La Costa Blanca

The drive to Altea took a little longer than we expected, but getting close to town was really amazing. The scenery is very beautiful, with the white hoses appearing along the coast. So we arrived in Altea relatively late for our liking, just before 8pm. We like to get to places with plenty of daylight to spare, just so we can get our bearing of the new place, find a good spot to park and so on. And since, sad as it is, days have started to get noticeably shorter, 8pm really only left us an hour of daylight.

Which my human used to quickly go to the nearest supermarket to get some essentials. Before arriving in Valencia, we had used up pretty much all of our fresh food so the little fridge could have a little rest for a few days.

We parked on a huge, 500 spots large communal parking place only five minutes from the beach and town center. Next to us stood a gigantic Humvee with a German number plate. And I mean gigantic. I know, I'm not a big player in this game, but usually I don't notice. But with this guy next to me? Man, I'm very glad my self esteem is pretty high, otherwise I might slip into a depression right now.

Not our prettiest parking spot ever, but the sunset was nice!

In the morning my human went for a run, her favorite way to check out the immediate surroundings. Then they went to the beach to chill out for a bit. Altea doesn't have a sand beach and to call it a pebble beach, as they like to promote is, is a rather far stretch from the truth, too. It's rocks. Plain and simple. But nothing a good air mattress couldn't fix. They sat right by the little "Baywatch" tower, where the sun umbrella of not-David Hasslehoff afforded them shade, too. The only one to be had on the whole beach, unless you bring your own. 

In the afternoon they went in search for a bar or pub to watch the Bayern : Leipzig game. By 18:15 they sill hadn't found one and my human was going into Code Red! The first one just didn't show Bundesliga in general, the second one, where she was sent to from the first one - closed. And so was the third one they tried. In the end they just came back to me, two minutes before kick off, and we watched the game together on the tablet.

After a very chill day yesterday, the program was a bit different the next morning. Wake up call at 6am, by which time it is still dark. Very dark. Only a month ago...
Anyway, by quarter past, they set off on the bike to ride the 6km to the base of a 500m high hill, or what they call a mountain here, to start a little track up to the summit in time for the sunrise. After a sunrise/breakfast break, they kept following the trail along the steep cliff edge up to another rise, before turning around and coming back the same way.

Altea

After returning, they jumped into the ocean again to freshen up and then we were off to Alicante. If a German tells you he/she is going on a beach holiday in Spain, chances are he/she is going to Alicante. 

There is a large castle sitting on a hill, prominently overlooking Alicante, Castell de Santa Bàrbara. Halfway up the 160m high hill is a small car park, which would serve as my parking spot for the night.  

Shortly after arriving Carmelo and my human took off to check out the little city. Driving in pretty much all you see is the castle and many, many high rise buildings, most of them hotels. Which right then were all empty, because every single guest was at the beach. What a sea of human bodies! Wow! But hey, at least there is sand!

The beach in Alicante

After acquiring a map from the tourist center and walking around town for a couple of hours, trying to be impressed, the succumbed to their thirst and sat down at a sports bar they came past earlier. There sat a group of nice English people, waiting for a game to start. So they joined them, had a couple of pints, yelled at the TV and had a jolly good time.

The promenade in Alicante

Castell de Santa Bàrbara in the background

Me at my parking spot above Alicante

In the morning we made our way to our next stop, which was only 40km away, near the small town of Elche. And for the next three days we hardly moved. We stayed with a nice couple, their 2-year old daughter and their 8! dogs on their property in the middle of palm tree and pomegranate plantations. Oh, and there are two pigs as well, Madonna and Elvis, both girls. Elvis was given to the lady by him for her 40th birthday. She was meant to be a mini pig. She weighs 70kg!

There are two houses on the land, which, obviously, they live in one of them. The other one can be used by people like us. It has a kitchen, two bathrooms, living room, a glassed in terrace, and so on. Oh, and a pool. It's awesome!

This place used to be a dog shelter. The couple arrived here as volunteers, separately, not yet a couple, a few years back and never left again. By now they closed the shelter officially, but still people drop dogs at their place, some found them as stray dogs, others get left by the gate in the middle of the night.

Little Mia

Not so little Daisy

Amy

                                                                                                     Poor old Coco

We stayed for three days. I got a wash and a clean and just hung out. My human was busy with the dogs, of course. Playing with them and walking them, reading books in the hammock, cutting (and deleting) photos, catching up on digital mail, sorting out her mail in ballot for the upcoming Bundestagswahl, a little bit of exercise and Yoga and chilling by and in the pool. 

After all the cities, the people, the excitement of the last couple of weeks, this was exactly the right place to hang out for a little while. I think she was approaching sensory overload. No surprise. Now we have been on the road for three month, seen and done so many things and so much more is yet to come!