Groceries shopping in Javea

This is a day of rest after a busy fun filled weekend.  Wendy and I started the day (8am) by doing a jog/walk to the port part of Javea.  It is a little bit over 2 km each way.  Good time for a bit of exercise as it is around 15 degrees at that time of the day. Not too many people out this early except for a few joggers.

Back from our jog and went to hang out the laundry only to realize I had not taken the wrapper off the individual tablets and it went through the whole cycle without soap. Oh well, nobody knows us here and Wendy needs to start work so it got put out.  It is outside anyway in the fresh air, that will work.  

We are now on Spanish time for meal times since Wendy is working 9am to 6pm.  We normally have Breakfast around 10:30, when Wendy takes her morning break.  Lunch is usually around 2:30 which is usually a large salad.  Our night time meal is around 8:30-9:00.  Some of the restaurant here only open from 1 to 4 for lunch and from 7or 8 until 11-12 for supper.  

We went for groceries today as we needed to stock up.  It is about a 10-15 minute walk to the supermarket.  It is not as big as the big Sobeys in Moncton.  It is still a good size, probably a bit smaller than the Sobey in Dieppe by the liquor store.  They only carry food & household essentials, no clothes, electronic etc….

The prices here are either cheaper or equal than at home. Nothing seems to be more expensive.  I will convert to Canadian dollars to give you some examples.

First of all, let’s start with the essentials:

Liquor: I bought 2 bottles of wine that were $4.00 each and these would be comparable to $15+ each at home.  You can find some starting at $2.00 that are reasonable to drink and some around $1.25 which would be just jug wine.  Beer starts at 30 cents a can for the mass produce kind, so you can get a case for under $4.00.  They also carry the litre size for around $1.00.  Run, Vodka etc.. are somewhat cheaper depending if you go for a name brand or not.  We have not bought any as we are sticking to wine.

Cheeses are about 2/3 or less of the price of what we pay at home.  Yogurt is very cheap.  6 individual serving of Greek yogurt (125ml) for$ 2.00 and 4 non-Greek is about 80 cents.  Milk is around 80 cents per litre or less if on sale.  I have been drinking fresh milk and it is around $1.00 per litre.

Bread is about 60 cents for a baguette/loaf.  Meats are a little less than home, no huge savings.

13 pounds bag of oranges was $6.00.  We use 4 or 5 of them to make fresh squeezed OJ every morning.  Lettuce is almost free here.  2 big head of Romaine lettuce was around $1.50.  Strawberries are $1.25 per pound.  Asparagus and artichoke are about $1.60 per pound.  A head of broccoli was $1.20.  Rice and pasta are very cheap, probably half of what we pay at home.

They carry a good selection of fish with all kinds of stuff we do not have at home with prices a bit cheaper than home.  We got 2 Dorado which is a nice white fish for $6.00 which I made for dinner.

They also carry cured ham similar to prosciutto.  There are many qualities that you can buy sliced up and prepackaged. The also carry whole legs that they have hanging and that you can sample.  They also carry many chorizo sausage since they are famous for it.

Grocery Time!!

 

This afternoon I took the bike that comes with the apartment.  I do not believe it was built in the 2000s but it is still in good shape.  I biked to the port to check out what fish they had at the fish market.  The tires were in dire need of extra air.  I found a gas station and paid my Euro to buy air.  The challenge was figuring out on how to use the machine within the 5 minutes it gave me.  At first it added air but not as much as I wanted.  You need to set the machine at the pressure you want but it is not in pounds like home and everything is in Spanish.  Just before time ran out I figured out on how to increase it but only had time for the back tire.  The ride home was much easier.  Will need to go for another visit to top up again. 

Before supper we went for a walk to the beach in town which is about 1 km from where we are staying.  The wind was up today and there were some waves that the locals were surfing or trying to surf on.  It was not as busy as last night as the Easter weekend is over but still many people around.

Surfs up today

On the walk home we go over a bridge where a few fisherman were trying their luck. One of them pulled up a good size fish when we walked by.  Maybe I should invest in a fishing rod.

Tomorrow I planning to go exploring around town with the bike but I pulled something in my back when taking the garbage out. It was not too sore tonight after supper but maybe it was the wine killing the pain. Will see how I feel tomorrow.