Made in Spain

Altea: The Pearl of the Mediterranean

Made in Spain Season 2 Episode 1

In this episode the charming Costa Blanca town of Altea takes center stage. Known for its whitewashed houses, cobblestone streets and blue dome church, Laura and Nalini share highlights from their recent visit, where they embraced the town’s bohemian vibe and dined at an authentic Indian restaurant. They also dive into Altea's fascinating and tumultuous history.

The regular ‘Slice of Life’ segment continues the Altea theme, with the ladies savoring a selection of indulgent desserts from the town's Pasteleria de Sabors, paired with freshly prepared sangria. Alongside various aspects of Spanish life, they discuss Meghan Markle's controversial association with the sleepy town of Porreres in Mallorca.


Speaker 2:

The Pearl of the Med and the Mermaid Song calling lovers, young and old. Through winding streets of cobblestone where whispered vows and secrets roam, they run, they hide their hands entwined, lost in love, lost in time. But when the night turns stone to light and Altea's pearl begins to glow, her song drifts soft upon the waves. A hymn of love, a spell unknown. It bends the world. It sways the night. Hymn of love, a spell unknown. It bends the world, it sways the night. It heals the heart, it lifts the sight. And those who hear no longer roam. The mermaid's voice will lead them home. Beautiful poem, laura. Welcome to Made in Spain. I'm Nalini Sharma and I'm Laura Cine Garcia. Season two everyone, we're so happy to be here. Episode one, season two. Can't wait to share this new season with you.

Speaker 1:

We are focusing on Altea today. In 2023, national Geographic ranked Altea along with Guadalajara they both happen to be close to where we live as two of the most beautiful towns in Spain, for fantastic reasons, because they are really spectacular. Now we're focusing on Altea Old Town, and for anybody who's been there, that would refer to the little winding streets that lead you up to the church and the main sort of plaza.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so we'll talk a little bit about the history in a moment. If you listen to us in season one, I would say that if you want to contrast the body of the costa blanca that we said was benidorm, altea is pretty much just as far as it gets from that, absolutely. And one of the things that makes that contrast possible is the laws that they have had in altea for a long time around how tall they can build, the buildings are very, very strict. So, as you have, you know benida for a long time around, how tall they can build, the buildings are very, very strict. So, as you have, you know, benidorm with a kind of Manhattan-like huge high-risers Altea, you are not allowed to build over a certain amount of floor. So when you get there you can see it's still very much this kind of old school vibe. You know much smaller buildings, so it's quite unique.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's an ancient little village, but it is a neighborhood as well, and I think sometimes when you go to these places, even as you know a tourist or for a lunch, people live there. Oh yeah, People live there they park their cars, there, they go to church. There they shop there. It's not just a touristy little town. It is a thriving, vibrant neighborhood and, like many of the towns in Spain, very complicated history between the Muslims, the Moors, the Christians.

Speaker 1:

I was reading some of the history and again I'm going to just preface this by saying neither of us are historians. We sort of like gather little bits and pieces of information, but if you follow the history of Altea I would say it is like a table tennis match.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely Back, and forth the control. So, nalini, do you want me to give just a little bit of a high level of that timeline?

Speaker 2:

and what it looks like. So normally we wouldn't, you know, maybe put so much focus on the history of a town and talk a little bit more about, you know, the food, the bars, et cetera. But Altea is truly so unique in terms of what it's gone through that we thought it was worth sharing with the listeners a little bit about how it came about and, like Nalini said, the ping pong match of different people that have lived there through the years. So, starting off firstst century BC to the 5th century AD, it was really a trading post for the Romans. Yes, so again, near the sea, it's, you know, easy access. So that's one of the reasons that you know it became a trading post.

Speaker 2:

Then, 8th to the 13th century, the Moors actually introduced some of the things that make Altea look how it looks today the tiles, the blue, some of the architecture, and the architecture being mostly focused on defending themselves right and defending the town. And I think in that one thing that's pretty cool about that and I never realized it until we started doing the research for the history for the episode is that the little streets that feel like a maze and all the cobblestones. By the way disclaimer, do not wear heels when you go- out for dinner in Altea.

Speaker 1:

That's a story for another day. But do not wear heels there.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely. So those were purposely built super confusingly so that people that were trying to attack would get lost. So the little kind of cobbled maze, you know, streets are very much on purpose. So that's another nice little bit on the timeline. Then the Christian reconquest was 1244 to the 1600s. So that was a big period and that was when and I'm going to say this in Spanish that Rey Jaime de Aragón, they reclaimed the land and that's when they built the famous Blue Dome.

Speaker 1:

Church.

Speaker 2:

So that was during that period of time. We will be going to the Alhambra for season two and you'll be seeing about that. So a little bit of that vibe of you know different cultures built on other cultures, you know in the Alhambra as well, same thing. You kind of have you start off with one culture and then they kept growing it. In the Alhambra as well, same thing. You kind of have you start off with one culture and then they kept growing it. I think Altea is very much that way, in the sense that it wasn't like I don't think anything was destroyed and started again, but you have to build on and the I mean the approach of Altea.

Speaker 1:

When you you know, you kind of go up to it, you and you walk through and you're looking at the, the overlook, there you see why it was such an important town because it's high up and close to water, so it would be easy to defend. You could see what was coming at you from the sea, basically, and you were still far enough away that you would be secure. So when you read the history of it and you see how many times that it changed hands, that's the reason why it's the geographical location of it and you see how many times that it changed hands.

Speaker 2:

that's the reason why it's the geographical location of it. It's very, very unique and if you are watching us on YouTube today or on socials, you'll see that we're kind of dressed very Alteano, like a little bit more relaxed. We did that on purpose, kind of like almost a little hippie-ish looking, so that also ties into this timeline. One moment before we get to more of that hippie-ish area that I thought was pretty cool and I had no idea about was there was a lot of pirate attacks there. Yes, so between the uh the kind of uh 16th and 17th century, there was a ton of pirate attacks and the church was what basically used for protection, so everyone would go up there and like hide from the pirates.

Speaker 1:

if you've walked Altea, you'll know that is a hike from the beach absolutely and what's really, I think, special about a town like Altea is that, because it is a and I mean this sort of in quotations it's a real.

Speaker 1:

I mean you'll have people coming out of their apartments for work. You have cars, believe it or not. Everybody walks in the middle of the road thinking that there are no cars. But there are cars because people have to park their car and go into their houses. And the church, despite the fact that it's beautiful inside, it is a working, functioning church, so a service might be on um. So I would just say, if you are going to altea, maybe respect those things about the town, because you know, you just have to know, yeah it is really special.

Speaker 1:

I've seen a wedding there taking place and you know every tourist opening the door right taking pictures and pictures, a selfie video while the wedding's going on. Literally, the bride and groom are at the front exchanging vows.

Speaker 2:

I thought, oh, Interesting, that's great, yeah. So one thing if you are not staying in Altea and you're just heading there to visit, I do believe it's one of those that it's better to either take public transport or taxi, because it is extremely hard to park, particularly in summer.

Speaker 1:

Oh, forget it, it does get much busier.

Speaker 2:

Same thing restaurant reservations. I think it's got to be, like you know, a couple months in advance if you're going in the summer, because it does get very busy, but it's worth it. So just to give you a visual of what the town looks like if you haven't seen it yet, it is very white, like whitewashed walls. It looks like Greece, yeah, Little townhouses kind of like a Santorini vibe right.

Speaker 2:

With the blue dome the blue dome from the church, by the way. You can see it when you're driving up there from far away. And then obviously you've got beaches, but beware the beaches. There are stone beaches, so you have to go with the water shoes.

Speaker 1:

And they have the geraniums in the window. I mean if you picture sort of a quintessential little Spanish village, and it is Altea, you cannot, you couldn't draw it more perfectly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I feel like Roda Altea have that kind of similar vibe.

Speaker 2:

It is beautiful and getting to kind of the last point in our timeline, in the 50s, in the 1950s, it's really when it started to become this kind of artisty, craftsmanship. You know these people who are kind of more, I would say, quote-unquote hippie-ish, you know you have that kind of a vibe that attracted people like that. And one thing that I want to mention about Altea is, you know, know, we talk about all the energy, the vibe that you feel somewhere. You go to Benidorm, as we discussed before, there's a certain vibe. You go to Guadalajara, there's a certain vibe. Altea has this very calming vibe. It does it doesn't.

Speaker 2:

It's almost like even when it's busy, it doesn't feel like anyone's in a rush.

Speaker 1:

No, and you know it's actually funny. You mentioned that I've. We've been there many times when it's busy, but it's never loud. No, it's benet dorm is loud, always, always. We went last summer in the height of summer, very hot day that we were there. Yes, um, I mean they're people, but it's not this like frenetic loud kind of energy. I think maybe it's because the church is in the middle and somehow people know to well, maybe control themselves and in the, and I would say independent of your religious background.

Speaker 2:

I don't know what it is about that church or about the dome, but I always find that whenever I walk in there, it's just all of a sudden you just feel this calmness yeah and I want.

Speaker 2:

I want to say it's maybe because there's a lot of intention. You know when people you know go into a church, and this happens in a lot of different churches, but that one in Altea is just got that particular, really good energy about it. Also worth mentioning that Altea the name comes from Altaya, which means to heal. So there were some people that attributed healing properties to the town, maybe because of the closeness to the sea or because of the great climate, but there is something there that you know, it's a, it's a calm, uh, chill out vibe it absolutely is, and we actually have our sangria.

Speaker 1:

That we'll talk about, but and would you say you have a favorite little place to go in altea? I, I have a little favorite place. Tell me yours, mine is the, I and I'm I cannot remember the name of the little jewelry shop, okay, um, the one that we always go in yeah, little things.

Speaker 2:

It's really cute I love that place. It's in that street that looks like almost a little tunnel yeah and that has the arch at the end.

Speaker 1:

I mean there are many jewelry shops there, but even though there are quite a few, each one has its own style. Yeah, so his is a little bit different and he opens, he said, every single day of the year, including Christmas Day, that's the one thing as well.

Speaker 2:

If you're looking for like a day out when other places are going to be closed, you are still going to be able to go shopping. You're still going to be able to go look around. It is a very family friendly place as well. So most of the restaurants that you go to, you know people will be with their kids and the stores. I would say one watch out point for our fashion lovers and shopping maniacs, a little bit like Nalini and I the stores are a tiny bit overpriced, like I remember. I was looking at some dresses a couple of weeks ago that maybe elsewhere you would have been able to get for a third of the price.

Speaker 1:

But because you're walking around Altea, yeah it's to be expected yes kind of like a little con it is kind of like a little con it is.

Speaker 2:

That's what it is, and the other thing as well I think it's worth mentioning that may be surprising to people, even though we're focusing on the old town is that there is a massive uh population of Russian people in Altea, and even one residential area has the street in Russian as well as Spanish.

Speaker 1:

Yes, is that in Altea Hills it is.

Speaker 2:

Altea Hills and actually I believe that Putin had a house. That's, that's the word, and yeah, and it's. This is quite interesting actually, because I had a friend that was one of the top jamon cutters in Spain. This gentleman gets flied out to Japan to cut ham and he's cut ham for the king and all this kind of stuff, and he was many times requested to go up to Altea Hills to different houses where he couldn't say where he was at but, you know, to cut ham for some of the Russian community there.

Speaker 1:

Oddly enough enough, that was the first neighborhood that we looked at a house in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's beautiful, it's beautiful but depending on where you're going to base your life, it's a little bit far away.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's even a russian orthodox church there yes, we tried to get there the the day that we went, but it was just a little. We had too much going on.

Speaker 2:

It's complicated awesome, to say the least so, nalini, anything else you want to mention about altea before we move to our slice of?

Speaker 1:

life. Um, I would say, just before we get to that, we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant called the crown, and that's another thing. Um, you, you can have italian food in altea, you can have traditional spanish food, you can have indian food, which is the crown. It's a cute little restaurant. Uh, you have to kind of go upstairs, so if you have a bit of an issue with stairs, that might be difficult. But the patio upstairs overlooks the, the mediterranean would you say it's authentic, indian?

Speaker 2:

uh, quite authentic, or I?

Speaker 1:

would say so, yeah, right, and the service is great.

Speaker 2:

It's just a really nice and the food honestly is delicious good and not expensive anyone looking for somewhere that you want to have like vegetarian or veggie options. That place is amazing no, you know it really is fantastic.

Speaker 1:

We ate the three of us for under 90 euro.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, including three drinks, I think so the crown is a great one and if it's summer, ask for a reservation on the terrace. Upstairs you have a 360 degree view of the mountains, the sea, but that one you have to get really kind of up front in order to be able to to get so, yeah, anything else other than the crown that you want to mention?

Speaker 1:

uh, no, just wear flats, otherwise you will twist your ankle no, be forewarned like in the san fermin, please, no heels.

Speaker 2:

If you want, if you want to survive, yeah, flats recommended awesome okay, slice of life of season two exciting, exciting we've introduced cheers cheers nalini to a great season one and thank you to everybody who listened.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, what are we drinking, laura? We are drinking the quintessential spanish drink to people from outside Spain sangria. But we were having this debate growing up, I don't think I saw many people ordering sangria, unless it was like a really hot day. You're by the beach, you're having paella and you know it's like you're in that touristy mode, even if you live there.

Speaker 1:

Here it's more Tinto de Verano though.

Speaker 2:

Tinto de Verano is definitely being what's come up, and it's quite different to Sangria, so maybe let's talk for a moment about what's in the Sangria. And you can check out the video as well that we made for socials Everything.

Speaker 1:

You put everything. There's a little bit of vermouth gin triple sec.

Speaker 2:

Vermouth gin triple sec. Vermouth gin triple sec. Red wine. Red wine, of course, which gives it the bloody color of the sangria, which is sangre in Spanish means blood.

Speaker 1:

Maybe not as appetizing when you look at that. I try to do the history of sangria just to learn about it. There are many backstories to it. I don't think any of them are necessarily true. I think it's just that you have a cheap bottle of wine, you have leftover fruit, not even leftover fruit, you just have fruit in the house. In the summer it's hot and you kind of just make, mix it all together with some ice and enjoy, and I think it's become a very you know, as you said, quintessential what you sort of anticipate to drink if you were to visit Spain. But honestly, Sitting at a terrace, yeah, I don't see a lot of people drinking it.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's got a ton of sugar in it, let's face it. So you can put just about any fruit in there. Mostly people put oranges and lemons and right at the end you add some fanta or fanta lemon, fanta orange and for more sugar in case yeah in case you didn't have enough sugar. Just a little more sugar, yeah so sugar from the fruit, sugar from the alcohol and actual sugar is in sangria.

Speaker 1:

So oddly enough, we are eating uh sugar today. Yeah, because in altea there is a a really cute um pastry shop called sabor and it is owned by a spanish family. It's passed down I think now maybe the third generation, but the original owners of it. They fell in love with pastries. They went to Valencia there it's a Spanish family to learn the art of pastry making. They went to Barcelona to learn certain techniques.

Speaker 1:

They traveled to Belgium, to Paris, so their recipes are, I would say, say I mean up there with any sort of pastry shop you would find in, let's say, france. Yeah, they're beautiful pastries, they have beautiful ice creams, all made in-house. They have their uh location in altea but they also service other restaurants because, as an expat here, when you eat out at a restaurant, I would say in my experience here, as an expat here, when you eat out at a restaurant, I would say in my experience here as an expat, if you go out for a typical Spanish lunch, let's say at two o'clock, and it's a long lunch and you've got lots of things on the table and the drinks, I don't really ever recall ordering a dessert because I don't feel, in terms of culinary history, the desserts are very prevalent here.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think you and I are not very kind of dessert people. So, I will say, though I do think a lot of people do have a sweet tooth, as you know. Yeah, my family has a shop that sells cakes and everything else you know called Valentina's Coffee Shop, shop that sells cakes and everything else. You know called Valentina's coffee shop and the. I have to say that it's always amazing to me how many people actually have dessert for breakfast you know they come and have like a piece of cake for breakfast.

Speaker 1:

That's what I think here. Like you see more people having sweets earlier in the day, or sweets by themselves.

Speaker 2:

yes, you know, instead of like after a big meal, right, you have a dessert. It's kind of sweet by themselves, with a cocktail, with a drink, exactly which we'll talk more about a little bit later in the season.

Speaker 1:

So should we try this? Yeah, so I got us ice cream.

Speaker 2:

So let's see.

Speaker 1:

I don't remember what flavor this is, sorry.

Speaker 2:

It tastes super kind of tastes like donut. I think this is donut ice cream. It's tiramisu, are you sure? Yeah, I think it tastes like donut.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it's tiramisu donut but it's delicious, by the way so we have an ice cream tiramisu.

Speaker 2:

It's definitely tiramisu, yes, I can feel it now. Uh, tiramisu ice cream from sabor, and nalini has brought some wonderful desserts from sabor, so should we give this a try? Yeah, okay this is.

Speaker 1:

I don't know which one this is. I am going for the chocolate.

Speaker 2:

Let's see. Hopefully this doesn't end up all over my dress so good, so good, oh wow it tastes like nutella and snickers that's so good, just to wash the sugar down I'm going to have a sip now of my drink okay, I'm gonna try a little bit of this raspberry one. It's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 1:

Let's go like a green sort of salt on it that looks like a pistachio salt almost yeah, I would recommend, if you go to altea, have a nice lunch somewhere and then stop at sabor after for your dessert, because it's delicious it's delicious and they're really homemade, high quality ingredients. We I think I have my coffee in the cara for at sabor, maybe four times a week?

Speaker 1:

yeah, okay so, uh, laura and I did a little field trip on our own a few weeks ago to the fonts del algar, yes, which is another fantastic place to visit. Um, it's a series of waterfalls. Like, how would you explain a series of waterfalls?

Speaker 2:

Like, how would you explain series of waterfalls? It is so font means fountain, right? So it's a naturally occurring waterfall. Yes, I guess water coming out of the mountains nearby and it makes like a little river with some waterfall and some small natural lakes as well, yeah, so I think it's gorgeous, again one of these places that in the summer you either have to go before everyone else or maybe after, because it does get quite busy, yeah, and if you're looking for your Instagram photo, you cannot get it in the middle of the day.

Speaker 1:

It's impossible.

Speaker 2:

Now, we did because we were crazy enough to go in when it was absolutely freezing and everybody was staring at us like we were crazy enough to go in when it was absolutely freezing and everybody was staring at us like we were entertainment.

Speaker 1:

We, we were literally the attraction, because people were on the bridge, they were watching us. It's kind of um a little embarrassing, but then at the same time too, we sort of didn't care the water is cold, but it's so refreshing and it's a really magical place, I have to say that I kind of like that.

Speaker 2:

It's cold.

Speaker 2:

Me too it kind of feels like you know. Now there's this whole vibe around cold plunging and everything else. It's the natural version of that. It's so beautiful, it is clean. It's not a somewhere that you know. It's like kind of like sometimes when you go to some of the beaches, there's like all the algae and everything. And I know it's like kind of like you, sometimes when you go to some of the beaches there's like all the algae and everything. And I know that's naturally occurring and it should be there, but this is just feels like really pristine yeah, it's a different experience and you can picnic.

Speaker 1:

You can take a little picnic if you want, but you have to kind of hike to the top? I think yes, so be prepared if you for the brave ones.

Speaker 2:

You can actually jump you one of the areas.

Speaker 1:

We weren't going to do that. The kids did it in the summer. Yeah, we weren't going to do that.

Speaker 2:

But you can jump into the water. There is a part where you can do that, so definitely recommend Fonts del Algar. The actual Rio Algar actually ends in Altea. Yes, so very, very, very cool, so definitely recommend it. So that's a little bit about the fonts, and we want to introduce something in, uh, season two about we're gonna have since we have the slice of life, we're gonna have a drop of tea. Yes, so a little bit of just a little bit of gossip or what's going on out there that we think may be kind of interesting to our listeners and always kind of ties back to Spain in some way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, do you want to?

Speaker 2:

tell us the tea for this time.

Speaker 1:

Well, I thought today we would just have a quick discussion about Meghan Markle and her new brand and her the brand logo, which is quite similar I would say almost identical it's basically.

Speaker 2:

So the way I, the way I see it, it's almost like you take a logo, you put a filter on it, yes, and it the colors are different, but the actual logo design is exactly the same. Yeah, it's a.

Speaker 1:

It's a the logo from a small mallorcan town. Okay, if you pronounce the name, because my pronunciation is the r's are hard right. Yeah, so the town is called porreras yes, there are a lot of r's, so the town is called porreras and the.

Speaker 2:

They've had that um coat of arms, or you know, they've had that since the 17th century.

Speaker 1:

So they've had it forever and it's a town of less than 6 000 people. They've been put on the map.

Speaker 2:

The mayor, uh, her name is shisha chiska chiska, chiska, mora and, and chiska, interestingly enough, is also the name of uh nadal, the famous tennis player's wife, and I was telling nalini the other day I think this must be like a mayor keen name because I've never heard the name chisca before. Just you know people from mallorca. So chisca mora, she is the how do you say? A female version of a mayor. Mayor, okay, yeah, so she's the mayor. Yeah, and yeah and she so.

Speaker 1:

She said she's very grateful, in a way, that their little town that nobody has heard of. First of all, where the town is located is in the center of Mallorca, which often, for tourists, you would not visit that town. It's very rural, but if you happen to drive the length of the island which I've done many, many times it's really beautiful. It's a really spectacular like jaw dropping drive. Nobody's ever talked about her town, so she's really happy they're on the map. However, their little town doesn't have the money to sue Meghan Markle, so I think she probably looked at this situation in two different ways.

Speaker 2:

She said Okay, we don't have the money for lawyers to go ahead and sue, like Meghan Markle, for copying our logo, so let's make the most out of this. So she actually came out and said that she invited her to be the patron of the fiestas for the town. We'll see if she answers, but we thought that was quite interesting. You know that at the end of the day, you know things like this happen all the time, but I wonder if megan's actually heard about it. Has it made enough noise in the news that she's actually heard about? You know what happened with this little town in mallorca, because it's all over the news here this is the front page in english newspapers.

Speaker 1:

There you go, so all right all right I'm not saying anything bad about megan markle, no please don't come after us.

Speaker 2:

We love you, sort of Okay. So, nalini, are you ready? I'm ready.

Speaker 1:

I have my drinking hands. Sentence of the day. You have your drinking hand. Yeah, I'm ready.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so we're going to start soft this season. I'm not going to make them too hard at the beginning, and by episode three you'll want to kill me. How's that? So for this one today, the sentence is estar metida en el ajo, okay. So let's try and kind of go backwards. What's ajo, garlic, garlic Estar metida. So the method To be in the garlic, to be in the garlic Okay, estar metida en el ajo. What do you think that means?

Speaker 1:

Okay, if I were to use an English phrase maybe you're in a pickle, You're kind of part of the problem?

Speaker 2:

Oh no, but almost You're in a pickle Right and maybe you didn't realize you're part of the problem. Ah, okay. So estar en el ajo is like all of a sudden, you realize that you are part of whatever, the problem is, or what's happening Estar en el ajo, Estar metida en el ajo o estar en el ajo? Inside the garlic, oh, good, good, I don't know why. If it's because you know garlic really smells and and once you're in the garlic you kind of can't get away from it.

Speaker 2:

But that's the sentence is you are a part of the problem, friend.

Speaker 1:

You know.

Speaker 2:

so it's like estar metida en el ajo. All right, good Cheers. We're looking forward to a great season with the listeners. Please remember to follow or subscribe so you don't miss an episode.