after a being-sick-weekend, at least i can say that i’ve also had some time to upload more photos:
[view photos: denia impressions]
[view photos: a drive into the hinterland]
[view photos: montgo natural preserve, part 1]
[view photos: montgo natural preserve, part 2]
a few not-so-exciting notes that my mind apparently thought were interesting enough to keep in my longterm memory:
our car rental was for three days (that’s the minimum). we were told by a rental car lady (who was the pure form of happiness and good spirits – well, not really!) that we had to return the car with the gas tank empty.
so we just drove “into the west”, resulting in a scenic excursion into the hinterland of about 7 hours, leading us through some valleys with tiny little villages.
about halfway through, my dad said “so, how should i remember this day? it’s definitely not going to be filed under holiday.” :-)
i had kind-of been looking forward to see the weekly market, but was soon reminded that it’s just a crowded area with an unusually high frequency of sweaty foreigners*.
* not that there’s anyting wrong with foreigners – i like them (and was a foreigner myself). it’s just that i think most vendors weren’t even spanish.
on my first re-visit to montgo, i went back to the “water cave” (cova de l’aigua). we went there in april, but didn’t have a flashlight, so we couldn’t go (or see) past the second corner. it was a good idea we didn’t, because one step further is the beginning of a cold, clear lake…
when i went up to montgo’s top [G]* three days later, i noted a few last plants blooming in bright pink, and i seemed to remember that flower (no photo, as they were all pretty withered). when looking it up in a book, it turned out to be the red valerian (rote spornblume, centranthus ruber) .
the reason it seemed so familiar: it was one of the three plants that i had to classify in a botany exam in june…
small world, botanically speaking. :-)
* the arrow is a little too far in the north…
i also saw lots of striped shield bugs (streifenwanze, graphosoma lineatum), which i had encountered for the first time in osttirol [G], just one month earlier.
funny detail regarding their name: turn them around, and you’ll discover that the bug’s underside consists of black dots on red background. if linnaeus had found a dead one first, he might have named them “dotted shield bugs”.
that leaves about two more gallery-sessions: my brother and i also made a trip to xativa (including the most giant roundabouts ever), and a drive to altea & calpe with our parents…