If I Were Going...: By the Sea

A typical Spanish beach

When we rearranged our plans, I decided that I wanted another beach day -- maybe one that would be warm enough to actually enjoy as a beach. So, I did some brief research looking for a beach on the Mediterranean that wouldn't be too far from Barcelona. I settled on Denia, which is one of the ports from which ferries leave for the resort island of Ibiza. It was rated as one of the best beaches in Spain.

Our hotel was right on the beach and had a pool, a playground and a restaurant/bar.

From our room; Photo: Scott Stevens

The beach had beautiful green water ...

Pretty water

... but rather brown sand. I guess growing up in Clearwater has ruined me for beaches -- I am always disappointed when I don't get pure white sand.

Still, it was beautiful

We started with a lunch on the patio, then I took a long walk down the beach, which was oddly devoid of shells and seagulls.

It also had a number of topless sunbathers, none of whom looked like the image people have in their minds of topless beaches. Not pretty!

In the afternoon, we explored further down the coast ...

A little inlet

... where the flat beach gives way to more rugged, rocky shores ...

Cliffs

Scott looked for tidepools, but found none, only rocks ...

He was looking for critters

... and a little bit of undersea vegetation ...

Shells indicate something lives there

... and flowers ...

Pretty seascape

Here's a little bit about Denia: Humans lived there in prehistoric times and there are significant Iberian ruins on the hillsides nearby. In the 4th century BC, it was a Greek colony. It was an ally of Rome during the Punic Wars, and later was absorbed into the Roman Empire under the name of Dianum.

In 636-696 AD, during the Visigothic Kingdom of Iberia, it was the seat of a bishop from Toledo. After the Muslim conquest of Iberia and the dissolution of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Dénia became the capital of a taifa kingdom that reigned over part of the Valencian coast and Ibiza. Slavic Muslim slaves then gained control of the province and ran it until 1076, when it was captured by the lord of Zaragoza, under which it remained until the Almoravid invasion in 1091. The Muslim Arabs originally built a castle fortress and the French, who occupied the city for four years during the Peninsular War, re-built it in the early 19th century. The picture below is the only shot I got that shows the castle (up on the hill). Every time we drove by in the car, traffic prevented us from stopping to take pictures.

The city

As we were returning to our hotel, we encountered some sort of parade. It was led by ladies dressed in black and wearing mantillas ...

Looking important

.... followed by gentlemen in black suits and blue ties and a band ...

A parade

I tried to find out what it was, but couldn't ever find anything.

After watching for awhile, we looked for dinner. We wanted something different (we love tapas, but had had a lot of tapas). We had noticed many Indian restaurants and found one with a patio.

The food was delicious; Right photo: Scott Stevens

Just as we were finishing dinner, we heard fireworks, so we headed back to town.

What was happening?

We discovered that the event we had witnessed before dinner was still going on. The group of people who had been marching were now carrying a virgin that seemed to be dedicated to the sea because she was in a boat ...