May 25 Elche - And A Much Better Day

 Yesterday was another miserable day.  I will post about it another day.  I am having so many problems getting my photos off my iphone - so the posting depends on when I figure it out.

Today turned out to be a great weather day.  We had planned and were successful in driving to Elche.  It's only 30 minutes away so a much less stressful drive than Valencia was. 

Elche has a very nice old town - most of the famous buildings are very close together which makes them easy to visit.  But it is mostly known for its palm trees.  In fact when you look at a map of the city, the area taken up by the palm groves and the parks also with palm trees, is much larger than the area taken up with buildings.

The Palm Grove Way is a series of groves and parks that are interconnected - so you can hike the entire system if you wish.  There are 200,000 to 300,000  or even 400,000 (depending who is counting) palm trees in the area.  It is a World Heritage site - who also listed the amazing irrigation system that keeps all the trees alive.  

I thought it might be pretty boring - palm trees are palm trees - right?  It turns out there are palm trees from over 70 different species.  Most of the palm trees in Elche are Date Palms and were originally planted for industrial purposes.  It is amazing how many different shapes palm trees can take.  A lot of the trees that we saw - all in the Municipal Park - had names on them or a sign of explanation.  I didn't pay too much attention to that - but just enjoyed the shapes.  The Municipal Park is only a tiny part of the Palm Grove Way.

I do remember this one was named Trident - because it separates into 3 branches.

Of course there is a tourist train to take you to all the sites - and at least some parts of the Palm Groves.

So here is a baby palm tree.  

Right in the middle of the plant is this growth.

I think it grows to look like this.

And a close up.

This is a lot different.  It's leaves almost look like a hosta.

The shadows of palm trees make very interesting patterns.

In the Municipal Park there are "photographic opportunities".

A very Moorish looking fountain.  Elche as well as the whole area around here was conquered by the Moors at one time.  There is still quite a bit of Moorish history in Elche.

The visitors center - much different than the Tourist Information Office.

A lovely pathway with lovely shadows.

Moli del Real or flour mill.

Foodie Section

It was after 3pm, so we found a Spanish restaurant for locals.  When a restaurant only has the "Menu of the Day", you know it is going to be authentic.  But like all restaurants - some things are great, others ok and some not so good.  This one had a four course meal.  It included a salad, first course, 2nd course and then dessert with drinks for 14E each.  My first course was a chicken soup with meatball.  There was a small amount of broth with a huge chicken ball in it.  It was excellent.  So much depth of flavor.  Michael had a plate of salads, three delicately fried croquettes and two small scoops of Russian Salad (potato salad).  Per Michael both were great.

I am already beyond full at this point - but next comes the 2nd course.  I got hake (fish) that came with fries and three fried peppers.  The hake steak was tasteless and dry.  The fries in Spain are never crisp - they taste ok but not great.  The peppers were mild and good.  Michael  got a veal dish.  The meat in Spain is almost uniformly tough and sinewy.  I avoid it.  But per Michael the sauce on the meat was to die for.  We had a choice of desserts as well.  I got chocolate mouse.  Michael got flan.  He enjoyed his dessert.  My chocolate mouse came with the cream on the bottom.  When I finally reached it - there was not much, but is was very sweet.  I then started wondering if I should have mixed the whole lot up before eating it?  That is the problem with going to a restaurant when you don't know the language or the culture.  We sat next to a table of about eight men.  There were two VERY LOUD men at that table.  It was difficult for Michael and I to hear each other.  He said it was painful to be in the situation as he had his hearing aids turned up to hear me - but that made the sounds from their table painful for him

We left Elche just as the dark rain clouds rolled in.  We made it back to El Compello before it hit us there.  But it was only a light rain.  Tomorrow is supposed to be OK.  I hope to go to the knitting group and Michael has a lot of meetings in the late afternoon and evening.  So a day at home.  Next I will post a about Elche's old town.