Jul
30
Harbor at Night // Alicante, Spain
alicante
Jul
30
Day Trip // Alicante, Spain
I had Thursday afternoon off to spend with my family and we packed up to see Alicante and tour a Turrón factory where Edu’s brother used to work. (Connections are awesome: Free tour + Free Chocolate and Samples!) Turron is a traditional Spanish sweet made from Almonds, Sugar and Honey. It is verrrry sweet and dense, a little too much for me but they make a really good ice cream out of it! It’s the texture of a smooth natural peanut butter but much drier, almost like Marzipan.
Funny to see a former president framed in a Spain Candy museum :P
At El Corte Ingles Gourmet in Alicante. Do you see the prices?!?! Yes, that is Crisco for 5.50 euros!!! Fake Maple Syrup was 6.20 euros!
The walkway along the beach front in Alicante.
We went to a little café for tapas…. Sitting at the table next to ours was a boy from Wisconsin, who practically lived in the UP. It’s a small world. We overheard him speaking Spanish in a Wisconsin accent and the servers trying to help him understand the menu. When he asked how we knew that he spoke English and I told him it was because of his Spanish I think he was a little offended because he only spoke Spanish after that… Wanting to prove his language skills I guess? =P
Jul
24
Paella at La Huerta // La Sarga, Spain
After climbing up to La Cruz we drove out to La Sarga near where the cave paintings are at. A friend of my host family has a country house and farm “huerta” and invited us to come out and have Paella for lunch. They have a huge orchard with apples, figs, almonds, walnuts, olives, blackberries, veggies and more. We took the grand tour and I got to try green hazelnuts off the tree and pine nuts. They make thier own olive oil from their olive grove and have a vineyard as well.
I didn’t have my mkii but my little canon did pretty well.
Grapes in the patio where they cooked the Paella. These are just for shade, a run a little wild. The vineyard is made from “bush” grapes? I’m not sure what they are called but they don’t grow on a wire and post structure like vineyards I have seen.
The paella. They say the best Paellas are made over a fire, like this. This one was sooo good.
We had the wine from their vineyard that they press and ferment right there. I got to go down and see where they store it in large barrels in the basement.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. making this when I get home but I already know it won’t be the same.
Olives.
Happy livvy with her new spanish pants (a 5 euro steal!) and a fresh fig!
Not-ripe figs on the tree.
Bus ticket to Granada is bought. House is almost done. Headed to Alicante today and Valencia on Friday. Baking with Carla Thursday morning for our English class party. Things are wrapping up here in Alcoy and adventure part 2 is right around the corner!
Jul
24
Hike to the cross // Alcoy, Spain
Saturday morning after going to the market with Edu to get some groceries (and also finding my Spain pants- photo coming soon! :) ) we hiked up to the cross that sits above Alcoy on one of the mountains. It was a pretty intense hike and a lot of fun! I wasn’t expecting it to be as rough as it was but my Chacos held up to the job :) (Thankfully I didn’t have my flip flops like when we went to La Sarga!)
There is a small church at the top of the hill.
Part of the trail. It cut back and forth up the mountain but you could take the more direct (harder, steeper) route if you wanted.
Jul
10
Guadalest, Spain // Summer 2012
Saturday morning we took a day trip to two nearby towns. First stop was the charming+historic Guadalest. We walked the streets, stopped in a museum that depicted life in a historic Spanish Casa and window shopped for an hour or two. While poking around in a little gift shop I was amazed to see the cheap prices for olive oil…. We use lots of olive oil at home and it’s not cheap in the states! When I told Carlos that he laughed and told me that was the expensive stuff, marked up for tourists. I know what I’m packing in my suitcase once I reach Barcelona! I can’t buy anything heavy before my ryanair flight from Málaga to Barcelona because I have a 20 kilo limit. (And a 30 or 50 something euro PER KILO FINE for anything over 20 kilos. ug.) Oh well, it’s saving me money =P
After Guadalest we drove to Benidorm… coming soon :)
