May 29 - Villajoyosa

 Today we drove to the next town north of El Campello, Villajoyosa.  It is supposed be only a little larger than El Campello and a charming beach town.  We wanted to see  if it could be another option to El Campello as a place to stay for a year.

The tourist information brags about the white sands of Villajoyosa's beach.  They might be slightly lighter in color than the beaches near us - but not by much.  

There are many restaurants along the beach front.

The boardwalk is much wider here.

And the beach is deeper and is very pretty with its palm tree groves.

The houses along the beach front are brightly colored.  The story told is that the fishermen painted their homes bright colors so that they could see them when they were out to sea.

On this part of the beach we found these plants used as windbreaks to keep the sand in place.  At least we think they are plants and not fakes.

The "Old Town" did not have that medieval feeling I had hoped for.  Everything seems to be updated except for the size of the streets!  The gray area above is a one lane road for cars.  

We found some interesting street art.

The houses in old town are also brightly painted.

We ate lunch at La Font - along the beach front.  We heard a lot of English spoken - just like in El Campello, this is an expat area.  See at the bottom for a foodie critique.

An interesting entrance to a home along the beach.

The next five photos were taken by Michael.  I cannot get my iphone to work as it did before the update.  My photos look like they are on my iphone but then when I try to copy them they are no where to be found.

Per Michael this is not potatoes bravos.  But to me since this is the third time we have gotten a similar dish - that is what they tasted like.  The potatoes were fried exquisityly and the sauces complementary.  We had asked for the sauces on the side.

Chicken wings.  Very well fried - not greasy at all.  Our waiter warned us they were very spicy.  I thought he meant the sauce - but that was just bar-be-que.  No, there was a small infusion of hot spices in the meat itself.  Since we are from New Mexico - they didn't taste hot at all.

My favorite.  These prawns (shrimp) were so delicate and so delicious.

We wanted to try the Spanish omelet as that is a very typical Spanish tapa.  This one was pretty boring and my least favorite thing.  Three out of four were winners - can't argue with that!

We are planning to go back to Villajoyosa tomorrow to take more photos in old town.  Our visit there today did not convince us it would be a good place to spend a lot of time.  There is a flat area right along the water front.  but then every thing is very steep uphill.  So you could not get an apartment that would be close to and easy to get to the water front and also close the stores line grocery and everything else.