Dining in Dénia, Exploring Xavea

One of Bryce's teachers has a friend living in Dénia, and so we arranged to meet Megan and her Spanish husband Vincente for lunch at a cafe in downtown Dénia.  Our previous encounter with Dénia was unimpressive, mostly because we didn't know where to go.  Our lunch meeting was in a pedestrian-only part of the old town, and after seeing this part of Dénia, I'm now a fan.  There is a winding maze of car-less streets, and the lane our lunch spot was on had a plethora of cute little eateries and tapas bars.

Megan and Vicente have been living in Dénia for three years or so, and were carrying around their five month old son. They spoke highly of this part of Spain.  Megan works as a talented photographer who shoots a tremendous amount of weddings (http://www.meganspelman.com), and Vincente is an illustrator.  During lunch, I had a great opportunity to work my Spanish, as Vincente's English was not quite as good as my Spanish.  We did the traditional Spain-style lunch, talking and eating casually for 2 1/2 hours or so.  This particular place (Xocolat or something similar) served us a delicious meat and vegetable stew over cous-cous. I finally had to get up and walk around a bit, as much as I enjoyed their company.  Bryce and Laurel were very patient with us during obvious adult time, and they chimed in to the conversation occasionally.  Bryce also enjoyed playing with the baby, and their Guatemalan street dog "Birdy" who was waiting for us patiently outside the restaurant.

Bryce holding the Cutest Baby in the World

After lunch, Megan and Vincente recommended we go take a look at Javea (Xavea), another popular beach town a short drive away.  I had read about Arenal beach, so that's where we headed. The kid's patience with us paid off, as we found ourselves at a beautiful sandy beach, with shallow water and great body surfing waves.  The ocean was still slightly "refreshing", but I managed to acclimate and get out there and swim with them for a half an hour or so.  It definitely rejuvenated me.

Javea looks like a really nice place.  It has a mysterious, very steep mountain nearby that seemed to always be covered in clouds.  The Arenal beach has a lot of nice looking shops and restaurants, and the promenade was clean and well cared for.  Vincente told me that 50% of the residents in Javea are non-Spaniards - Brits, Germans and a few French make up most of the rest of the population. And I can see why people would love to live here - besides the beach, the town seemed well organized and very pleasant.  We didn't get to see the old town. but maybe next visit?