Wednesday, October 10, 2007

When The Day Is Done, And The Sun Goes Down

You can get this sensation in October; it’s a sensation of summer just saying - “that’s it; had enough.” Nothing as dramatic as the tornado, just showers and chill when it rains. It’s that feeling of twilight summer again; a constant sense of the sun going down. And if you go to some of the quieter places, it feels distinctly odd. Take Morer Vermell/Barcares. I happened to be there this afternoon. For those who don’t know, this is the area north of the old town. It’s quiet at the busiest of times. Now... .

I find it a strange area of Alcúdia. While there are those who swear by the place, if it were me I think I would be swearing. Oh, maybe that’s a bit strong. It’s pleasant enough, but there isn’t a lot by way of beach and just a couple of bars, like Red Rum. And what there is by way of beach is clogged up with seaweed, at least the bit in front of the one-time Grand National winner.

If you want to go walking, it’s not a bad base, as you can wander along to Manresa, Mal Pas and then onto La Victoria, but if not you just have to be someone who wants quiet and an unremarkable bit of beach. But it’s not somewhere you’d exactly call “quaint”. The two hotels - More and Panoramic - are modern blocks of no great architectural merit, though the More has something of a quaint feel of old English seaside hotel as it always smells of cooking. (I remember hotels in places like Hastings always smelling this way when I was a kid.) More positively though, I know that many families like the place as the kids can go looking for things around the rocks, and there is always the great view across the bay of Pollensa. Horses for courses as always, which is appropriate given the name of one of the bars.


Excitement is mounting as the number of protected-species figures given away with “Ultima Hora” grows. Meantime, something of a development in the world of local fauna - a particular type of bat (“Pipistrellus nathusii”) has been found in the Albufera nature park. Apparently it has never been sighted before on the Balearics. How does it get here? Bats don’t exactly fly great distances. Must have thumbed a ride.


QUIZ
Yesterday - Homer Simpson. Today’s title - it’s a line from? Think bat. Easy.

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