We are now back from our Winter break in Calpe on the Costa Blanca. Sunshine we certainly had; as for culture? Well it wasn’t Salzburg, it wasn’t Vienna, it wasn’t Florence but it was certainly more cultural than last year’s trip to Los Gigantes in Tenerife. Why Calpe? Our lovely South African friends, who now live in London, have been there for the last 3 months. We promised to meet up with them and Carol wanted to touch base with her Aussie academic friend who lives in nearby Novelda.
We stayed in an apartment designed by a well-known Spanish Modernist architect called Ricardo Bofill, no I had never heard of him either, and there were other examples of his work nearby. We had views over the sea from the terrace and, but for a large tree, of Calpe’s famous rock. Just up the road was a salon in the form of a bar called “El Faro” it was a small quirky, intimate place and had the best “craic” of any bar or pub I have visited for many years. It was run by an ex-pat called Ian and frequented by other ex-pats, Germans, Dutch, Spanish and no doubt many others, we were able to add to the cultural mix by taking our South African and Aussie friends. Interestingly, nearly all the ex-pats, some of whom had lived and worked there for decades, were in favour of Brexit.
Anyhow, we had some nice walks, visits to Mountain villages and a Sanctuary in Novelda designed by a pupil of Gaudi. Also, some nice meals and thanks to Ian discovered that San Miguel is the worst beer in Spain.
We also visited Benidorm! I am told that Benidorm has a buzz, and this is very true, but it is the buzz of flies round a dog turd. Benidorm actually has a lot of art; it is mostly in the form of tattoos on the acres of exposed, red, sunburned flesh on young Brits. Not so much Young British Artists as Young British Artforms. The older Brits are more sculptural and have bellies and bum cracks that must have taken years to produce. We also saw performance art when a young guy staggered out of a bar, pissed himself and then laid on the road and tried to pull his trousers off.
Anyway, now I am back I had better go and get on with my latest project: Bye for now.
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