Denia is a really neat, small, seaside town, nestled on the north side of sharp mountains that give the area such an enjoyable micro-climate. Here’s a 3d Google Earth overhead, looking southeast.
Denia has a modestly-busy ferry terminal, fully-stocked marina, and just enough of a downtown to walk around and enjoy different options at mealtime. Despite the small size, though, it’s renown for a yearly gastronomical festival (we barely missed it), a disproportionately-large number of Michelin-rated restaurants, and a huge, tasty, rare red prawn found only one place in the world–the sea trench just off the coast, between Denia and Ibiza. There’s also some interesting public art for a small town, like this sculpture of a bullfighter (I think he lost this one!) just outside our hotel:
Denia also has a nice stretch of beach just beyond the marina, and with two nights scheduled for our stay I was looking forward to giving Mercy some quality, relaxing beach-in-the-sun time after several hectic days of big-city museums and train travel. Unfortunately, when we woke up that morning, here’s what awaited us outside the hotel window:
A charming town? Yes. But the rainy weather was not what we had hoped for–and it didn’t show much sign of letting up. Eventually we decided to brave the rain with a hotel umbrella and walk around a bit. We were drenched anyways–but not before we came across this neat life-sized Lego pirate sculpture in a small plaza just around the corner:
My eventual goal was to at least get within sight of the beach sand–a small victory indeed, given our original objective of an entire day lying in sunny sand. Nevertheless, we persisted. And success! Look, there’s sand in the distance. Technically.
By this point, though, we were drenched. Returning to the hotel, we tried to get a little bit dryer and cozier, with a modest degree of success thanks to some very comfortable hotel robes.
After a long nap, taken to the sound of rain constantly falling on roof and windows, we woke up to a calm and dry evening with perfect weather for walking around and enjoying some Spanish BBQ at Fuego, a restaurant next door to our hotel. It was decent, but made significantly better by the presence of a beautiful lady at my table.
After dinner, we walked around old town Denia and admired the ancient castle, town cathedral, and much-improved weather for a stroll.
We even got the chance to walk back to the beach–all the way to the cresting Mediterranean shore this time–and enjoy the pleasant sound of midnight waves lapping at our toes. (They’re hard to see, but if you squint…)
The next day we’d be taking the ferry out to the islands. I wish we had more time in Denia, but the days we did spend were greatly enjoyed. I’d strongly recommend this town as a best-of-Spain destination–almost like a Moclips of the Mediterranean. But with paella.