3. Alicante - a city mini break 😃

A perfect photo opportunity 

We’d heard many comments over the years on what a lovely place Alicante old town is - yet some people have commented that Alicante doesn’t have anything to offer other than restaurants - so here was our opportunity to find out for ourselves 😃 Arriving in Alicante on a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon (in January), you could have been mistaken for thinking this was the height of the season - it was mega busy, with traffic jams all the way along the promenade, thousands of people milling around the beach, and influencers posing for their Insta content every which way you looked 🤣 But turns out this is normal Sunday activity 😃 So far from our preferred cup of tea, but here we were - so ready to give it a go! 🤣 We’d done our homework on where to park, and thankfully this worked out well - very different from our previous stressful experience of arriving and parking the van in Porto! 

Staying in the Santa Cruz barrio of Alicante Old Town, just below the famous Santa Barbara Castle, was a perfect location - the oldest part of Alicante, originally inhabited by the Moors, and intricately designed to bring coolness and shade in high summer temperatures. The picturesque little house that we rented turned out to be one that is featured on many websites and photographs, and leads steeply up to the castle on the hill above. This inevitably meant loads of steps! The whole area is a maze of beautifully painted houses, many adorned with brightly painted tiles and verdant succulent foliage, interspersed with beautiful little squares and seating areas. 🤣 Walking through the barrio the place was buzzing, with loads of lovely looking cafes, bars and restaurants - clocked these for later 😃

Our lovely little blue house

Walking through Santa Cruz

Looking up to the castle from our house

Steep steps down from the castle 

Beautifully decorated houses

View from our roof terrace

Looking up the castle from our roof terrace

The 16th century Santa Barbara Castle dominates the city from on high. Built into the rock, it is a huge fortress type of structure, and extremely camouflaged from a distance. It’s a bit of a trek to get up there (there are actually minibuses which ferry people up, and also a lift), but given that we were probably half way up the hillside as our starting point, we put our best foot forward and started the climb - and what a challenge it was! It turned out to be a really hot day, so a bit of a struggle for Rubes in particular 😢 Anyway, we made it up there and the views out to the sea were stunning - can definitely see the importance of its historical strategic position as a major defence fortification.

Santa Barbara Castle 

Stopping for a breather half way up to the castle 

Circumnavigating the castle walls

Dave on guard duty 🤣

Inside the castle walls

Always keen to find out what the local market has to offer, we set off at lunchtime to explore. What a delight it was! As well as all the usual stalls full of fabulous looking fresh produce, what caught our eye were the few tiny little cafes interspersed among them. Already seeming busy with locals eating and drinking, we squeezed our way in. Our first day experience was Mexican themed, and totally delicious - particularly the chicken mole and the mushroom quesadillas, both totally unlike how we would know them at home. Going back for more the following day we settled on an authentically Spanish stall, keen for some cheese croquettes, patata tortilla, and “Grandma’s meatballs’ - all absolutely delicious, and very good value. All washed down with a fabulous glass of vino tinto or cerveza 😃 Watching locals come and go, just having a small tapas and a glass of wine, we thought we could get quite used to lunchtimes in Alicante 🤣

Alicante market

Trying the tapas at the Mexican cafe

Mexican cafe for lunch

Chicken mole - delicious 😋 

Spanish tapas for lunch

Grandma’s meatballs 

Wandering more widely around the city we came across loads of beautiful small squares with lovely shaded sitting areas, many full of huge tropical plants and trees, thoughtfully designed to keep the area cool. The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall - and one of mine and Dave’s favourite Spanish words 🤣) is truly spectacular, commanding a huge square of its own. In complete contrast, the small quirky street Calle de Setas is a whimsical fantasy wonderland of yellow brick roads, toadstool houses, and giant mushrooms - created as part of a regeneration project during a state of economic decline. Lots of interesting little shops and cafes along here, and the perfect place to sample the famous Alicante empanadas 😊

Lovely plaza next to our house 

Cool squares

Ayuntamiento 🤣 

Wandering the yellow brick road 

Calle de Setas

Loved the way they stamped the description of the filling on each empanada 

Struggling to make sense of the prohibitive signs along the promenade, we took a  risk and let Rubes have a run and roll on the sand. The beach is a huge and generally very popular. Not particularly our cup of tea, but we did enjoy (and chuckle at) watching the Insta Influencers at work 🤣 The main promenade that runs along the seafront, connecting the old town with the new, La Rambla Mendez Nunez, is a beautiful tree lined tiled walkway. The wavy floor design is really spectacular, creating an interesting illusion of motion - I guess mimicking the waves of the ocean. Passing by the marina there is a beautiful bronze sculpture of Icarus emerging from the water with a surfboard - quite spectacular. We had hoped to visit the  Ocean Race Museum - Alicante being the start point for the Round the World Race - but unfortunately it was closed the days we were there 😢

Wavy walkway along La Rambla

Palm trees lining La Rambla

Tropical trees & blue skies 

Castle view from the marina 

Icarus emerging with surfboard 

Round the World Yacht Race - starting from Alicante

You’re never short of food options when in Alicante - in fact, spoiled for choice 🤣 Although many restaurants were clearly geared towards tourism (hence not having to wait until 8.30 for dinner 😃), places did look nice and were generally positively reviewed. The first night we settled on a lovely restaurant, part of a community social club, very popular with locals, and extremely welcoming to Ruby - we were in! Food was delicious 🤤 Interestingly the other nights we opted for Italian - both really nice, and not overly expensive 👍 

Dinner in the Social Club restaurant 

Extremely tasty salmon salad

Pre dinner drinks at a lovely Spanish bar

Tasty burrata

Just about warm enough to sit and eat outside 

Delicious Pizza

So after our two day city break, it’s probably fair to say that for us, Alicante was mostly all about food and drink 🤣 It was lovely ambling around, seeing the spectacular architecture and beautiful public spaces, the fabulous walkways and extensive tropical foliage, but one of its main attractions - the huge, crowded city beach - was not really our thing. What we did enjoy though were the lovely bars and restaurants, the fantastic small authentic cafes and food stalls, and the generally laid back atmosphere, as well as the warm temperatures. Our house was perfectly located. Relaxing on our rooftop terrace looking out over the city in one direction, and up towards the castle in the other, soaking up the sunshine, was lovely 😻 Would we come again? Well, maybe  - if we were ever in the area again we now know of a very centrally located place where we could park up and stay for the night, so if we fancy a lovely evening of wining and dining, then Alicante is just the ticket 😃 And apparently there are lots of great mountain biking routes that start from the city and head out into the surrounding hills, so Dave would definitely be keen to revisit  and explore 🤣 So who knows…..Will keep this open 😃

Off back to the mountains now to work off some of the delicious food we’ve eaten over the past couple of days, and to wait for a call from the bike shop in Denia on the fate of Dave’s bike🤞

Hasta Luego 😃