Mostly Spain 2023 - La Vilajoiosa

The Costa Blanca area of Spain goes north and south from Alicante for about 100 kilometers in either direction. There are a ton of small and largish towns along this area. Wife and I fell into one of them, El Campello, without having done a whole bunch of research. But in many, many ways it seems to be the perfect fit for us. However, we wanted to check out another town nearby that is mentioned as another that is worth checking out. La Vilajoiosa. 

It is only 16 kilometers, from El Campello. We thought the drive would take us along the coast. But as is often the case, the coast itself is very hilly with a lot of bays and inlets. So road construction to traverse the area is naturally much further inland. We did make the attempt to go off the path but found ourselves in various small communities with nice homes, very hilly environs, and no services to speak of. Not at all what we are seeking.

When we got to La Vilajoiosa we immediately had our usual issues navigating the town and finding the parking lot. Although the town is only supposed to have 5 thousand more in population than El Campello, it seems much larger. Maybe it is serving a bigger population around it. We did finally find the parking lot. 

Our lot is right along the beach front. As we could see from driving to it and then walking around, there is a big geographic difference between the beach community and the rest of town. There is a very large drop. And the town is way bigger. There is no way we would be able to secure an apartment with a view and that had walking access to services.  Plus we were immediately hit with the beach being way more oriented to tourism than El Campello. 

So we aborted most of our planned walking through town to determine its ability to be a place we wanted to stay. That being said, the waterfront and old town of La Vilajoiosa is very picturesque and photography worthy. So that's how we spent our time.

Ah! The Beach.

Espouses Fotograficus

Beach Photography

Wait! I recognize that boat!

 

Moving into Old Town

This is NOT Medieval though the street layout is. 

Lunch

The whole beachfront is tourist/expat oriented. We found a place that served more Spanish-y stuff but clearly adjusted for Brit tastes. For the most part, this combination of flavors familiar to the Anglo-Saxon but cooked Spanish style came out well.

These Fried Chicken wings had a spicy sauce that was inside the breading. A hallmark of this small place was the high quality of its deep frying. Nothing lost its crispness as it sat on our table!

Not Patatas Bravas but good nonetheless. The three sauces were an Asian style, a garlic mayonnaise, and a barbecue style sauce.

 

Then there were these fried shrimp. The mere fact they were shelled showed this was not a local place. But Wife loved them.

Lastly, a Spanish classic, tortilla, and omelette of potato and egg. It was our least favorite because it was under seasoned.

With our drinks, it was again just about $32 for both of us, all service included.