Eldership 2025 Spain - Conclusion And Evaluation

I adopted this custom of 'navel-gazing' post voyage reflection from #3 who back in the day before career and family threw the weight of middle class life on her, would make such reflection posts a conclusion to her travel experiences. I thought it was a great idea and borrowed it. So let's dig in.

Travel Is Still Great...I Mean Really Great

This was the first 'real' trip this year. Our visit to Sweden in the Spring was thrown together at the last minute as we were dealing with Wife's recovery from her blood clot. Then I went and broke her foot! 😩  This trip started slowly. We were gingerly seeing what Wife could do without hurting her foot. Plus she was dealing with the accumulated weakness that comes from not having done exercise for a long period. 

But by the time we got settled in El Campello, things started to change. From that point, it was like being back with a long-lost friend. When it was time to come home, I was definitely melancholy about going back regular life. 

High Point of the Trip? Wife Bouncing Back

As I alluded to above, the major theme of this trip was of Wife's being able to return to herself. We started the trip with her needing wheelchair service on all our flights to get to Spain. In our first stop, Bilbao, she was extremely circumspect on what she did. But once we got to El Campello, she now had the ability to take long walks on a perfectly flat waterfront walkway. She added doing core body exercises. She got stronger and stronger.

We did more day trips. This led to her joy for photography bursting anew. By the end of the trip, we were doing walking up hill as we had done before all the medical issues. 

El Campello, The One, At Least for Now

I mentioned in my first post upon returning to El Campello my concern that it would not live up to our last visit memory. But it has been every bit as good. I have written about all the various ways from the city itself, to the apartment that this situation suits us. As I also wrote, we were so confirmed that this is the place for us that we booked it again for 2026. It is such a new and different experience for us to have a place where we enjoy just being and want to come back to again. 

It took a LOT of searching to find it. We're still looking for other places, in other parts of the world where we can  

So, If You Are Going Back to the Same Place, Are You Still That 'Traveler' You So Arrogantly Wrote About In Your Last Post?

Well no, of course not. Call us 'retired' travelers. Yes RMG, we are now traveling to go somewhere specific. But we are still getting out and exploring our area in all kinds of ways from doing day trips, to digging into the background of the Moors and Christians Festival so trying to bring our traveler spirit to being in a single locale. Maybe think about it as exploring deep rather than broad.

Spain And Gastronomy 

This trip was not anything to write about in terms of gastronomy hence why you saw so few posts. Part of this was due to our frequently being in 'tourist' situations when we were looking to ate out and getting 'tourist' mediocrity. But some of it is than a lot of Spanish restaurant cooking (at least at the level we are willing to pay) is fairly bland. Our discoveries of local places and enjoying menu del dia is still a high point. But the best part, gastronomically, of being in Spain, is the overall high quality of food you buy to cook yourself. Meat, Veg, Bread, Cheese, Condiments, Flavorings, almost everything I've bought to cook with has been great. Combined with the great kitchen we have and my love of cooking, it was far more enjoyable to make our own meals.  

Is It Worth Saving Money If You Get Sick?

I suppose the simple answer is no one is going to opt willingly to get sick. But the real question is can I get the kind of savings I enjoyed on this trip and get routing that does not kill Wife and I. I think the answer is going to be yes. But we will find out with the 2026 version of the trip. I think we will because we have way more time to shop for our next year's airfare. 

This year, I was booking the flight to Europe at the last minute due to the medical uncertainty of our being able travel. So I grabbed the deal despite knowing the returning flights were far from ideal. With more time for next year, I am counting on being able to patient and find the kinds of deals that will save as much without the bad flight connection component.

And this is important. When we looked at the total cost of this trip, it was only $1,500 more than our trip to Sweden. Except this trip was almost 7 weeks long compared to 3 weeks for Sweden. The bulk of that differential was the airfare. And here is why that is important. If I can get our cost for 7 weeks of travel to be the same as this year, we can afford to do our two trips a year without any money from my working! That would mean I would be able to completely retire.  

What Does The Future Hold? 

That is a huge question because of our age and health. I think Wife and I are pretty honest with ourselves that we may not have many trips left. So for the moment we are going to focus on the the two we have planned for 2026 and take trip by trip from there.

Eldership 2025 Spain - Campello Farewell

I know I have the time sequence a bit off since I just posted about our schlepp back home. We are safely ensconced in Albuquerque, enjoying our own beds, showers, kitchens, etc. But as I said, it was a bit melancholy leaving Campello this year. It is building this special place in our life. 

On our last morning, we had one of those incredible sunrises that can make the start of a day an emotional joy. We didn't have as many this year as last year. So, despite my proclamations to the contrary, I decided to do one more sunrise photo shoot as my goodbye to Campello for 2025.

Post-Trip Navel Gazing Post in the works. 

  

Eldership 2025 Spain - The One AND Only Sunrise / Sunset Extravaganza Post

One of our goals, as I have written, this trip is to slow down. We're also taking it easier letting Wife heal and improve from her foot injury. This means more days of just hanging around the apartment, which given the beauty of the surroundings, is not such a bad thing. It has meant I have done a lot more cooking this trip. That's not a bad thing either considering, 1) I like to cook, 2) the ingredients here are so wonderful to cook with, and 3) it helps with both the diet and budget. So what else do we do with our time?

We peer down on our fellow humans

What the heck are all these people doing down on those rocks anyway?

 

 And we keep tabs on the Ancient Enemy, even when they try to sneak around at night.

 

And I continue my studies of Espouses Fotograficus in all her many varieties.

 

 And over the last week or so, take sunrise and sunset pictures. The first few weeks were 'meh' from a sunrise/sunset perspective. I don't know what changed, but the spectacular show has returned. However, unlike last year, when I had an ungodly number of posts of pretty much the same thing. This year, Just One Post, of pretty much the same things. 

 

Eldership 2025 Spain - Mellowing with 2.2

After the excitement of the Moors and Christians Festival. Things mellowed out. Then on Friday we had more relatives visiting, 2.2 from Madrid. She is studying to become a physical therapist. A lot of the initial courses concerning anatomy are the same as would be required of a biology or pre-med major. So she was studying hard while here. But we still had a lot of quality time to talk. 

When your family is as far flung around the world as ours is, it takes a special effort to stay connected with your various grandchildren. We are lucky to have these opportunities to spend serious time with them. 

 Unlike the prior two years, the sunrises and sunsets have not been quite so spectacular. This week though we had a pretty good one.

 

 

 

 Mystery of the 13th floor. The elevator in our building has no 13th floor. That is not so unusual. One sees it a lot on buildings and with airplane row numbering. But walking home recently, I noticed there is a whole level of our building that is not built out. And it is at the 13th level!

 

 The 2.2 has arrived. And wants to know if she can practice her anatomy identification on me!

 

Wife somehow gets a pass on this. 

 

 

 

2.2 wanted home cooking. And wanted some ideas on how to make her student budget stretch. So I made fried rice with leftovers and showed her how to doctor up canned beans for a complete protein meal.

 

 

 

But balance is required. So Wife and 2.2 wanted to get Helado (Spanish Gelato).

However, I'm not a big sweets person. So I had a Cojortilla, an espresso with a shot of brandy in it. The 'Adult' dessert.

 

 

You know you are in Spain when you drop your granddaughter at the train station and stop at...

 

 

The Canadian Coffee Shop

Eldership 2025 Spain - Moors And Christians Festival Wrap-up

On Wednesday the multi-day festival concluded. There were numerous events we did not attend. However, our apartment is ideally located to view  the concluding fireworks. I promised in my last festival post to give some additional detail on how the things are organized. Here is what I got from my research.

In the Moors and Christians festival of El Campello, the different groupings of participants are organized into self-contained clubs or associations known as comparsas. These are social and fraternal organizations that operate year-round, preparing for the annual celebration. 

 

Comparsas are the organizing unit: Rather than being based on geography like neighborhoods, participation is defined by membership in a specific comparsa. There are separate comparsas for the Moorish side and the Christian side. In 2025, for example, El Campello featured 17 comparsas.

 

Voluntary membership: The festival brings together local residents and visitors who voluntarily join a comparsa. This creates a sense of community and allows participation to span multiple generations within families.

 

Social and fraternal structure: Members of a comparsa are called festeros and work together throughout the year. They hold social events, make costumes, and organize the details for the parade and festival. Each comparsa typically has its own headquarters (cuartelillos) where they gather.

 

Leadership roles: Within each comparsa, specific leadership roles are filled, particularly the "captain" and "standard-bearer" (banderera). These roles are handed down from one year's festival to the next.

 

Distinct identities: Each comparsa has its own name and identity. For instance, some of

El Campello's comparsas include:

• Christian: Cavallers de Conquesta, Cristians del Campello, Jaume I, and Cavallers de Montesa.
• Moorish: Marrocs, Meixemet, and Zaidies.

 

External participants: While the comparsas are local groups, other organizations are often invited to participate in the festival. For example, music bands (bandas de música) from throughout the region often travel to El Campello to accompany the parades, contributing to the spectacle. 

So we will conclude our Festival Coverage with a fireworks video spectacular.

 

 

Until 2026 

Eldership 2025 Spain - Pinoso Pines For You

Our guide to obscure towns in the Alicante region continues with the ever popular Pinoso. Pinoso means 'Pine' and in Pine Tree in Valencian. Pinoso was settled back in the Bronze Age and like most places here became Carthaginian, Roman, Visigothic, and Moorish. But after the Reconquista, it became mostly abandoned. Agriculture came back in the late 17th and early 18th century. In the 19th century wine grapes began to grown in the area. They also started mining marble and the town became quite prosperous. Today, the area around the town is the major wine growing area in the Alicante region. It has a church that dates to the early 18th century and a unique clock tower with a HUGE manual clock that has to be wound every day.

And yes I did get all of this from the official Valencian Communidad website.

 I am sure that there is some kind of regulation that requires superhighway builders to insert a minimum number of curves per kilometer, because you rarely find straight roads (say like you do in Italy). Add to this a lot of traffic, some drivers going well below the speed limit, and some drivers going well above the speed limit, and you have the equivalent being on a race course with many decisions related to speeding up, changing lanes, slowing down, all while going around curvy roads at high speed. Add not a quite great night of sleep and it was a stressful drive. 

On top of this, these small towns frequently are lacking in parking facilities, add that the tourist information offices are usually in the narrow street part of old town, and the driving experience can be less than optimum.

However, as this picture shows, we were able to find a place not far from the Centro. Yay de-I Euro driver.

 

 One of the fore mentioned pine trees in the very square we parked.

 

 LIke many such towns there are hills and lots of steps and inclines

 

 

As we approached the center of town, I noticed all of the wrought iron railings on the balconies. And they were all different!

 

 

 

 

 

 Another design feature we saw were these wooden curtains in front of the doors.

 

They were everywhere. I'd not seen these before.

The city has a nice mural painted in its Centro.

 

 The 18th century church with the obligatory blue tile on the dome and Baroque interior

 

 

 

 

 Some nice lamps

 

 

 The Clock Tower which has a unique iron roof

 

 

 

 Stop Gender Violence - a sign on a square in the Centro. The only one of its type we saw.

 

 For the many cat lovers among my readers (and there are many), this town had a ton of cats and they all looked quite well fed and content.

 

 

 

 A unique looking house

 

 A photographer shooting the unique looking house

 

 The Santa Catalina Hermitage

 

 

Photographer shooting the Hermitage

 

 Gastronomy

This was the first time Wife has really done what I would call a 'normal' walk around since her foot injury. There were a lot of hills and steps. I was fortunate to find a restaurant on the way from the Hermitage to where the car was parked that was a gem.

Grilled Scallops Appetizer

 

 A really nice Bacalao with a sauce of garlic and parsley

 

 Grilled Chicken

 

 This place was serving up a lot of rice dishes. There was this show on a TV screen.

 After a while I realized it was a live shot in the kitchen showing the rice dishes being cooked the traditional way over open fire. I even saw Wife's chicken being cooked. Too bad it is so far away. I would love to come back.