Seeing a post on Hive today about a boat ride, i.e. some dolls on a boat in Amsterdam, I was reminded of a boat ride we had many years ago. Of course, we weren't dolls, we were real people, and it was on the Mediterranean Sea. Our means of transportation was a catamaran, but anyway, the memories came to me today about this event that I am going to share with you in this Throwback Thursday post.
Although it was June (June 6, 2014, to give you the exact date of this event), we were pretty well dressed, as if for winter. And the sky looked like that too, gloomy, threatening with rain. In the end, only the wind on the open sea brought us that winter feeling, and I know that long after this experience, we remembered the cold that went through our bones. Brrrrr.
In this photo, I am the one with a grey/white jacket, and my son is the boy in the blue jacket. We were looking toward Sierra Helada. If we looked towards the marina where we boarded the catamaran, we would see the town of Altea and the Sierra de Bernia mountain behind the town.
Close to the marina, there were other boats that we met as the town is well-known for its long tradition of using boats. In the past, Altea made its living from fishing. Nowadays, it is tourism that brings money to the town.
I don't remember how much the ticket for this catamaran trip cost, but my husband says it wasn't expensive, meaning we bought the tickets in advance and, when the day of the trip arrived, there was no turning back. The weather was as it was, grey, so I think that's why the photos are a little darker. Or because they are 11 years old.
So, we were heading to Sierra Helada, the hill that separates two towns, on one side is Benidorm and on the other, L'Albir and Altea. This was the first time we went to see the side of the hill that is surrounded by water. The cliffs are so tall and of interesting shape that it was a must to go and see them, regardless of the weather conditions.
Here you can see the lighthouse of L'Albir. I have walked there countless times, of course, on the path that leads to it, but I have never seen it from its other side, from the sea. It looks like a tiny decoration on the tall cliffs.
The enemies that wanted to attack the coast in the past could see it from this angle. Oh, but we were not pirates; we were the tourists in this case,😆 taking a catamaran ride.
Leaving behind the bay of Altea, we arrived at a part of the Sierra Helada that was a completely new sight for me. The cliffs were impressive!! We felt so small.
I am not sure if this little island has a name or not, let me check... Hmm, yes, it seems that it is called Illeta Penyes d'Arabí, I checked now on Google Maps. I suppose that only the seagulls have permission to live there. 😁
At one moment, this catamaran ride had to finish, and we had to head back towards the coast. This photo probably tried to be a representation of ropes and lines, and who knows what. 😂
It was our first and at the moment only catamaran ride (we had similar boat rides, but actually I don't remember if we had another one on this type of boat, on a catamaran, maybe yes, but I can't recall it... 😳 ).
This from 2014 can't be forgotten - because of the cold in June, and for sure because of those magnificent cliffs of the Sierra Helada!!
