Spain in January and February, 2024.

 

Our local cafe in Guardamar with Christmas decorations.

We arrived in Guardamar del Segura just after Christmas and was able to see the street and café decorations before they were taken down and marking the start of 2024.

Ayuntamiento Guardamar (town hall) taken from the top of the adjacent museum.

A view of the Ayuntamiento with the Christmas decoration in early January.

Everything seemed so familiar,  even though it was eight months since our last visit. This time we were staying for only two months and planning to return for a month in May and probably October. Our cycles had been stored and after inflating the tyres, we were ready to check out the surroundings areas starting with the local park extending to the beach and marina.

A popular walk and also cycle ride through the dune forest to the long beach and marina. We don't see many birds but mostly house sparrows, blackbirds, hoopoes and black redstarts.

One of our first cycle trips was to La Marina village and beach (about 21 km in total) to see the shoreline and look at the Las Salinos (Santa Pola). Here I got some nice shots of flamingo and other waders from an adjacent bird hide.

Capturing a moment with a flamingo's head out of the water.

..and an avocet.

Another bird that we also see on the tidal Segura river, is the black backed stilt.

We did an organised tour of the castle above Guardamar and also the Phoenician and Roman sites in the dune forest that have been excavated over the 10 or so years since we have visited the area. The medieval Islamic Caliphate "Rabita" is situated next the the Phoenician city of  La Fonteta and this makes a very educational morning visit with excellent guides.

View from the castle wall overlooking Guardamar with the sea and Sant Pola in the distance. The original town of Guardamar was situated in the castle walls but was mostly destroyed in an earth quake in 1829.

The remains of the Islamic "Rabita" built over a earlier Phoenician settlement.

We also visited a Roman villa and fish factory near the beach just south of Guardamar. We had walked past this area many times, especially during the Covid lock-down and hadn't been aware of the roman remains. 

Part of El Moncayo or El Montcaio, another Roman site in the dunes.

On this visit we had also planned to take a few days in Valencia which is just a two hour rail trip to the north on route to Barcelona. We got the local bus to Alicante and then walked to the rail station and then we were in Valencia by mid-afternoon. The accommodation was near the centre so we had a 20 min walk as the station is in the northern area of the city. In the evening we walked around the area to see the lights and fountains and then found a convenient restaurant nearby.

Night lights in the centre.

The following day we had a more extensive walk to explore the city, mainly to the north and to the Jardins del Turia. This is a large area made from the old bed of the river Turia that once passed through the centre of the city but was diverted after some major flooding and loss of life.

A view of the gardens in the winter sunshine.

 We found the older part of the city and a relaxing lunch in the sunshine. The following day, we took the hop-on and hop-off bus to tour the city and see some of the changes since our last visit (February, 2012) and recognised some the places we'd seen before, in particular the Playa Levante that we cycled to from the campsite.

On our return to Guardamar, we did a day trip to Elche. This is a short bus ride from Guardamar with regular buses to the modern station in Elche that is conveniently placed near the Palm Groves for which Elche is famous. We had been to Elche before in 2012 when we were camping at Marjal complex but coming by bus was more relaxing without the problems of finding parking. We again visited the Basillica de Snt Maria and climbed the narrow steps to get a view of the city. The museum next door was closed for renovation work so we had a pleasant walk around the centre and relaxing lunch, again in the sunshine.

The river walk alongside the palms and through the extensive gardens. There is the remains of a stream in the river bottom

We returned to the station by the riverside walk and through the Palm Groves and also passing the landmark mill above the river.

A view of the mill from a bridge.

Back in Guardamar, we continued cycling to local towns and beaches and also visited the craft caves in Rojales again. We basically had two months without rain during the day and avoided the wettest February in the south-west of England on record.

Some displays above the caves in Rojales.

Also during this visit we joined a local walking group and did a morning picking litter near Rojales in the area adjacent to the river. In all, we look forward to returning in May and also going to Cordoba for a few days to see the "patios of flowers".