Shopping yesterday, hiking today

Yesterday we drove to the mall in Alicante, and while I looked around in the mall, Guillermo took our little cart and walked to Alicante's market.  When he got back, we ate in the mall at a restaurant  that's kind of like Ihop called Vips.  Guillermo said that the walk to the market was a LOT farther than he thought it was going to be.  After we ate, Guillermo bought me a new coat for our anniversary, which is coming up.  We actually stood outside the coat store for a LONG time mulling it over whether we should buy that coat or not, and since the price was good and the coat looked good, he just decided to get it.  Here's hoping it will be a good coat for Sweden and Estonia.

Today, after breakfast, we took a hike to the Tower of the Kings (Torre de los Reixes in Valenciano) which is on a hill close to our house overlooking the Mediterranean.  This watchtower and many others along the Mediterranean coast were built by the Moors more than a thousand years ago.  They were later used by Christian forces to watch for invaders coming from the Mediterranean.  Every time we go into town, we see that tower as a sort of sentinel on the coast and we always say we should try to walk to it.  Well, today we did.  There is supposed to be a well marked trail to the tower, but we didn't find it until after we got to the tower.  So, that tells you we got there by taking the "scenic route".  When we first started out, we thought we were on the trail, but soon figured out if wasn't the "real" trail because it was heading straight up the mountain.  Then, when we get to the top, we had a magnificent view of the Mediterranean, but the tower was still WAY to our right.  We followed the ridge to the right, and when we got close to the tower, we had to walk down some trails that were quite rocky and steep, but doing it slowly we made it.  We definitely were NOT on the right trail, but we got there anyway.  Once at the tower, we rested and sat on the rocks on the cliff and had a little lunch while watching the seagulls and little boats go by.  The trail back was a lot easier because it was the actual marked trail.

Looking towards El Campello and Alicante from the base of the tower.

The water looked so clear and blue down below.

This is where we had our little lunch.

The one opening of the tower faces the sea.

On the way back down the trail, we saw this beautiful Praying Mantis.

Guillermo took some pictures with his camera, but I have forgotten how to work with them.  As soon as I  figure it out, I'll get them on.

Guillermo's famous chicken and rice

This chicken and rice is so good that we made it last week, and made it again this week.  Fortunately, we found the same sausage that we always bought for this dish in San Antonio in one of the stores here.  Guillermo is a master at making this rice dish.  It's better than most anything we get here in Spain, and that's saying a LOT!

Our "Christmas tree"

Just having made a few more snowflakes for our "Christmas tree", I thought I'd take two more pictures and post them.  During the day the "tree" isn't much to look at, but it sure looks nice when it's all lit up in the evening.

During the day

When it's all lit up in the evening.  And it looks even better than that, but it's the best picture I can get in low light.

Museums in Valencia

This day was truly a marathon day!  We hit 3 different museums starting from about 10 in the morning and ending at 7 at night.
When we drove this morning from our hotel to the Museum area, we went round and round trying to figure out if we should park in the museum's parking areas or just park at the El Saler Mall which was just across the street.  We decided to park in the mall's parking lot and walk to the museums.  The sky was cloudy and sure looked like it was going to rain but we were able to do the whole day without a drop of rain.  Which was good since there was some good walking between museums.

The first museum we went to was the Oceanographic Complex.  Vicki by one of the buildings in the complex.

Wow, there are world-class aquariums in this place.  There are at least 5 different buildings to see each with their own theme of either Wetlands or Tropical and the like.  Most of these aquariums had the required walk-through tunnels with water that arches over the top of the tunnel.  Those are always fun as it's so neat to see the sting-rays or sharks swimming right over you.

This fish was precious.  There was a bigger one, but couldn't get a picture of it.

Sea Dragons.  Very weird.

We spent quite a bit of time going through these buildings and when we were done, it was lunch time.  Which here is 2pm.  So, we checked out the restaurants in the Oceanographic section and they were all too expensive, so were were glad the mall was just across the street.  We walked over there, found the food court and picked a Mediterranean buffet restaurant which was an excellent choice as all their food was great.

After lunch, we walked back to the Science Museum.  We spent almost all the rest of the day in this museum.  It is HUGE!  A person could spend DAYS in this museum if they were to read everything and do everything that is in there.  We tried to do as much of it as we could.  We attended a demonstration on electricity which was quite electrifying, to say the least!  We watched a presentation of space and the earth in a room that was nothing but mirrors.  Mirrors on the wall, ceiling and floor.  So, what you were watching in front of you kind of kaleidoscoped all around you. It was so different.  There was a whole section of the museum devoted to DNA and Chromosomes and we tried to see everything in there because it was SO interesting.  We wished we had unlimited energy so that we could read everything that went along with each display.  After a while, though, we decided that it was enough and that maybe we should go check out the last museum to see what it was like and maybe we'd come back tomorrow to see it.  Well, when Guillermo checked it out, he found out that it just showed movies so we decided to stay for one movie about rescued orangutans in Borneo and rescued elephants in Kenya.  The subject matter was good, but the screen was huge and it was too close for me, so I spent a lot of time during that movie with my eyes closed because with some of the movements in the film, it just made you dizzy.  Even Guillermo felt dizzy at times but we were both glad we saw it.

That high structure is part of a bridge.  Behind it is a convention center and to the left is the science museum.

Guillermo outside the science museum.

Inside the science museum.

This is the Hemisferic Building, where we watched the movie.

The structure behind Hemisferic is the Arts Palace, where they hold operas, etc.

Driving to Valencia

It sure has been quite cool around here lately.  I guess with that last rainy system that came through, it ushered in a reinforcement of cold weather.  When we got up this morning, the skies looked nice and clear again and we were glad about that since we were planning to drive up to the city of Valencia today.  By the time we left the house, though, the clouds had come in.  We were quite surprised but hoped that it was just a band of them moving through.
We decided to take the coastal road up to Valencia which proved to be very interesting if not somewhat slow. But that was ok, we were in no hurry.  We went through all the little towns along the coast and it was interesting seeing the different places.  We hadn't gotten very far, though, when the skies got darker and eventually we did hit rain.  But never any heavy rain so it was all good.
We stopped for a bathroom and snack break at a McDonald's.  Pretty soon we came to the area where there is a huge lagoon.  We stopped at a little observation area to look at all the birds walking among the rice fields to see what we could see.  Some pictures of the rice fields.

After that, we stopped in the town of El Palmar to have lunch.  We ate at a restaurant that had tables alongside a canal, kind of wishing we had picked a table in the sun since it was cool.  But it wasn't so cool that we couldn't eat comfortably.

We had a paella, but truth be told, Guillermo still makes the best paella.

From El Palmar we went in search of our hotel for the evening, and after getting turned around only once, we found it.  A very nice Best Western where there's wireless internet!!!  Wow, we haven't had that in a LONG time, so it's a real bonus!

Castle of Santa Barbara

We visited the castle of Santa Barbara which is on a nice hill in Alicante.  We were GOING to take the tram to Denia (another coastal town), but we kind of talked ourselves out of doing it today.  We'll try another day.

Instead we drove into Alicante and found our way quite easily to the castle and were able to drive right up to it.  It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky.  So, these are some pictures of the castle and us and views of Alicante.

How do you like that little look-out tower there that seems to be just hanging?  From there, they could see the entire coastline and also all of the inland.

The look-out tower from close-up.

A view in one direction of what could be seen from the tower.

The port of Alicante

Looking in the other direction and that way in the distance is still part of Alicante.

Looking down at the beach in Alicante

At one time, way back when, this used to be an actual drawbridge.

And this is the moat the drawbridge went over.

Another level of defense.  This used to be a drawbridge also, and it is further down the hillside than the one above.  So, there were two layers of protection.

Guillermo on one of the lookout terraces.

Nice big cactus "tree" on the castle grounds.

Well, we haven't had a day like this in quite a while.  It rained during the night and all day today it was rainy.  And cold.  But really, the weather isn't all that bad, it just always feel colder in the house.  When we go outside, we are surprised that it isn't colder out there.  We walked out when the rain quit to take the trash and recycling up the street, where there's a collection point.  It wasn't really that cold out there.  It's just inside the house!!

And that's why this house is a good summer house.  It must feel good in this house during the summer.

Here's a picture of a rainbow taken through our living room window, when the rains were starting to let up.

And here's a picture of some of the fruit we eat all the time.  Clockwise, starting with the orange fruit:  Persimmon, Tangerine, Melon, more Tangerine and Chirimoya, which may now be my second favorite fruit - after Mango.  We scoop the flesh out with a spoon, not eating those big black seed.   Chirimoya reminds me of pudding.  It is really good!