7 days in Dénia on the Costa Blanca; why Dénia?; UNESCO City of Gastronomy; getting there, no thanks to Trevor the Twat; mostly about Wendy and a bit about Bob; the joys of jogging; smelly seagulls and civil servants at Dénia Castle; Els Magazinos market; grape-vine blight and toy factories; free vs paid museums; market bar vermut and tapas; mediocre menú del día; warding off scurvy at Origen; ode to aioli; Altea and Jávea; Jésus Pobre gastronomic and cultural market; pondering the plight of blight-benighted peasants; farewell to Wendy; on to Madrid!
Why 7 Days in Dénia?
Dénia may not be the obvious destination on Spain’s Costa Blanca. As opposed to Benidorm or Alicante, many people haven’t even heard of it. But Roy had! In fact, one of his oldest childhood friends, the lovely Marianne from Stratford-Upon-Avon, used to have a holiday place there.
Apart from being a pretty seaside town with a castle, it’s as much of a working town as a tourism destination. So you feel you’re in a real Spanish town, rather than in a resort.
Dénia’s claims to fame
Dénia has a couple of claims to fame. Firstly, it’s an important port from which ferries depart for the Balearic islands – Ibiza, Formentera and Palma (Mallorca).
Secondly, as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy it has a vibrant culinary scene*.
(*Before our foodie friends get too excited, I must mention in advance that we decided upfront that we would not be forking out nearly €500 each for the 3-Michelin-star Quique Dacosta Restaurante’s Octavia Menu with standard wine-pairing.)
Looking back, however, I wouldn’t say we had better food in Dénia restaurants than the other Spanish cities and towns we visited on this trip: Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Cadiz, Tarifa, Malaga, Nerja, Valencia and Cartagena. As with everywhere else, it was often really good; but occasionally it was mediocre. (More on this below, of course!)
Getting there and staying there
It’s a four-to-five hour drive from Barcelona, about the farthest we like to drive in a day. That said, the rental Skoda’s GPS – less-than-affectionately nicknamed Trevor the Twat – insisted on taking us right through the middle of Monday-morning Barcelona, instead of getting us straight onto the highway.
My iPhone’s Google map eventually extricated us from the inner-city maelstrom, but not before adding over an hour to the journey.
Two mandatory stops for coffee, and we were outside 1 Carrer de la Corona Boreal – a large, fenced residential complex with pool and gym. Agent Rosie let us in and briefed us on the amenities of this 5-year-old, two-bedroom penthouse apartment – very nice, and within walking distance of both Dénia Marina and the old town.
Daughter Wendy had arrived a couple of hours before us, staying at a conveniently nearby booking.com property.
7 Days in Dénia: Mostly about Wendy
Wendy lives in Aix-en-Provence in the South of France, so she was able to drive down to Dénia to spend a week with her dad and me.
As we hadn’t seen her since last June, when she spent a month in Perth, we had plenty of gabbing to do. So, while the previous 7 days in Barcelona had been all about sightseeing (you can click here for that post, but do come back), these 7 days in Dénia were mostly about catching up with Wendy.
Also a bit about Bob
It was also a bit about Bob. Roy and Bob Vaughan became friends at sea nearly 60 years ago, when they were both on the Amra, a British India Steam Navigation Co. ship. As Bob has retired to the Costa Blanca from his home town (Wolverhampton), Roy invited him to visit us and spend the night in our spare room.
That’s another advantage of booking a two-bedroom apartment, apart from being able to spread out a bit and not annoy each other to death.
With so much socialising, eating and drinking, 7 days in Dénia flew by.
The Joys of Jogging
Turning left to Dénia Old Town
A morning jog is a great way both to get your bearings and take a few photos in the early light. After a week without a run – I’d found our Barcelona location not ideal for that – I headed out of the apartment and into the old town of Dénia.
Around 8.30am, not much was open except the municipal covered market. I continued down the pedestrianised Carrer Marqués del Campo to what they call the public marina, where the huge Balearic ferry docks. It wasn’t there yet; we’d see it only much later in the day.
A couple of hours later, armed with brand new bearings, I was able to show Roy and Wendy the way to the market, then to a café, and from there to a waterfront place for lunch. (We had the unmemorable menú del día, a concept I described in Part 1, 7 Days in Barcelona, of this Spain Road Trip series.)
Another morning, after jogging north past the marinas and walking barefoot along Les Marines beach, it was clear that there wasn’t much of interest for us in that direction. (When we drove that way, too, we saw plenty of holiday accommodation and the usual seaside restaurants.)
Turn right to Les Rotes
Another morning, turning right at Dénia Marina took me southward along a coastal path in the direction of Playa les Rotes (Beach of the Rocks). It’s a series of relentlessly rocky and pebbly beaches… hardly a grain of sand to be seen.
Les Rotes is a clearly upmarket area with some gorgeous-looking properties – especially this one:
Beyond this pretty stretch of the coastal path south of Dénia, still in Les Rotes, is Restaurante Mena, which we’d be driving to for lunch in a couple of days’ time.
Markets, Museums and a Castle
Dénia Old Town – Els Magazinos
Back in the picturesque barrio (neighbourhood) of Baix la Mar, between the castle and the old port, is the gastronomic and cultural market known as Els Magazinos. (Click here for more.)
Now occupying around 3,000 square metres, this space was originally used in the 16th century by King Phillip II for royal stabling and a coach house. It was later converted into port warehouses, then into a toy factory, then artisanal workshops. In 2019, it reopened in its present form.
Today, Els Magazinos features around 20 food stalls offering a variety of cuisines. We were too early for lunch, but we stopped in for coffee. (To be fair, there are few places where we have not stopped in for a coffee.)
Toy Museum
Why would a town like Dénia have a toy museum? The answer is that Dénia became a major toy manufacturing centre after the blight-related collapse of the raisin industry in the early 20th century. When watching grapes dry was no longer a viable employment option, I guess they had to find something to do.
At its peak, the town had an almost unimaginable 40 toy factories.
Roy was strangely un-enthralled by the prospect of visiting the Toy Museum. So he was briefly heartened to find it still closed at 11.55am; disappointed when it opened at 12 noon on the dot; and genuinely more cheerful when we discovered that entry was free.
Free vs Paid Entry – my thoughts
When you have to pay to get in, you need to spend a certain amount of time in the place, pay a bit of attention to the exhibits, and also summon up some enthusiasm for what you’re seeing. When it’s free, however, you may enter and depart at will.
And so, after a more-or-less cursory glance around the large space filled with hundreds of intricately designed dolls, doll’s houses, toy cars, aeroplanes, sailing boats and more, and cultural duty done, we headed to the nearby municipal market in search of a drink.
Market Bar
For its tiny size, a small bar in the back corner of the market had a huge selection of wines, plus three vacant stools. The first round of red vermouth (tres vermuts, por favor) that came with a tapas of Russian salad on crispy bread. The stall-holder makes all the tapas herself, so we ordered a couple more for just a few euros each. One was topped with anchovy, the other with pork and truffle.
Dénia Castle
With 7 days in Dénia, I reckon you might as well see Dénia Castle, the Toy Museum and whatever else the local tourism authorities are punting.
Though located centrally, the longish, steepish climb to Dénia Castle appealed to neither Roy nor Wendy. I found it well worthwhile though, and not only for the sweeping views of Montgó (the mountain), the town and the port.
With a history spanning over 2,000 years back to Roman times, and various structures dating to the 12th Century Moorish era, it’s an interesting site. Only briefly did I glimpse the interior of the Governor’s Palace housing the Archeological Museum, as it was about to close at 12.50pm so that the staff could have lunch from 1pm to 4pm.
On the verge of grumbling, at least internally, I thought: Hey ho, this is Spain, this is siesta-time in Spain, and these are, after all, civil servants.
Dining in Dénia
As mentioned, Dénia is a UNESCO-ordained City of Gastronomy. It is most famous for the locally caught gambas rojas (red prawns), for seafood in general and for traditional rice dishes like arròs a banda (rice cooked in fish broth) and seafood paella. Other local specialties include esgarraet (roasted pepper and salted cod salad), pulpo seco (grilled dried octopus) and cocas (Valencian flatbreads).
Here’s a brief rundown of where we went and what we tried.
Waterfront Menú del Día
Roy’s (€14, the cheapest option) delivered him gazpacho, bacalao (salted cod) and ice cream. Mine (€18) brought me an octopus leg, sole and a cheesecake; Wendy’s was a prawn and avo salad and a piece of salmon. The fish was a bit dry, the octopus not up to snuff, and the desserts pre-packaged.
Republic Lounge, Dénia Marina
Still full from lunch, we could have skipped dinner. But it was dinner-time when we found ourselves at Dénia Marina’s well-reputed Republic Lounge drinking tinto verrano con limon (basically red wine and lemonade) and more wine. Just to show willing, we shared a four seasons pizza, some beef carpaccio and a grilled artichoke salad.
That was just Day One. Clearly, we were not about to go hungry in Dènia.
Restaurante Balandros
It took Bob and his GPS a while to find us at Restaurante Balandros, but all was well after that.
Origen
On the Saturday, after a couple of vermuts at the municipal market mentioned earlier, we followed our noses for lunch at Origen in Plaça la Constitución. There was a chilly little breeze, but we sat outside anyway.
Wendy had the mussels and sea bream; Roy the Greek salad and sea bream; I had pollo (chicken) croquetas and tempura cod on black rice. No, nothing green, except for Roy’s lettuce. We all had sangria, mostly to ward off scurvy.
Restaurante Mena
For our last lunch in Dénia, we’d taken a short drive to book at Restaurante Mena. This top-rated seaside restaurant was located 4-5km south from us in the direction of Les Rotes, the rocky beach I had jogged to one morning.
It being a Sunday, the place was jam-packed. For Wendy: carpaccio of pork loin with a mustardy sauce, then sea bream. Roy had the ensalada mixta, followed by tempura battered cod. I had the cuttlefish roe before my monkfish with seafood. For everyone: red sangria, bread and aioli*.
*Ode to Aioli
Ah! Aioli! Have I mentioned aioli? Aioli is served with all sorts of things, especially bread and potatoes. Possibly the food of the gods, in strict Catalan tradition this ambrosial concoction is an emulsion of just three ingredients: fresh garlic, olive oil and salt. (The word aioli comes from two Catalan words: ai for garlic, oli for oil.)
Often, though, it’s just a garlicky mayonnaise made with garlic, olive oil, egg and/or mustard (for easier emulsification), and possibly lemon juice or vinegar. Any little supermarket in Spain will have half-a-dozen varieties on its shelves.
Beyond Dénia
Having a full 7 days in Dénia meant we could comfortably see something of the area without having to rush. Just for context: Dénia is at the northern end of the Costa Blanca and serves as a main port to the Balearic islands. Jávea (or Xábia in Catalan) is 8km south of Dénia, marked by the distinctive headland known as Cabo de la Nao. Altea is about 30km south of Dénia.
Altea
A great highway from Dénia to Altea winds through the mountains.
To see Roy illegally dancing in France, coincidentally with Wendy present too, click here for my May 2023 post on Travels with Verne and Roy.
Despite all the recommendations to walk up through the old town of Altea to the landmark Sant Consuelo church, including from former Dénia denizen Marianne (I mentioned her at the top of this post), no one was keen. We spotted its famous twin blue Santorini-style domes, and that was enough.
Lunch in Altea
We didn’t ignore Marianne’s advice entirely, though. From the endless array of waterfront restaurants, she had recommended Café Opera for lunch, promising “interesting salads”.
Roy’s was the yummy steak tartare; Wendy’s the excellent tataki of beef; mine the lamb salad. We all had sangria: we voted the red better than the white.
Jávea
Not too much sangria with lunch, though, as Roy was driving. He took the scenic route, first along the coast through Calpe, Moriara and then inland north to Jávea. So many buildings, so much development all along the way. This even though we didn’t get to see busy Alicante, let alone the famously overdeveloped Benidorm.
At the port of Jávea we found an absolutely necessary ice cream shop before winding back down route CV-736, with stunning views of Montgó Nature Reserve, and back to Dénia.
Jesús Pobre
This genuinely small village 9.5km inland from Dénia is famous for its “gastronomic and cultural” Sunday market. It’s called the Mercat (Market) de Riurau because it’s held in this beautiful riurau, an open-sided building traditionally used for drying raisins.
What’s with the raisins?
Here we go again, raisins! I have to wonder what the benighted farmers did after the grape blight – did they switch to knitting toy trains? (See my Toy Museum entry above.)
For a change, I found something to buy at this market: a beautifully handcrafted ceramic platter for my sister Dale; and a polymerised real sunflower pendant for myself.
Other highlights were: a man selling guava juice and jam; olive oil bottled with seawater; a multitude of dried sausage; crusty loaves of bread to die for; plus all sorts of empanadas, tarts and assorted traditional pastries.
Wandering up through the village, I found Restaurant Rosalie – which I suspect would be the most genuinely local place for lunch – and I came across this unexpected mural.
There’s only so long you can hang out at a market. To while away the rest of the morning before lunch at Restaurante Mena (see above), we returned to the Arena Bar near Hotel Dénia for a couple of cañas, smallish draught beers.
Epilogue
And just like that, our 7 days in Dénia were done and dusted. Wendy came over for a farewell glass of cava before we all headed off in the morning – she back to her home in Aix-en-Provence, Roy and I onward to Madrid.
Up Next
As you may have gathered, we were about to spend some time in Madrid, including a day trip to touristy Toledo and a magical excursion to the extraordinary El Santo Reserve.
Wow, my Sisi Verne and my brother Roy, you are blessed with such a beautiful life. You are my inspiration and I love you so much.
Thank you, Prosperity! xx