Elche - Monumental

 The weather cleared up and we headed out to a nearby city of interest - Elche.

 Like almost every city on the Mediterranean coast, its roots go back to Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman times. Then followed by Visigoth, Islamic, and finally the Spanish Reconquista. It is renowned for its Palm Grove which will be covered in the next post. Today we'll be looking at the historic center. As you can anticipate, this will be a photographic focused couple of posts.

 After the usual adventures with GPS navigation ("Take Exit 34" There is no Exit 34) ("In 50 meters Turn Right") ("Turn Left on Carrer Alphonso de Turneo al Fresco Heurta la Forte" the sign is a microscopic little blue square), ("At the third light according to GPS,but is the fifth light you see Turn Left"), we arrive at my perfectly researched parking garage that is literally underneath all of the major things we want to see. Today IS NOT A NATIONAL HOLIDAY, MAJOR MARKET, OR ANYTHING ELSE FILLING SAID GARAGE UP so we go to a floor where we have almost no one else parking, so I use up three European size parking places (equal to one U.S. size parking place). I look carefully for the signs telling you where to pay for you parking before you exit. There are none. That would destroy the fun of you driving to exit and finding that you actually had to pay first before coming to the gate. Then it is on to ELCHE!

 We exit the garage right at the entrance to the old Palacio de Altamira from the 12th/13th century, the time of the last Islamic rulers in al Andaluz, the Almovids, a dynasty from North Africa. (No detailed history here. I would take too much space. I refer you to a resource called the Celebrity Historian. He knows everything (you can ask him!). It is now home to the archeological and history museum.

 Next to the big church in town, the Basilica of Santa Maria, a 17th Century (read Spain is f'ing rich from conquest century) church.

Unfortunately it was right at midday and the sun was horrible for taking exterior pictures.

AND, we only had 10 minutes before it closed. So we dashed in to take interior pictures.

 

 

As we exited the Basilica, Wife was almost swept away by a dreaded cruise tour group.

 Thank goodness this is not an 'A' list city and there were not too many of them

The culture of the 'tour group' is so embedded in the local culture there is even this statue dedicated to the first meeting of the cruise ship guild from the Carthaginian times!

 

 A joy of visiting the lesser visited cities is the discovery of hidden gems. We visited what was called the Almovid Tower, which dates from the same period as the Palacio. It didn't seem like much on the outside and was a whole two Euros entrance fee. But there were all kinds of hidden goodies in side.

First, some really good paintings from the 17th century.

I love when artists are so detailed about the various people and scenes in a complex painting.

 

And this one, the detail on the guy doing the whipping...

 There were a bunch of trope d'oeil and murals from relatively recent times.

 We climbed a set of very narrow, steep, winding medieval steps to the top of the tower (something we've said we'd not do due to our various ailments...we like a lot).

And at the top, got this great view of the Basilica, surrounding square, and Palacio!

 The Menu del Dia

Wife and I have decided we can only do one of these mammoth meals a week. Also, these are basically local restaurants. None are super high class places. So what you are eating is local food. Typcially we find some dishes are really good, some so-so. But overall, for the price, the experience is a winner.

This was another four-course version. We split a salad to begin with that was given to everyone. Then our second courses were croquettas with a potato salad for me (like potatoes squared), while Wife had a chicken soup with a big chicken meat ball in it.

The soup and the chicken ball were really good. The croquettas very well fried. The potato salad tasty. A very good course.

Our mains were not so great. I had some thin beef with a sauce. The sauce was good. The meat a bit tough. Wife had a fish that was not that great. Even in areas with access to good fish, we find we are much better off cooking our own when we can.

 I am not sure what it is with the Spanish and fries. If you can fry a croquette to an ethereal level of light crispiness, how do your fries end up soggy?

Dessert had us back in the quality zone

Wife's chocolate mousse was very light but with deep chocolate flavor. My flan was very nicely balanced and not too sweet.

 The usual Coke, glass of wine, and coffee and we came in at $33 for the two of us. A bit more than the last two, but better than a lot of the places around where we were which were very touristy.

Coming up - Elche Palms