Crafty in the Med

I am here to enjoy meeting other bloggers and to share my love of craft ,mostly crochet, my thoughts and my daily happenings here in Alicante,Spain, my adopted country. I belong to a local choir because singing and music makes me happy. Flea markets and book shops are two of my favourite places to be. I read lots......sci´fi/fantasy,buried treasure, and off world adventures. I have a passion for history! I walk and walk and walk for about 10 months per year during the hot months I swim.

Wednesday 29 September 2021

Under the flyover

  Warning: this post is photo-heavy!

 

Last Sunday we returned to the little Park that is so near to where we live. I mentioned this park in a previous post in April and by the way it now has a name which is Parque del Mar (Park of the Sea).

 There have been great improvements since then.   

The Commercial area of the Port here used to be walled off and it was not the sort of place one would go to for a walk except perhaps if you were waiting for or picking up the Ferry to Oran, Algeria.  When they built the flyover the walls were demolished and the redevelopment of the old Port which took several years created new roads and pedestrian areas. It therefore opened up this area to the city completely with large public areas and bicycle paths as well as attractive urban landscaping around the large Fish Market and the shipyards which made it easier to access.  

Unfortunately the waste ground under the Port flyover was ignored completely when renovating this area of the port and it became a real eye sore;literally a  dump! The whole area was targeted for no end of fly-tipping of household waste and also for homeless people sleeping rough! Drugs were sold there and used there and there were a lot of other unpleasant goings-on! It became known as a place to avoid and definitely not to go there at night.  There had been numerous complaints about this place from the local communities for years!

Thank goodness something was finally done about it and the city has gained another beautiful green public urban space.

It is like a real-life secret garden tucked away under that flyover.


I thought I would start off with this photograph of these pomegranates. I think it is the first time I have seen a pomegranate tree and there were several here in the park all laden with fruit. What they are doing in a park I don't know but I expect the birds will be grateful for them.   

 


 


 

 Another harvest the birds will relish are the dates on these heavily loaded date palms

 


 


Lots of flowers are still blooming. Although it is officially autumn here now the flowers don't know that and this mild climate allows them to continue flowering.  I don't know what they are called but they look gorgeous  🌻

 


This looks like lilac?

Those funny bottle brush flowers.

The trees have grown and there is much more shade now.

In fact this banana tree has shot up and is nearly touching the bottom of the flyover


I told Sr P to stand beside the
Banana tree/plant just so you can see the sizeof it.



The pond with its waterfall is looking really lovely, a very big difference from what we saw here in April.



I can still hear frogs croaking too. 

 


 

A green lawn. Most of you will probably think "so what!" but a green lawn is a rarity here because it is so hard to keep that lawn green in this climate.  

 

...and an old olive tree 

 

These trees fascinate me or rather the trunks of the old olive trees!


I love the rugged way it twists and turns; natures own work of art .

It reminds me of a painting from Van Gogh

Google image

The Olive Trees  1889

 

 


and then we got to the end of the park but it isn't really the end because what I have shown you here is just the first stage of this project and very soon we will be able to continue walking on into the next part of this park.

Image from Google 2021

Construction is underway and the park will continue on all the way down over that bare ground that you can see. I would say about another year. 

I so look forward to seeing it. 

 

Replies to last post comments all completed.


 

 

 

 

 

Happy Blogging

 

Amanda :-) 




 

31 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place to walk and what a difference to what you have been describing, I bet people are relieved and thrilled to see what has been done. xx

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    1. Hello Linda We who live in the area are much happier now we have this park instead of the creepy disgusting place it was before! Such an enormous difference! A x

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  2. What a fabulous place now with such wonderful trees and plants. A great place for a walk.
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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    1. Hello Ellie, It really is a relaxing place to be. A x

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  3. that was wierd my comment disappeared
    Enjoyed the post-lovely green spaces this will be a very welcomed park for the area.
    Happy mid week Kathy

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    1. Many thanks for calling in Kathy. Happy days to you as well. A x

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  4. That is such a beautiful place to take the place of a "not so nice" area. I loved seeing all of the photos and now I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the bare ground.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. Hello Betsy. Always good to hear from you:-) This park is truly a blessing and to be enjoyed! A x

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  5. Fabulous and look forward to future snaps too.

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    1. Hello Wendy, Thank you for calling in and commenting. It is a lovely little park and I too am looking forward to being able to walk through the new extension. A x

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  6. The park looks like it is progressing well. The date palms make me hungry. lol

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    1. Hi there :-) It is a lovely place to be. I am very partial to dates too so it is frustrating not being able to pick a few LOL! A x

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  7. Your photos are just stunning Amanda & its so lovely to see a little part of where you live - just lush & beautiful in the area & certainly looks more like summer than autumn.

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    1. Hello Julie We are so lucky to live here in Alicante where the climate is so gentle (except in August!) A x

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  8. It is lovely when a neglected or derelict area is given a make over for the better - I shall watch this space!

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    1. Hi Kate. It is indeed and we eagerly watched the making of this park and total clean up of that dismal area. A x

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  9. We have a local park, but not on the scale of yours, it's so good to have nice outside spaces to walk in. Yours looks stunning.

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    1. Hello Marlene, thank you for calling in and for eaving a comment :-) I bet your park is greener than this one though at least the green is greener.LOL! I must say though they are well in to improving the city with more parks and green areas. After living here so long I thoroughly enjoy seeing all the improvements. A x

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  10. It just shows what can be achieved. What a lovely place for the local population to enjoy now. I think I'd have to snaffle some of those gorgeous dates! xx

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  11. Are you allowed to pick the fruit? ... if yes that's very posh foraging. Not quite a handful of brambles from the hedgerow :-)

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  12. Love the bottle brush flowers - really dramatic! And those dates look so tempting....

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    1. Hello there :-) Many thanks for calling in and commenting. I am very partial to dates too and it was a little frustrating not being able to pick them. A x

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  13. Thank you for showing us your park, look forward to seeing more next year. x x

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    1. Hi Joy ,Thank you for calling in and for commenting. I say the more public green spaces the better so hope it wont be long tat they get the extension done in this park. A x

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  14. Looks like a beautiful place to visit, our garden is coming into its second wind now the temps have lowered a little. Be fun to see the next part of the park xcx

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    1. Hello Chrissie, Thank you for calling in :-) We are really looking forward to seeing the extension too. Parks are popping up quite a lot now in the city. I thoroughly enjoy all these improvements. A x

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  15. Green spaces are so important for well being especially for those who live in an apartment without even a balcony to grow plants. Usually there's a communal garden that belongs to the apartment block, but it's good to be able to take a walk in park. I enjoyed seeing the plants so different from those seen in the UK.

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  16. Hello Linda, Thanks for your comments. We do have a large communal garden which is maintained really well, especially the pool area. Nevertheless a good walk in a park is ideal when you just want to amble along. We also sometimes go for a more strenuous walk up in the mountains. It is nearly time to be able to do that :-) A x

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Thank you for your comments. I do read them and try to reply to all as well.Please keep them coming. Amanda :-)