To Javea!

21 Jan 2012

This weekend, I went to Jávea to visit a Fulbright friend! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this breath-taking place because my camera is malfunctioning. The next time that I go I'll be sure to post some pictures!

Jávea (or Xabia in Valencian) is a town of approximately 30,000 people--many of whom are expats from England. It's estimated that around 7,000 of Jávea's residents are British expats. They go to Jávea to retire and live the rest of their lives out in one of Spain's sunniest places. Some tourists visit Javea to escape the gloomy British climate.

The town is divided into 3 parts: el pueblo (the town), el porto (the port), and el arenal (the beach).

Today, we spent most of our time down by the port. There were tons of restaurants located along the boardwalk. We wanted to go to the restaurant that looked like it had the most locals. Unfortunately, there wasn't any space left for us! So we went with our second choice--which turned out to be delicious!

As many of you know, I'm kind of a connoisseur of desserts. Basically, I couldn't care less how my main meal tasted if I've had a really great dessert.

This restaurant didn't disappoint! We had a tarta de naranja--an orange cake. It was super moist and flavorful--with chocolate on top! I could have eaten the whole cake!

A few months ago, my Fulbright friend told me that you can actually buy bagels in Jávea!!! This is largely due to the large British expat population. There are a couple British supermarkets to choose from. I decided that it was time to stock up on a few products that I can't get in Alicante.

I ended up with cinnamon and raisin bagels as well as cranberry and blueberry bagels. I also bought some vanilla extract--which is REALLY hard to come by in Alicante.

The weird (or nice) thing about the supermarket was that nearly everyone that worked there was English or spoke English very fluently! Likewise, most of the clientele was English-speaking, and it was strange to hear people speaking in Spanish.

I guess I've just gotten so accustomed to speaking in Spanish everywhere that I go. It seemed weird to get the chance to converse with native speakers of English.