La Mer
It’s hard to ignore.
Yesterday we made it to the beach. The Mediterranean, to be exact. This is the first time I’ve seen it, and it does not disappoint.
This is the furthest south I have ever traveled. I was in several European countries when I was twenty-one, on a whirlwind one-month tour of northern Europe, but I never got any further south than Switzerland. It’s a long story, but I thought I was moving here then. It took a little longer than planned to make that happen.
There isn’t much I can say that hasn’t been said: warm sun stretching into the evening, cooling breeze making it absolutely perfect, palm trees rustling. The term “wine-dark sea” came to mind, even if it doesn’t directly apply geographically. Malik and I actually sat there trying to figure out what colors to use to paint it.
We’re planning for our more-permanent home to be within blocks of there. We walked around Malvarosa, a neighborhood that borders the beach. It starts out as a combination of touristy paella restaurants and bars, a few opulent houses facing the sea, but within two blocks, it’s just another place. People live here and walk their dogs. There’s a Mercadona and tiny restaurants, hair places and a farmacia. I can absolutely imagine getting up early — not difficult to beat the bustle here in Spain — and enjoying the mornings with my toes in the sand.
