoying the food  we forgot to take photos. My favourite dishes were the calamares, the potato salad and the oxtail which was divine. It's a place to go back to again and again. 

We were home late and tired but happy after such a wonderful day together. Mine was slightly interrupted by guest enquiries and bookings, mostly for the summer. I may be retired but I still work hahaha. While we were having a great time, Donald Trump was imposing the most extraordinarily high tariffs on most countries in the world for exporting goods to the USA. I have no time for the man and this week mostly skipped the news as it is so depressing. 

On Thursday we went on a trip down memory lane to Callosa and Bolulla. It was in these villages respectively that my mother and my aunt bought a house each in about 1973 towards the end of  Franco's dictatorship. My mother's was on Calle de las Flores in Callosa and Aunty Masha's was on Calle Mayor in the tiny village of Bolulla. I once wrote the story of our Spanish adventure and how I came to live in Spain which you can read here if you are not familiar with it. Many friends came to stay. Amanda came out quite a few times and once she came with Andy. So for them this was a trip down memory lane too. I have such nostalgia for the Callosa days during which I fell in love with Eladio and always want to go back. It's 88km from our place so quite a drive. The interesting part starts after La Nucia from where we stopped to take a photo of the picturesque village of Polop.

La Nucia overlooking Polop

From there it is a short drive to Callosa de Ensarría; a road I know well. I remember coming for the first time as an English teenager not knowing a word of Spanish or anything about country and suddenly being immersed in rural Southern Eastern Spain. There I was surrounded by orange and lemon trees and also medlar fruit trees which are grown intensively in Callosa. These days they also grow avocados. The road and mountains brought back so many memories as they always do. Once we had parked I led my friends to the ice cream bar, one of our old haunts. Called La Jijonenca, we used to go a lot and loved the home made "horchata" (tiger nut drink) and ice cream. The man at the bar was the nephew of Isabel who used to run it and we reminisced a lot with him. He made us feel welcome. Of course we had to have a photo taken outside. Everyone I take to Callosa gets to go to La Jijonenca. 
Outside the ice cream parlour, La Jijonenca, in Callosa
The big pull of revisiting Callosa is to see our old house on Calle de las Flores. It means Flower street although there have never been any flowers. I have seen it many times over the years and know what to expect; a rather ramshackle  old building which is actually quite ugly. But we thought it was heaven back in the day when our Spanish adventure began. Today no one lives there as most of the villagers prefer to live in flats rather than houses, believe it or not. There we took pictures too and remembered our youth.
Outside Calle de las Flores number 3 with my friends
After a quick stop at the old outdoor launderette where the local ladies used to wash before washing machines came on the market, we drove to my Aunt's village, Bolulla a few kilometres away and up a steep mountain road. It has grown since we were there and today boasts 33 nationalities, all started by my Aunt, but it has remained pretty, quaint and remote. Surrounded by fruit trees, mostly citrus, I always loved it more than Callosa. 
Timeless Bolulla

We walked straight to my Aunt's old house which is now painted green and inhabited by an English family so of course we couldn't go in. We walked the cobbled streets in the sunshine and made our way to the only bar there is now; Bar La Era. We have been many times in the past few years and always enjoy the home made food. The owner and the cook is a lady who remembers me as a teenager and also remembers my family. Lovely.

Having lunch for a song in Bolulla this week during our trip down memory lane
Our day ended with a short visit to the waterfalls of Algar in between Bolulla and Callosa. This is where my brother George, my cousin Sasha and I used to bathe in the summer so often. Below is a photo of  the main waterfall under which I have bathed many many times.
The main waterfall in Algar
We walked up to the top, passing many more waterfalls and natural pools. The place is paradise if somewhat difficult to climb up and down but well worth the visit.

My dear husband who had missed his afternoon siesta drove us back and we arrived rather tired again but happy. We have had a very intensive week and being on holiday can be tiring can't it? Our time here has been blissful and we loved sharing our favourite places with our friends in such glorious weather.

I slept well that night as I have done for most of the week - it must be the sea air and our friends' company.  Later we had a light dinner, played cards (Sevens)  during which I received a lovely message from Airbnb to tell me I am Super Host again. I get evaluated once every quarter and am pleased to tell you I have maintained this status since 2017 when I started hosting. It's hard work to keep it up but keep it up I will.

Friday dawned and that was the day we took our friends to the Island of Tabarca. You would expect Spain, being a peninsula, to have many more islands like Greece or Finland, but apart from the Canaries and the Balearic Islands there are few. I just checked that fact and actually there are 176 but very very few are inhabited; just 11 in fact. Thus Tabarca is quite an anomaly where 49 people are supposed to live. In the past the island was used as a fortress, today it is visited by tourists who go for day trips, like us, to enjoy the views, the flora and fauna and to have lunch at one its many restaurants.  And here we are on the fast boat which takes 15 minutes - the return boat took double. 


On the boat to Tabarca on Friday
At this point I should tell you that there is a popular open water swimming race that takes place anualy from Tabarca to Santa Pola (6km) in which 1600 people participate. It is supposedly the best open swim race in Spain and one of the best in the world. People come from all over the world and there are so many requests to take part the organisers have to use a lottery system. My claim to fame is that my son-in-law, Miguel, Oli's husband, has done it 10 times. I asked him how long he took and he said just over an hour which means he must have been in the top 10 or 20. If you take longer than 3.5h you are disqualified. I have read it's a very tough race fraught with dangers from currents, waves, jelly fish and of course exhaustion. At the finish line the Red Cross are there to treat the cold, those with cramp, those who are exhausted and those who have been stung by jelly fish. I have a new found respect for my son in law after seeing the video of the race and which you can see here. I told my friends about the race and I think they were impressed. 

Once off the ferry we walked to the town part of the island which is divided into two, one part is built and the other isn't. We all remarked just how unspoiled the island is and how pretty the streets are.As we always do, we stopped to take lots of photos like this one.
Walking the streets of Tabarca on Friday
And here is a more generic photo of the island when you approach it by boat.
The pretty island of Tabarca

First stop was for coffee in the main square and then we walked to the end of the built up part of the island to see the views of Santa Pola. In some places you can also see our apartments, as you can from the castle in Alicante. I particularly like this photo of Amanda and I together which we took there.
With Amanda in Tabarca on Friday
From there we stopped at Casa Gloria where we would be having our lunch, to make a special order and then we walked along the other side of the island. To walk all the way around it would have taken at least 2 hours which we didn't have.  Here is Eladio near the old lighthouse which is still working today. Of course it is as this area is very important for fishing.
Walking on the Island of Tabarca on Friday
By about 2.15 we were sitting at our table at Casa Gloria. Eladio took a photo to remember the moment.
Lunch at Casa Gloria in Tabarca
Lunch was long and good for some. I, however wasn't very happy with our choice. We had ordered the local dish called "Caldero" and I was disappointed. I'm not a real fish fan so should have chosen something else. However, Eladio loved it and we took a doggy bag home for his lunch the next day.

We caught the 4.15 ferry back and once on land drove again to Mercadona to stock up on more provisions. Our dinner was divine with all sorts of cold dishes such as tortilla, ham, anchovies with lettuce, cheese for those who like it; all washed down with some cold Rueda white wine.

I slept a whole 7 hours that night with no interruptions and woke up feeling new as a penny. Being Saturday I was keen to go the weekly market at Santa Pola. We love going there and our main objective is to buy local oranges and mandarins. Just look at these amazing oranges at 1 euro a kilo picked from trees in the area.
Oranges at the market in Santa Pola
We also got giant mandarins, local avocados, bright red tomatoes and strawberries as well as mushrooms which we had for lunch cooked in garlic. Just look at the produce on this stand.

The Santa Pola market on Saturday
Andy got some baseball hats and I bought a pair of pink summer trousers. To try them on I just took my own jeans off in full sight as there was nowhere to change  hahahaha.

From the market we took our friends to one of our happy places, the walkway on the old coastal road from Gran Alacant to Santa Pola. Called Paseo Vicealmirante Blanco García, I love it for the views. I also love dreaming about buying a house there. My friends loved the view of the island and of course the palm trees which always seem so exotic to the English. Andy took some photos and I specially like this one.
On our walk on Saturday after the visit to the market
The prize at the end of the walk was something to drink at Ca Pacorro, the only bar in the vicinity and which only opens at the weekends when it is out of season.

Saturday was the only day we didn't have lunch out but enjoyed it at home. The highlights were the peeled prawns (my own hands  and Eladio's) which ironically are  not from Santa Pola but from Ecuador and bought at Mercadona, as well as the mushrooms with garlic.

Only Andy and Amanda went out again that day, for another walk to the lighthouse.  I was too lazy and stayed in the flat and pottered around.

Today is Sunday and I think and hope we will be going for a walk on the beach and having lunch at La Sal again. Like all good things, our stay is coming to an end.. This week has been a great tonic for all of us and we are already planning for our friends to come and stay in May or June to visit both Montrondo and El Cuetu; quite the tour of Spain for them. It will be something to look forward to. 

I shall leave you now from our little pad on the coast and wish you all a happy Sunday.

Cheers till next week,
Masha.


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