valencia in april - lunes

Alicante-Valencia-Alicante - lunes 4 de abril - 31618 steps

Last Monday we made a day trip by train from Alicante to Valencia, a 130 km train journey of about one and a half hours.

Starting this cloudy and windy day with an early breakfast at the station in Alicante and left at 9 am for Valencia.

From the station we walked to Jardi del Turia and futuristic Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, where went with Minne & Pippa a long time ago, during our Spain road trip in 2006.

In the afternoon we visited to the neighbourhoods Russafa, L'Eixample and Sant Francesc.

We were surprised by the streetart we found in the alleys of Ciutat Vella, where most of the shops and terraces were closed, because it was Monday (or too windy).

We traveled back to Alicante just before sunset.

monipoli & polignano a mare

Monopoli & Polignano a Mare - Friday 3rd of September - late summer in Puglia

On Friday we went for a daytrip to Monopoli and Polignano a Mare.

In Monopoli we visited Phest, the international festival of photography and art Monopoly.
Humanæ by the brazilian artist Angélica Dass was our favorite exhibition, in terms of work and certainly also in terms of location.
A work of 48 portraits on the fortress wall near the beach.
The background for each portrait is tinted with a color tone identical to a sample of 11 x 11 pixels taken from the nose of the subject and matched with the industrial Pantone color palette.

After lunch we drove a little further north to Polignano a Mare. From centro storico we had an impressive view of the famous bay of Polignano, where the beach visitors were packed like sardines. So we decided to look for another beach on the way back home.

In the evening we were invited for dinner at Anima, for delicious italian dishes homecooked by our hosts Sieb & Francesco. Together with some Anima amici we had an amazing evening under the starry sky!

flip flop fish, seagulls & dromedaries

La mouette et les dromadaires.

Our favourite spot for lunch and lazy afternoon in the dune forest at the ocean, outside Essaouira near Sidi Kaouki.

Flipflopfish on the wall, fresh fish on the menu and amazing views on the ocean and along the coastline.

After lunch we landed at the quiet beach, with only an old man and his donkey. The ocean was pretty wild that day, so we didn't swim and merely ventured up to our waist in the water.

No doubt, next time we will stay a night in one of the new rooms overlooking the ocean...