Another productive day in moving forward into our new “home”.
We headed into Alicante this morning early and attended Swiss Real Estate. That was the company that helped us with getting the apartment. Our contact person assisted us with the change over and connection of electricity and gas. The process took over one hour on the phone with the utility company. The process was not easy and even the person helping us was frustrated with the process. Thank goodness we had his help.

After the utilities were completed we headed to the shopping district. We walked around the area and found a travel agency. We decided to go in and got some info on the cost of cruises for the Mediterranean. Our plan is to take a cruise in the next few months and check out some key cities. We took our cruise info went to a local cafe. Sitting there enjoying our gelato and drink we reviewed the information.

We then walked to the bus station and headed home. Today we decided to bring a pedometer with us to see how far we walk a day. Today we walked a total of 13 kilometers. It seems like every time we head to the centre of Alicante we walk for numerous kilometers. That hopefully should help keep us in shape.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dias”

It has been a quiet couple of days here for us. We have been taking it easy and resting up and enjoying the beautiful weather. Daily walks and overall relaxation have been the norm these past few days. We sit out on the balcony in the mornings and enjoy the view of the sea. I didn’t realize just how much the view can change of the sea depending on the temperature and clouds. Each morning the view of the sea is slightly different.

Tomorrow we head into Alicante business area to arrange for the gas, electricity and water for our new apartment. I am curious how that will work out because the bureaucracy here is apparently a challenge. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

The internet in our apartment continues to be inconsistent and not very good at times. This has made it tough for us to do research or even maintain the blog. Most times the internet improves late at night when the bandwidth isn’t being accessed by as many users. Well, that is about it for now. “Adios y que tenga un gran dais”

It was a beautiful day today so we went for a nice long walk. We headed down the road and never thought about where we were going. After about a Kilometer or so we came across a religious alter with candles burning.

A little further on our walk we found a hiking trail called “Glot de Galvany”. We decided to take the trail and see where we end up. We did not plan for a hike in the hills and didn’t have any water or sun screen but we went anyway.

We walked along the trail for about two hours looking at the unique fauna and the palm trees.

The trail had many different paths and we could have easily gone for the full day. We met some hikers along the way but for the most part it was quiet and serene. We came across a small pond area and there were several people looking at the ducks. They seemed to be very impressed by the ducks. I guess they don’t see many ducks around here. We just walked on by, being Canadian we have seen more than our share of ducks.

We decided to turn back and maybe come back another day, prepared and then we will make it a full day hike through the hills of Alicante.

“Adios y  que tengas un gran dias”

Today we went back to Santa Pola but on an early bus. We managed to attend the museo de la sel (Salt museum).  It was converted into a museum when they stopped using the factory.  Santa Pola is known for the salt it produces. There are salt evaporation ponds known as salines which produces salt even today. We found the museum somewhat interesting considering the topic. You have to take what they displayed  with a grain of salt… Sorry just couldn’t help it.

There were pink flamingos in the abandoned salt pond at the museum which was a nice surprise. (unfortunately all I could get was a far away picture)

We then went to the local aquarium which had a small but interesting collection of fish and other water creatures.  Now I know what my future food will look like before it is served to me.

Finally we finished our day by stopping at the Marcado in Gran Alicant a small town on the way home. We picked up groceries and headed home. I thought I would share the grocery bill with you. Can you figure out what we bought and the cost compared to Canada. If you do let me know what you think. Well that’s about it for today.

“Adios amigos y  que tengas un gran días”

Today we decided to go to Santa Pola which is a town about 15 kilometres  away from us. We took the bus and arrived around 11:30 am. We walked around the town and wanted to take in a few of the museums. We went to the Castillo Fortaleza museum with the plan or touring the castle and then heading to the salt museum. We arrived at around 1:15 pm and the  museum was closed until 4 pm. In Spain they have siestas in the afternoon and most places close except for some of the bars. So we were only able to see the main entrance and courtyard for the castle.

After the castle we stopped and had a beverage and some tapas at a local outdoor patio. After our tapas and drink we took a walk to the “Parquet Palmeral” a park which has beautiful palm trees. The park has assorted palm trees throughout with walking paths.

We enjoyed the walk in the park and came across an archaeological ruin. These roman ruins were fenced off and preserved for viewing. The ruins were from a noble roman villa build in the IV century AD. There was 7 rooms and had decorated geometrical mosaic tiles on the floor. We found it quite interesting.

We learned a valuable lesson today. We need to plan our day trips keeping in mind the Spain hours. The siesta time is followed here and most stores and facilities are closed from about 1pm to 4 or 5 pm during the week. Although we didn’t get to see any museums today we did have a good day in Santa Pola.

“Adios Y que tengas un gran dias”