alicante in april - domingo

Alicante - domingo 3 de abril - 22235 steps

Last sunday we walked to the Palmeraie just outside the city. We spotted this fascinating palm park with lots of tall palms from the taxi, when we arrived on Friday. El Palmeral covers no less than 72000 square meters and was opened in October 1997. I imagined myself in Morocco, even the delicious smell was the same (the lemon trees were in bloom) and we also stumbled upon some beautiful mimosa trees in full bloom!

Breakfast to go on our way to Parque El Palmeral. A nice morning walk of about 5 km.

Tapas lunch at the kiosk in the park, amid the tall palms.

We walked back along the coast towards the city, along the harbor and across the fairground.

More walking in the afternoon, starting with a drink with a view from the 26th floor of Gran Sol. We wanted to climp the hill and visit the colorful houses in Barrio Santa Cruz, that we saw in the distance. So many narrow alleys decorated with greenery, this neighborhood seems to be inhabited only by creative plant lovers. Love love love. From here a beautiful view of the old town as well, now from the other side with Gran Sol in the distance.

And in the evening we had an Italian dinner at Bigoli and talked about this Sunday full of inspiration. Great to see and feel what green does to a city!

greener by the day

The light in the medina at the end of the day is so enchanting.

Therefore we returned late in the afternoon, a few hours after our veggie cooking workshop and lunch, to the medina to visit a secret garden and we stayed until sunset. In this fairytale garden, another beautiful pomegranate tree. (For those who participate in the Green Gardens workshop in October; it's the pomegranate season!)

On our way we encountered a public water tap, entirely in 'green style'.

At the end of this particularly beautiful day, a drink and light dinner at the by far GREENEST urban jungle restaurant Le Jardin.

blooming & botanical

The second day of our botanical discoveries we headed outside the city walls of the medina.

Early morning visit to Jardin Majorelle is obviously included in the program. In our private 'greenhouse', we worked on our herbarium while enjoying coffee, tea & kaab el ghazal, delicious Moroccan pastries.

Via a gigantic colorful botanical garden out of town, we continued the green trip with our minibus, up for lunch in an ancient olive grove.

After a blissful lunch, time for a relaxing afternoon in and around the pool and a some of us made another stroll through the beautiful gardens.

At the end of the day we enter the city walls of Marrakech with a botanical afterglow.