Just like buses, two come along together!
Last weekend we had an extended 4day bank holiday, or as the Spanish call it a ‘ puente . ´ On Friday, it was the ‘ Dia de la Comunidad Valenciana’, a regional holiday in the Valencia region. It marks the anniversary of the capture of the city of Valencia, by King James I, from the Moors in 1238.
At the time, Valencia was an independent kingdom and did not become part of Spain until 1707! It was not officially recognised as a holiday until 1976 Yes, ‘ that’ hot summer which Brits still talk about, when the Valencia regional government decreed it a holiday, funnily enough it was the year after Franco died!
Many towns marked the day with official ceremonies, although this year they were lower key due to the Covid19 situation. Here in Benidorm, it usually takes place up at the Mirador in the Old Town but this year it was moved to the Julio Iglesias outdoor auditorium, situated in the park behind the town hall.
The mayor, councillors, police representatives and officials all attended, and the ceremony began with the Spanish national anthem being played whilst the three flags ( Spanish, Valencian and European) were raised, with all the police saluting. I think that they must have been anticipating a lot of spectators, as there were plenty of empty plastic chairs, all spaced out individually on the various tiers.
Normally there would have been a big fanfare of fireworks, but this year the gunpowder money has all been donated to the social services and welfare department to assist some of the many families suffering financial hardships at present – much better use of it I d ´ say!
It was certainly great to see the resort busy and bustling for a change, although most of the visitors were Spanish, no doubt the majority having escaped Madrid before their state of alarm was announced, restricting them from leaving. The beach was relatively packed, with many enjoying the exceptional weather. Bar and restaurant terraces were brimming to capacity in and around the Old Town and the promenade was positively packed in the evening, when people took their evening stroll – a real Spanish custom.
Over in Albir the ‘ chiringuito’ on the AlbirAltea promenade is always busy on a bank holiday, but I’d never seen it this busy, with a queue of people lining up patiently to be led to their reserved table. With virtually all establishments having suffered so badly since March, it was really nice to see a small glimmer of normality return. It was certainly a family day and I was surprised that even Carrefour was shut, they who always proudly advertise that they are open on ' días festivos' . ´ In fact, no shops were open locally, so tough if you’d run out of anything, otherwise it would be a case of knocking on the neighbour’s door with an empty cup. I wonder if people still do that?
The second bank holiday took place on Monday and was a national holiday across Spain – ‘ Día de Hispanidad’ and all council buildings, banks, post offices were closed but strangely for this one, many shops were open!
As these two holidays happened to fall on a Friday and Monday it automatically meant many had an extralong weekend. I had a very productive day and along with a bunch of fantastic volunteers we did a stock changeover at the MABS cancer charity shop in Alfaz. My goodness, what a huge operation it was. All the summer tshirts, shorts, dresses etc. were folded and put into boxes and the winter stock came out.
However, the label on the outside of the box did not necessarily coincide with what was inside! As the weather is slowly on the turn, we have been asked when the autumn clothes will be coming out – mainly by the Spanish who obviously aren’t as hardy as us north Europeans.
They are already dressed up with long sleeves and jackets, whereas many Brits are still walking about in short sleeves and flip flops. It s ´ that strange time of year, difficult to balance as it is chilly in the morning so you dress accordingly, yet by midmorning the sun has surfaced and it’s actually rather warm – too warm for a long sleeved jumper, so inevitably you end up changing at least twice.
The shop now looks very autumnal, with a fantastic selection of clothing and a beautiful window display… as always ( I don’t do it but full credit to Cecelia for that). Look out for what is planned for the Halloween window display in another week or so!
Pop by and say hello and who knows, you may pick up a bargain with the added bonus that the money is going to a local cancer charity. Open 10.00 until 13.00 – sorry, shameless plug!