Party!

 North of Cartegena are a series of lagoons, the largest being the Mar Menor, or small sea. It has a spit covered in hotels but we drove the landward side anyway, and found it less developed. The lagoon must be pretty shallow: At the end of this jetty it was still only about a metre deep. I think you can just make out the spit on the horizon.

At the top of the lagoon were huge salt pans, some which turn a lovely pink colour when a certain algae grows in them. The more concentrated the brine, the deeper the pink. There were flamingoes but they were white.

Note the specks in the sky.

The Spanish AF display team flies from Cartegena.

The pink is very evident here. You can see the stacks of salt at the factory.

Temp was in the late 30s so we were sweating heavily. The next lagoon up was the Pink Lagoon, for the same reason as above. It was a built-up area so we just drove by.

We did, however, get to a salt mining museum on yet another lagoon before it (the museum) closed (for a change). It explained that these lagoons had been bays, and estuaries that silted up over time. Surprisingly, it was until the 16thC that they were enclosed. Anyway, being shallow and given the plentiful sunshine they were and are perfect for salt production, and have been since at least Roman times.

Our destination for the day was Alicante. We stopped out of town but on the tram line for easy access. A nice quiet parkup by the beach so first thing we did was go for a swim. Another pretty crappy beach but the water was warm and refreshing after the stinking hot day.

It wasn't a long tram ride in, and we were dropped at the beach/marina.

There were lots of people about, and we could see this so we new something was up.

The beach that attracts all the Brits.

It turns out it was the start of Fogueres, a religious festival, but also when these colourful and sometimes satirical constructions are delayed and then ritually burned.

The religious side of things was most evidenced by the huge procession that must have lasted about 4 or 5 hours! We had dinner and it was still going on when we finished. It seems each parish has at least a dozen representatives in their traditional outfits. Interspersed were bands so it was a noisy event. And that's without the crackers that were being set off. These echoed against the buildings so could have quite a bang.

Each delegate carried a bunch of flowers that gets added to these displays until the designs are complete. You can see we must have been here quite early as there is most of each to go.

Here they are, bouquets in hand.

There were TV cameras all over so it gets good coverage.

All those people had to eat so there were parts of streets blocked off for the parish, and set up with tables. Local restaurants catered for them I guess.

Of course, the entertainment wasn't for them alone, and rogue bands wandered the streets demanding money...

Not related to bands, but curious. The decorations were 'cross-stitched' into netting.

We only just made the last tram home where we soon realized that the party was city wide. A nearby pub played VERY loud music until 6am. Between that and the heat we didn't get a lot of sleep. Worth it though. Doof doof.