natjtan The first day of our holidays, second if including travel we stayed local exploring Calpe. The morning started like most the rest of the week, lazy. The place was so quiet and sunny, I wanted to soak it up as much as possible. So after breaky, a Studio Tone It Up workout which also featured daily, earlyish afternoon we headed to into Calpe.
The first stop was one of the beaches, where else? We enjoyed sunny skies for 20mins before storm clouds rolled in. Thankfully it didn’t rain and the water was so warm rain clouds didn’t matter. Neither did the slight air temp drop: still warm enough to sunbath a bit. I think the type of sand helped too. Fine sand that gets everywhere but warms up quickly. An hour and bit later we decided to explore the old town. And of course the clouds cleared up like they never passed by.
Googling earlier things to do Calpe earlier, there was a set of stairs with the Spanish flag colours going up. The photos made it look good, so that was our mission that afternoon, finding those steps.
Cinema de la Fresca, Teatre Odeon 
I noticed both in Calpe and Valencia, they like murals of their history
I got a little confused at times during the week. Was I in Spain or the south of France? Buildings and driving around Cap de la Nau looked similar to France. Add lots of French on holiday I wasn’t sure where I was sometimes. Everything was written in Spanish, but all I could hear was French. We weren’t too bothered to look around, however as the afternoon was getting late we decided to get exploring it out the way. I had to remind myself to stop taking photos for the sake of it and think differently about what I was shooting.
No matter how many twists, turns, side alleys we couldn’t find the steps. Only after asking were they are and doubling back we realised we’d passed by the top of them a few times. Duh. I actually preferred the steps going down than up. They looked more picturesque and how a fishing village once was. I think most of the fishing villages along the coast have turned to tourism for income.
Spanish flag steps downSpanish Flag steps up
After an hour exploring side streets, tummies getting hungry, we ended eating snacks we packed in a church yard (no gravestones) over looking the rock or Peñón de Ifach. We skipped on the Chinese restaurant Happy Cow recommended nearly by. This is what happens exploring some place new. So many alleyways to go down, paths that call your name you end up in odd places. Like eating grapes on hill in church yard like it’s normal.
Tummy’s full enough to head back to the car to return for dinner or find some place else to eat we found the main high street for a little shopping. Plus a much needed bathroom. One thing I like about Spain is most places will let you use the toilet without being a paying customer. I’ve noticed however this is changing in Barcelona. Not wanting to cook back at the apartment we were left with the usual 3 options vegans know they can usually eat out on in non vegan establishments: veggie burger, pasta or cheeseless pizza. Salads more than tomato and lettuce are if you’re lucky. The atmosphere also changed from beach life to nightlife so finding someplace that had seats began. P couldn’t believe the size of some of the cocktail straws along some of the beach restaurants. All he could was oversized plastic waste (Yep, I got him noticing plastic waste too!).
We found a pizzeria just off the main promenade for cheese-less pizza and ate on the terrace while watching the athletics on the pizzeria’s TV. With me trying to workout why some Catalan competitors were wearing Barca colours. Erm maybe as they’re on the FC Barcelona Athletics team/club? They’re not just a football club! One thing I like about most pizzeria’s in Spain is they don’t bat an eyelids when you ask for no cheese. If I’m honest you don’t miss it and it tastes nicer. But if it comes with olives and I forgot to say no olives please, you get loaded with olives. Along with cucumbers, onion in salads. You’re welcome!
Summer Holiday Vacay 2018. Travel Day
Do you explore local on first day of hols or say nah, skip it for later. Other places to see!