Spain

Picnic in a 12th Century Castle

We celebrated July 4th with some of our friends with a picnic. The 12th century castle of Santa Barbara was a perfect spot, for a picnic. We arrived early and began setting up balloons and decorations for the picnic.

Shelley decorating the picnic area with balloons.

The castle has an area with picnic tables and trees which provide shade.

Ray with the picnic area in the background

The Castle of Santa Barbara is located on Mount Benacantil and is a 166 meters above Alicante. The castle provides great views of the area and part of the coast line of the Mediterranean sea.

The view from our picnic area at the castle

Once we were set up lots of our friends showed up to the picnic. It was a pot luck style and there were foods from many different national backgrounds. There was  traditional Venezuela, German, Texas, Polish and United Kingdom foods which everyone shared and enjoyed.

Multi cultural picnic meal with friends at the castle

We enjoyed the day celebrating with our multi-national group of friends from different corners of the world.

Barbara and Shelley enjoying a small beverage

The views were also a great addition to a wonderful day, even the locals dropped in to check out the picnic.

Seagull looking for a free handout.
View of the Postuget beach from the Castle

One of the many beautiful features of living in Alicante is the breathtaking views and unique features.

“Adios y que tengas un gran dia”

Spain

Snorkeling in the mediterranean sea

Felipe and Ray decided to go snorkeling at a spot called “El baño de la reina” which translates to “the Queen’s bath”. It is located in Campello, a short distance from the city of Alicante.

The Queen’s Bath located in Campello

We went down to the tourist centre located in Campello and got some information on the Queen’s Bath.

Felipe and Ray at the Queen’s Bath in Campello

There are former Roman pools located at the Queen’s Bath. These pools were used by the Romans as a fish farm. The tourist centre provided us with snorkeling information including an identification card of different fish and plants.

Fish identification card from the tourist information centre

They also provided us with an audio player which you wear on your arm during the snorkeling.  We headed down to the Queen’s Bath with our gear.

Felipe and Ray at the Queen’s Bath

We swam for about one hour around the rocks at the Queen’s Bath. There were different types of fish along the rocks and we even saw a sea urchin.

Sea Urchin

The snorkeling was great, it was very interesting and enjoyable.

“Adios y que tengas un gran dia”

Spain

An evening at Xiringuito Ton-Tin

We went to an internations event at the Xiringuito Ton-Tin which is a small beach bar in Campello.

The Xiringuito Ton-Tin beach front bar

The weather was nice and warm and the beach was a great spot to spend the evening.  We arrived at around 8:30 pm and sat with some of our friends on the beach.

Ray with friends from the internations group

The views were breathtaking and there was a nice breeze to keep us cool. We enjoyed great conversations and a few laughs with friends on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea.

Shelley, Vicki, Mark, Mary and Bill on the beach

We watched the sun set and the moon rise.  It is one of those enjoyable simple things that always make us pinch ourselves.

The moon over the Medeterranean Sea

There was a full moon and the moonlight was shinning beautifully on the water. We decided to take a picture of our entire group from Internations on the shoreline.

Internations group photo on the beach at el campello

Afterwards we took a picture of us alone on the water’s edge.

Ray and Shelley on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea
View of the Xiringuito Ton-Tin beach bar from the shoreline

We had a great evening sitting on the beach and enjoying the wonderful weather with friends.

“Adios y que tengas un gran dia”

Spain

Fireworks on the Mediterranean Sea

There is an international fireworks competition held in Alicante each year. Our friends Mike and Liz invited us to go on their sailboat to watch the fireworks from the sea.

Jorge, Ceci, Mike, Paul, Shelley and Ray on the sailboat before heading out

We went out and anchored off the coast near in front of the Castle of Santa Barbara. The view was quite stunning to see the city and the castle in the evening from the sea.

View from the Mediterranean Sea of Alicante coast line.

We enjoyed the views and warm evening while we waited for the fireworks to start.

The view of the fireworks from the boat

The fireworks were beautiful and lasted approximately 20 minutes. There were some unique fireworks and the show was great to watch from the water.

Ray and Mike on the “Hegeldi” heading back to port of Alicante after the fireworks

We had a great time with friends, there were lots of laughs and lots of fun.

Ray with friends on the sailboat waiting for the fireworks to start

We still find it hard to believe at times that we are living in Spain. It is an adventure almost every day.

“Adios y que tengas un gran dia”

Spain

BONFIRES OF SAN JUAN

Every year for the past 90 years, Alicante has hosted the “Hougeres” and celebrated the bonfires of San Jaun. We were fortunate to be invited to our friends place to watch the “Noche de la Cremà“ which is the burning of the hougeres. We headed there early to take a walk around the hougere before going up to the apartment.

Shelley and Ray at the Hougeres

The hougere was three storeys high and had some beautiful features to it.

Detailed painting of faces on hougere
Detailed different features of the hougere

There was also a smaller hougere which was done by children which was also very impressive and beautiful.

Children’s Hougere

It was sad to think that all of the 89 hougeres in the city would be destroyed by fire later in the night. We went up to our friends apartment to spend the evening and watch the activities. We gathered on the terrace to enjoy the party and watch the crowds.

Alli and Shelley on the terrace
Ray and Augustine on the terrace

The apartment overlooks one of the main hougeres on a large street in Alicante. We had a perfect view from their terrace.

The view of the hougeres from the terrace

The view down the street was full of people and lights.

The view down the street from the terrace

We watched people gather and get ready for the burning of the hougeres. The fire truck arrived and began to set up and prepare for the burning.

Fire truck arriving at the hougere to set up for the burning

The burning  of the hougeres begins at midnight and is signaled by a large palm fireworks sent up from the Santa Barbara Castle.

After the signal we watched for the start of the burning of our hougere. There were fireworks going off throughout the city and the atmosphere was incredible. We enjoyed watching the burning of our hougere and seeing the firefighters spraying the crowd with water.

Firefighter spraying the crowd
People edging the firefighter on and getting sprayed with water

The spraying of the crowd is a ritual in the event. The crowd chants insults at them in jest and they then turn the water spray on the crowd. There is also a song which roughly translates to “Wet me fireman, please wet me. I’m dying of heat, save me from this hot flush”. The crowd also chant “agua, agua, agua”over and over until they get sprayed. It is all done in fun.

Small hougere burning and firefighters spraying the crowd with water

We put the following video together to give you an idea of the extent and amazing nature of the burning of the hougeres.  The video is only a small portion of the party that continues throughout the night.

The experience was one we will always remember. It is amazing how the Bonfires of San Juan and the Hougeres in Alicante are celebrated every year.

“Adios y que tengas un gran dia”

Life is too short to wait for adventure!