Walking to town...
My apartment is located along Playa Velilla, the eastern most end of Almunecar. There is a street that runs parallel to the water that I take to get into town every morning. Because of construction, the buses are not running regularly down the street, so the walk takes me about 25 minutes. It’s really hard to complain about a walk along the Mediterranean, but I am sure I will the first time it rains. In the meantime, I thought I would share some pictures of my walk to town.
When I leave my building, the first thing I see is the beach. It’s really quite a beautiful beach. But close to the street, there’s this strange little area that at first, I thought was a playground. But as I began watching people, it appears to be a gym! On the beach! Check out all of these weird machines – doesn’t the one on the back right look like an elliptical? And the one to the back left appears to be some sort of ab machine. There are actually several of them all along the beach, all the way to town. I haven’t tried them yet, since with my luck I’d break myself, but I’ll be sure to let you know what happens when I inevitably give it a try (hopefully without wine).
Just past the weird beach gym is the bar that I’ve been watching a lot of the World Cup matches at: Restaurante de Rincon Velilla. It’s a really friendly place; a lot of European ex-pats hang out there and the bartenders are very nice about my rudimentary Spanish. Even though they know that English is my first language, and they can speak some rudimentary English themselves, they are willing to put up with my Spanish attempts and are really patient with me. Plus, the wine there is cheaper than the water (it’s like that everywhere!), so that in itself is a good reason to show up! It’s also a very traditional bar, which means that when you order a drink, you get a tapas plate to go with it. Order enough, and there’s no need for dinner. You may, however, want a designated driver. Because you won’t be hungry, but you will be drunk. One reason of many why I don’t have a car here.
I run into construction shortly after the bar. The city is currently building two underground car parks along the beach. I’ve been told that come July and August, it’s going to be a madhouse here, so I have a feeling the extra parking will come in handy. In the meantime, though, it means that the road is closed in many places to cars. Luckily, it’s not closed to pedestrians and the construction just means that at this stage, I have to move to walking along the beach. Doesn’t that just sound horrible? I don’t know how I can stand it.
Perhaps the funniest part of my walk is what I see on the other side of the construction: a water park! You can actually see the waterslides from my balcony if you look hard enough. But here they are, in all their glory, to let me know I’m about half-way to town.
The water park is huge – I walk by it for at least ¼ mile. I find it kind of funny, that prime beach front property is being ruined by waterslides and a lazy river. But there is a discoteca inside, so if I get bored this summer, I know where to go.
Once I finally get past the water park, it’s beach as far as the eye can see. I know that I’m almost in town when I round the corner and see the Playa Fuente de Piedra. There are often fishermen on the rock that juts out. In fact, there are often fishermen all along the beach. I haven’t tried to join them yet, but it looks like they’re having fun!
When I get to the end of the beach, that’s it, I’m in town! I will have to start taking pictures of some of my favorite places in town, so you can see where I spend my time. But first, I have to find places to spend my time! So far, I’ve spent most of my mornings at the Internet café, where the proprietor and his wife have made me feel very welcome. Between the two of them, they’ve visited and lived in more countries than I even knew existed and they are very always giving me advice about where to eat/shop/drink, etc. They’ve lived in Almunecar for 9 years now, so I definitely trust their recommendations; and they’ve been spot on so far. For instance, on Thursday morning, they recommended a heladaria/cafeteria to me (ice cream shop and coffee shop) as a good place to sit, read, and get some work done. Sure enough, the staff was friendly, the atmosphere quiet, and the cappuccino tasty. I think I’m going to go back again this morning!
So there you have it, my walk to town. One of my goals of this trip was to take a step back away from my dependence on technology, spend some more time by myself, and really get inspired to write and work more. My walk really helps with that. During that time, I get to enjoy the scenery (okay, old European topless women are not good scenery – especially before breakfast – but that’s a whole other blog post and if I just look at the horizon, it’s okay), think about my plan for the day, and really concentrate on just enjoying myself. It isn’t something I often get to experience in my regular life (unless I’m running – hi running buddies – I miss you!), so it’s a great treat to have it now. Here’s just hoping that something inspired comes out of my vacation…perhaps a good journal article or two?
When I leave my building, the first thing I see is the beach. It’s really quite a beautiful beach. But close to the street, there’s this strange little area that at first, I thought was a playground. But as I began watching people, it appears to be a gym! On the beach! Check out all of these weird machines – doesn’t the one on the back right look like an elliptical? And the one to the back left appears to be some sort of ab machine. There are actually several of them all along the beach, all the way to town. I haven’t tried them yet, since with my luck I’d break myself, but I’ll be sure to let you know what happens when I inevitably give it a try (hopefully without wine).
I run into construction shortly after the bar. The city is currently building two underground car parks along the beach. I’ve been told that come July and August, it’s going to be a madhouse here, so I have a feeling the extra parking will come in handy. In the meantime, though, it means that the road is closed in many places to cars. Luckily, it’s not closed to pedestrians and the construction just means that at this stage, I have to move to walking along the beach. Doesn’t that just sound horrible? I don’t know how I can stand it.
Perhaps the funniest part of my walk is what I see on the other side of the construction: a water park! You can actually see the waterslides from my balcony if you look hard enough. But here they are, in all their glory, to let me know I’m about half-way to town.
Once I finally get past the water park, it’s beach as far as the eye can see. I know that I’m almost in town when I round the corner and see the Playa Fuente de Piedra. There are often fishermen on the rock that juts out. In fact, there are often fishermen all along the beach. I haven’t tried to join them yet, but it looks like they’re having fun!
When I get to the end of the beach, that’s it, I’m in town! I will have to start taking pictures of some of my favorite places in town, so you can see where I spend my time. But first, I have to find places to spend my time! So far, I’ve spent most of my mornings at the Internet café, where the proprietor and his wife have made me feel very welcome. Between the two of them, they’ve visited and lived in more countries than I even knew existed and they are very always giving me advice about where to eat/shop/drink, etc. They’ve lived in Almunecar for 9 years now, so I definitely trust their recommendations; and they’ve been spot on so far. For instance, on Thursday morning, they recommended a heladaria/cafeteria to me (ice cream shop and coffee shop) as a good place to sit, read, and get some work done. Sure enough, the staff was friendly, the atmosphere quiet, and the cappuccino tasty. I think I’m going to go back again this morning!
So there you have it, my walk to town. One of my goals of this trip was to take a step back away from my dependence on technology, spend some more time by myself, and really get inspired to write and work more. My walk really helps with that. During that time, I get to enjoy the scenery (okay, old European topless women are not good scenery – especially before breakfast – but that’s a whole other blog post and if I just look at the horizon, it’s okay), think about my plan for the day, and really concentrate on just enjoying myself. It isn’t something I often get to experience in my regular life (unless I’m running – hi running buddies – I miss you!), so it’s a great treat to have it now. Here’s just hoping that something inspired comes out of my vacation…perhaps a good journal article or two?
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