Photographic motivation

Back to St German's to celebrate the Sunday Mass yesterday morning, then home for a solitary lunch, finishing off the other half of what I prepared for last night's supper, with some pasta. Clare arrived home at tea-time from her visit to Auntie Daphne in Exeter, and we had supper together, something different. No matter how restrained I am in preparing and cooking ingredients for a sauce or ratatouille for a meal, I find it impossible to cook enough for one, apart from omelettes or stuff on toast. Maybe I have less of an appetite than I used to, but basic food cooked seems always to stretch to two portions, or enough for two meals when I'm on my own. Funnily enough, I'm happy to eat the same meal twice in a row, fine when I'm on my own. Clare doesn't enjoy the same meal twice in a row, so any excess prepared has to be potted up and retained in fridge or freezer. All part of life's rich pattern, I guess.

After lunch and a siesta, I spent an hour or so editing and uploading photos from our stay in Sta Pola, three batches in all, one exclusively from my visits to the salinas, one from the Tabarca visit and one from the town and port itself. 

Birdie photos from the Sta Pola salinas are here

Tabarca island photos are here

Sta Pola town, port and beach photos are here

The next big photo adventure will be our Danube cruise, starting and ending in Budapest, travelling to Bratislava, Durnstein, Salzberg and Vienna - an orgy of historic townscapes and countryside viewed from the river, with all its commercial traffic, and shoreline interest. I won't know which way to point my camera. Which camera to take for the best results is now lurking in my mind.

Truth to tell I am getting fussier and fussier, thinking about picture quality and detail. I take many photos at mid to maximum telephoto range, and despite having a steady hand, getting satisfactory shots is a bit hit or miss, so the question of how to get the best quality is now bugging me. I wish I could borrow a selection of cameras to try out, and see what best suits me. After all, given the fidelity and accuracy of modern digital cameras, also the level of photographic discipline and skill, the character and quality of pictures taken relates to the person taking them, and the observation and insight they want to convey. 

I want something of everything when I take photos, to convey the context, whether aesthetically or socially or historically, sometimes to notice the detail in a scene and what that has to tell. I admit that photographing people is something I'm nervous about. It's not that I don't enjoy the results when I get a good shot, but I fear invading people's privacy, distorting their livers with my camera. I'm not into the social contract dimension which portrait photography involves, and if I ever get a good portrait it's more by luck than anything else. What drives me to take pictures is the sheer beauty of the world we live in, whether natural or built environment. It's capturing a little suggestion of the work of art which is creation itself that gives me joy.

  

Salt Museum

This morning we phoned for a taxi to take us to St Pola's Museo de la Sal, on the outskirts of town on the section of N332 road which crosses the salinas on the way south to Torrevieja. We thought we'd go one way by taxi and walk back into the port for one last fish lunch at Bar del Curro afterwards. Our driver was a friendly cheery man named Elvis, and we decided to ask if we could book him for the return airport journey tomorrow. So much easier face to face than over the phone. We saw him write us into his diary, and feel sure he won't let us down.

The salt museum has its own saline ponds, albeit a little low in water this visit, and its fair share of the commonest marine wildfowl, flamingos, stilts, avocets, terns and gulls, with a good mile's walk around the perimeter. The buildings was evidently one of the places to which salt was transported for processing after extraction from the dried salinas, as some of the machinery used in the process for crushing salt and filling containers is still in place. 

There's an excellent guided display on large photo panels, to explain the importance of salt in human history, and in relation to the ecology of marine wetlands. It's a must visit place, no least because, just across the main road outside the perimeter, the much greater expanse of the salinas extends inland and south across the coastal plain. I have enjoyed the journey south through the salinas when I've driven here in the past, and wished for more easy places to stop and look, take photos and absorb the atmosphere in this place of few trees, many birds, and a landscape in which earth seems to mirror the heavens. 

Out there you get the occasional glimpse of an osprey or a falcon, and it feels so remote and so different. Salt is certainly still extracted her, although not on the scale it was over millennia when many were employed in hard manual labour, day after day in the heat of the sun, seemingly glaring at you from every direction.

Clare and Ann walked back into town after our visit, and I took an extra half hour to visit the salinas closest to the road junction, with access just behind a Chinese restaurant car park, and look for some more birds to snap, but there wasn't too much activity middle of the day. Sunrise or early evening are much better, if not always convenient.

The Bar del Curro never disappoints situated as it is, right on the edge of the beach by a row of fish market retail stalls. Clare ate bream, Ann ate swordfish, and I had a docen de sardinas, pure and simple, washed down with a beer. There are always local people from around the port meeting there to socialise, as well as visitors like ourselves. The atmosphere is welcoming and the buzz of chatter, the comings and goings, are all full of warmth and good humour.

We walked back and started packing and tidying up. I cooked all the leftover veggies I could manage to use into a sauce to which I added fine noodles for a change. Not quite so many noodles next time, I reckon, but we all cleared our plates as the sun was setting, and then went back to getting ready to leave, early in the morning. We've been blessed with mainly warm and dry weather. Cardiff will feel very cold in comparison, tomorrow afternoon.

Overview of Sta Pola

A cloudy cool and windy day today, windy enough to empty beaches of all but wind surfers - just as well for them as there's some kind of race competition being staged here along the shore this week.

After lunch I did a circuit of the town's outskirts up behind our apartment, going first to the Camino de la Cruz and Ermita de Nuesta Senora overlooking Sta Pola. This would have been the edge of town when a new housing area was constructed here in the sixties to accommodate town dwellers whose homes had been crowded inside the walls of the Castello. Part of its restoration by the municipality was the creation of the magnificent open public space that now serves the social needs of the every expanding population of locals and visitors.

The barrio displaced to the top of the hill is now itself enveloped by more modern housing developments to a depth of a quarter of a mile bounded by a recently constructed link road steering traffic through outer suburbs to the N332 south across the salinas from the
 town. The original modern houses are basic simple cottages, low cost social housing in their time.

The modern houses and gated apartment blocks reflect the growing wealth of the coastal region as a result of tourism over the past four decades. It can't all be holiday homes up there however, as there are several large schools serving the area, but inhabitants must go down the hill to do their shopping. Even local corner stores are in short supply in this district, unlike the streets on the coastal plain below, which are altogether more convival places than can be lived in without needing a car.

Interesting to get an overview of the place, and to wonder how it will develop over the next half century. Empty housing plots down below are gradually being filled in with apartment blocks of six to ten storeys. Will they one day go higher, as in so many other urbanised coastal villages and towns, given over the the modern industries of leisure?

Another avian photo opportunity

Ann was really suffering with her bad back again today, so we went hunting and found a physiotherapist who works from a place above a bank in Glorietta square. While we were having coffee in the square beforehand seated opposite the bank, I couldn't help notice that on one side of the bank entrance door sat a middle aged woman selling national lottery tickets, and on the other side sat an elderly lady with a begging bowl.

Two local policemen passed by, and said nothing to either. In Britain, begging directly outside a bank would lead to complaints and the beggar if not the ticket seller would be moved on. It strikes me that society is more tolerant towards the visibly poor in Spain, than we are in Britain. Admittedly the noisy and disruptive alcoholic rough sleepers are given as wide a berth here as back home, but there is more respect for those who at least make an effort to behave in a dignified manner.

While Ann had her treatment after lunch, I walked over to the salinas and spent another enjoyable hour taking photographs of flamingos, herons, stints, avocets and just one elusive snipe, of which I managed to get one good picture before it fled out of range. Pleased with my results, but uploading will have to wait until I get home because of the inconvenience of having to visit a bar nearby to get a free, for the price of a beer internet connection.

We walked to the Varadero Restaurant for supper as the sun was setting. The streets were very quiet except for a handful of joggers. We were the only people dining in this 200 seater palace of wonderful food, so crowded whenever we dined  there before.

The food was nouvelle cuisine Spanish style and we really needed to have ordered a rice dish to precede the fish, which was served with only decorative portions of vegetables. A feast for the eyes! We compensated with an extra portion of dessert - Eddie's portion - we decided, as we chatted fondly about him. Yes, a delicious meal, but fairly light. Just fine for supper, though not quite what we expected. A great Valencian rosado wine as well, with an aroma of roses. Quite a special night of remembrance.

First Communions in Sta Pola

We didn't get up early enough to get ourselves to the ten o'clock Mass at the main Parish Church of Our Lady of the Rosary this morning. In fact, we were unsure of the time and arrived just as communion was being distributed. Ann's back had been playing her up, so she stayed behind. Clare decided to return with some nice pastries to cheer her up and we enjoyed a cup of coffee together standing up in a crowded pasteleria before parting company.

 I decided to stay in town and wait for the midday Mass. It was one of the series of Paschaltide First Communion Sundays, so I knew it would be a 'Family Service' in every sense. I went to the Castello to wait, and found this was the gathering point for families with childred being presented for first Communion and the catechists organising the event. It was already visibly a multi generational event with abuelos minding the little ones, while the abuelas were involved with organising and drilling the candidates.

There were a dozen girls in white dresses and a dozen boys in sailor suits, a immaculately turned out. Two by two, shepherded by abuelas and photographed or videod every step of the way, they processed from the Capilla de Nuestra Senora de Loreto in the north east corner wall of the castillo, out to the main west gate to the church, two hundred yards away in a side street off the main square.

The church was packed, and the Parish priest, still the man I recall from previous visits, a good five years older than I, conducted the service with extensive explanation at every stage, perhaps conscious of how few people present, all dressed up to the nines, we're regular attenders. I was delighted to find how much of what he said I can now follow. The work I have done with Duolingo is reaping rewards now.

I arrived home just as Ann and Clare were venturing down to the beach, so I prepared salad for lunch, including a tapa of mussles (admittedly canned) in a spicy sauce on a bed of rice,a little fovourite of mine. Then later I also cooked supper supper, this time a risotto with seta mushrooms, onions, french beans and pickled anchovies - a great pleasure when the ingredients are so readily available at the Mercadona just a few flights of steps below our AirBnB apartment.

Varadero Sta Pola

I accompanied Clare and Ann to the Varadero beach this morning, so they could swim, while I minded the clothes and valuables. Afterwards, we went to the Varadero Restaurant, a family favourite, from previous occasions, and booked a table for an evening meal on Monday in memory of Eddie and Ann's wedding anniversary. It's the sort of place he would have loved, with all its nautical artifacts, relating to local boat-yard history. Varadero is the name given to a place where boat repairs and maintenance are done. In times past the beach of the same name was called 'La Playa des Ingenieros' after the boat-yard mechanics whose homes were clustered nearby. Eddie would have loved that thought too.

There was also a family of four Swifts whizzing around on the restaurant car park, and descending on a small puddle to drink from it, if not bathe excitedly. I got one photo of this before they vanished, and wuld have loved to wait around for more chances, but I had to catch up with the others. On the walk back for lunch, I also saw and snapped a family of Sanderlings running up and down the water's edge feeding, also some Dunlin and several black winged Stilts. A surprise conclusion to a dull outing.

  

Finding the salinas

Mist had rolled in from the sea when we woke up this morning, giving the day a chilly start. We walked into town this morning, and visited the Palmeria - a park blessed with many very tall palm trees, and the well preserved remnants of walls and mosaic pavements of a Roman villa. There was a trading port hereabouts five centuries before Christ due to the Phoenicians, and the Romans took over and developed what others began.

We had a splendid tapas lunch at La Senia restaurant next to the park, then while Clare and Ann headed for home, I walked on, along the shore of Gran Playa as far as the start of the nature reserve, where salt works with huge storage heaps of salt dominate an otherwise flat landscape. Their shape reminded me of coal slag heaps of my childhood, despite the total colour contrast. I had walked this way, trying to piece together my patchy memory of the area geography from previous visits. I wanted to locate the Salt Museum in relation to the nature reserve and the salinas ponds, and realised that the points of access to the best birdwatching area were easier to reach than I remembered.

I ended the afternoon in a birdwatchers hide in between two salt ponds, watching flamingos grazing and several terns swooping and diving aerobatically to snatch tiny prey from the water. I took photos but wished I'd carried my DSLR with me to have a camera with a viewfinder to look through on zoom settings. Point and shoot with a screen can be difficult when focusing on birds in flight.

Altogether it was a long walk there and back, the best part of eight miles, but very rewarding, given the birds I saw. It's such a treat to see flamingos in such great numbers.

  

   

Tabarca trip

I woke up and got started early, Clare and Ann rose and breakfasted later, then we made our way to the port to take a ferry boat across to Tabarca Island. It's a 'must do' excursion for any Sta Pola holiday.

The ferry arrived at the modern jetty in a bay at the narrowest stretch of the island just after midday. The ancient point of arrival is on the foreshore beneath the town walls near the 17th century church of St Peter and St Paul. The mediaeval walls give access through three gates, one of which, dedicated to Archangel Michael, is above the mediaeval landing area on the island's north side.

Since our first visit from Geneva in 2000, I have observed the slow progress of restoring this the largest and most prominent building in the town, if not the whole island. It follows the Spanish tradition of fortifying church buildings - iconic in defence of the faith, I guess. The church job seems complete, although access to it wasn't possible.

The parish rooms and clergy quarters attached to the church east end are still a roofless ruin. But, a place with potential as a hospitality centre, much needed today. I hope something happens to complete the picture even if it takes another decade to find the funding. This is indeed a special place to visit for whatever reason. Like the foreshore of Sta Pola bay it was probably first colonised by the Pheonicians, then the Romans. It was conquered by the Moors, then reconquered for the Spanish monarchs and again conquered by the Kingdom of Morocco for a generation in the 18th century, before being liberated yet again.

It was too early to eat, so we walked the length and breadth of the island before settling for lunch at the Gloria restaurant on the south side of the island. After lunch, we spent another hour walking around discovering different places, then took a boat back to Sta Pola at five so that Ann and Clare could swim from the beach next to the port. 

We were fortunate to have such a beautiful day for our island excursion.

   

Southbound

It was a pleasure not to rush breakfast and leave by taxi to the city centre to catch the airport bus for a late morning check-in for our afternoon Vueling flight to Alicante. Taxi is obligatory from Alicante airport to Sta Pola as all buses go via the city, not direct. We arrived at seven, did the necessary food shopping, and then listened to The Archers.

A lovely evening with the promise of more blue skies and warm weather to come. I cooked supper while Ann and Clare went to the beach. Anything rather than walk a mile to a restaurant and wait half an hour to be served - not so enjoyable when you're tired and hungry from travelling.

We ate outside on the terrace, as the sun was setting. It's such a relief after such a long overcast winter. Then I went out for a late night walk to the port, to smell the sea and the presence of the town's still lively fishing industry. Happy to be here again.

Birthday weekend

Saturday, sister in law Ann arrived to spend the weekend with us before our holiday in Spain together. Owain joined us for supper and we all watched 'Follow the Money'. He stayed overnight for Sunday lunch as well. Three of us went to the Parish Eucharist at St Catherine's Sunday morning, but Owain, no longer a churchgoer, went for a long walk instead. It's the first time I've been in the congregation since the Sunday before Christmas, and that was enjoyable. There were fewer people than usual in the congregation, perhaps because there was an afternoon 'Messy Church' event. Fewer poeple are willing to turn out twice on a Sunday nowadays. After lunch, Clare went to her study group in Bristol, and Ann and I walked the usual circuit along the Taff, making the most of the afternoon sunshine. 

Today, as well as being my birthday has been a day for travel preparation - case packing, buying some extra Euros, going into the office to sign a few cheques, arranging roaming on the Blackberry. Packing a bag never takes me long, but I always need to double check documents, battery chargers, leads and adaptors, to ensure communications channels I rely on so much for 'normal' living are easy to access away from home. Our AirBnB host kindly provided us with the SSID and password of the nearest public wifi at the bar by the Mercadona over the road from where we'll stay in Sta Pola, and that helps.

No big family party this year, as we'll be doing that for our Golden Wedding in August, but I did cook supper for Clare and Ann, preferable to going to a restaurant and waiting ages to be served a meal when we all have travel on our minds. There were calls, cards and messages from the children, and email greetings from Switzerland, Spain and Costa Rica. For me, happily low key. The years seem to pass quicker than ever. I'm so grateful for good health, and lots of interesting and different things going on in my life. What more could I ask for?