Alicante is a gorgeous Spanish Mediterranean port city, with marinas, a coastal esplanade, lots of sun, and loads of people walking around and eating/drinking at the many outdoor cafes. Today was all about rain until late afternoon, however, so the photos are a little…darker than usual. But the rain didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for this beautiful place.
Dominating the city, high atop Mount Benacantil, is Santa Barbara Castle. Its oldest sections date to the 14th century, while other parts were added in the 16th and 18th centuries. An elevator takes you to the top for just under $3 US round trip, a real bargain for saving you from hiking up the mountain you see in the first photo! The views were incredible, as you can see. So, the first photo is the castle from down below in the city, while the following ones are of the castle close up.
Next up: the Explanada de Espana (the Esplanade) is lined with palm trees, and its walkway consists of 6.5 million tiles in a wavy configuration, as you can see in the photo after all of the castle pictures. Following this photo is another walkway just past the first, which looks like an Escher drawing, like you are going from block to block. The third most important “character” in the story of stunning Alicante is the Mediterranean. Look at the magnificent marina and ocean shots, both from sea level and from high up in the castle. The first of the ocean shots, with closed umbrellas and a lone sailboat, looks very lonely and cold..almost as though the umbrellas are icicles lining the beach. The marina seemed to have thousands of boats docked. Since it was rainy and later in the afternoon on a weekday, most were probably “home” for the day.
Following all of those are various sights around town, mostly statues and artwork. After the angel on the building, our favorite statues are the well-dressed man at the cafe, the dueling knights, the lovely welcome to a traveling person with suitcases, the nude (of course, as it has such a sensuous shape!), the surfer coming in from his day of fun, and the last one…a striking monument to Jose Canalejas, known as the Protector of Alicante. Just to the right of the statue is our beautiful hotel, Casa Alberola, newly opened, just sparkling, with the friendliest staff we have encountered thus far. We got to stay in one of the round tower rooms that you can see, with views of the promenade and marina. It is glorious!
