Two weeks in Alicante....living the good life.

Happy travelers

What more can I say about this jewel of a town called Alicante, Spain.  From my perspective and that of my friend’s, the Holland/Rhodes and their two children (young adults) who are with us, there is something here for everyone to enjoy. Our flow here starts with a good night’s sleep, leave the apartment about 10 AM for coffee and a croissant, visit one of the great museums, then a walk around town or up to a castle/fort, take a delightful nap, go to the beach for swim and sun, home or out for dinner and play some games before bed. This is just perfect for me.

Castillo de Santa Barbara

This little city of about 350,000 sits right on the Mediterranean Sea with its white sand beach and blue green water and it’s hundreds of coffee spots, tapas bars and restaurants with food that will never stop satisfying a hungry traveler. Also for us are the many excellent museums which are free here. I highly recommend this as a perfect weeks’ vacation with great weather and ample sunshine almost all year around. A caution I will give is that the summers here could be a bit on the hot side especially if you like to walk. Alicante has a few hills going up from the sea with the two Moorish castles or forts, which give the visitors a perfect view of the cities and its beach.  We ate out twice to enjoy the paella of the region and a forkful wasn’t left behind. Lastly let me not forget the ice cream and gelato places especially if ice cream is your passion which is one of mine.

Dragon Fruit

Thank you for traveling with us again in Spain.

Sending love,
Ricardo

Were winding down our two weeks in Alicante. We spent the first week on our own and the second with our good friends from Buxton, England...Dan, Fiona, Aidan and Will. How fun to travel with a family and enjoy good times together. We stayed in two different locations in this small beach city and will leave here feeling that we have a good sense of this place.

It is a tourist destination and we were here during Semana Santa and Easter Sunday which is a busy time with many religious events. Our weather was perfect - no rain (though they need it badly) and for the Brits, it was a lovely warm getaway.

Esplanada de Espana

Once again I will list our various activities to keep our memory alive. As usual, we started our trip with the City history walking tour with guide Jose. He was fun and full of knowledge and the city has a long history with several rebuilds after destruction during wars. It is on the Costa Brava which is along the Mediterranean and has a lovely beach within walking distance of both of our airBnB's.

700 + year old ficus tree

Playa del Postiguet

Santa Cruz neighborhood

Alicante is another great walkable city and we’ve explored most areas during our time here. The backdrop to the city is the mountain with ruins of the Castillo de Santa Barbara on one side and the Castle de San Fernando on the other. We walked up both giving us fantastic views of the city and the beach. Another walking tour included legends and the less touristy neighborhoods of Carmen and Santa Cruz.

We enjoyed some of the many museums all over town. First the Museo de Contemporary Art, and then Bellas Artes Fine Arts museum. The Ocean Race Museum, right on the harbor, tells the story of the big sailing race that goes around the world and leaves from Alicante every 3 years. It is modern and with many exhibits giving a real feel for what these talented sailors go through in this grueling race.

The Water museum gives the history of water in the city and shows the original wells used to store water until it began to be piped into the city in 1898.

We visited the Hogueras Museum which explores the festival of large sculptures similar to Las Falles in Valencia which I already wrote about in the last post.

Terracotta Warrior

We saved the best for last – the Archaeological Museum. We happened upon the unique exhibition of China’s renowned Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta Army is one of the most famous attractions in China and is considered to be one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world and one of the greatest discoveries of the 20^th century.

Most of our days included time walking along the beach and enjoying the Spanish very laid-back lifestyle. Lots of eating – tapas of papas bravas, padron peppers and of course the paella. The rice and spices are a bit different in Alicante than Valencia but mostly to my taste it was the nearly the same.

Building sand castles

On our last day, today, we traveled out of the city to Elche (a smaller city 30 min away) with a large botanical garden and big Palm Garden.

Showing off for the camera

Palm Garden in Elche

We have changed our final week's plan. Because of the unrest in Paris, we have changed our return flights and now will return from Madrid. We will spend our last week in Cuenca, Spain which is new for us. I will let you know what we see and do next week.

Thanks to all for traveling with us. We are grateful for your many comments.