3 Oct 2009 - Lunch in Calpe

David and Rosemary are two friends who live in UK, but have a holiday home here in Spain and spend a few months here each year. Like us they enjoy walking, and always walk with the Monday Club when there are here.

They have just arrived for a short holiday, and we arranged to meet in Calpe to have lunch together. We met at one end of the sea front and walked to the town at the other end. It’s a very pleasant walk and takes about 30 to 45 minutes.

After an exceptionally hot summer, we have had a couple of weeks of torrential rain. This is a very green part of the Costa Blanca, so you have to expect some rain. But this was very much from one extreme to the other. So we were delighted to find that today was warm and sunny, with a pleasant cool breeze on the sea front. Actually David and Rosemary thought it was very hot, but they have spent all summer in the UK.

We broke our walk at the yacht club. David and Rosemary have a boat in UK, so this seemed appropriate. We just like sitting and looking at the boats come and go. It’s not as grand as it sounds, and is very reasonably priced. For less than 5 euros you can have two cups of coffee and two rounds of tostada while you watch the boating world go by. And they also supply a daily English newspaper.

We spent a very enjoyable hour sitting in the sun and bringing each other up to date on what we had done, or in our case not done, since we had last seen each other in June.

Calpe is also the home of a busy fishing fleet. Just opposite the port they lay their nets out to dry, and the seagulls come to feed on the scraps of fish left in the nets.

We then walked along the sea front to the town, and to our favorite Chinese restaurant. For those who worry about the exchange rate and think that eating out in Spain has become expensive let me tell you about our menu del dia. For less than 5 euro each we got a starter, a large choice of main meal, a coffee and a brandy, plus half a bottle of wine, water or a beer. A large meal for four for 20 euro, including the tip!