Alicante, the province and the city
Alicante was one of the places we had pinned on Google Maps, as a must-see. The whole province was supposed to be filled with sights and things to explore. Especially the esplanade in the city was supposed to be magnificent. And the rumors were true.
We could easily have spent a month in the Alicante Province, but Sandra (Malthe’s daughter) had announced her arrival and we had to meet her in Málaga. So we had to settle for just a week in Alicante. For now.
The foundation of Alicante
The first thing we saw was El Tossal de Manises. It’s the ruins of the Roman town of Lucentum, which is the origin of Alicante. Like many other ancient towns, it’s located on a hill, with a good view of the surrounding area. These days for our pleasure, but back then an important part of being able to defend the town from hostile intruders.
El Tossal de Manises is a rather new ancient town since it only dates back to 400BC. The city is still under excavation, so even though it currently covers a fairly large area, it indicates that the ground is hiding even more.
For those of you who know us and have read about our other adventures, you also know that we like well-preserved ruins a lot. Walking around inside them, imagining how life was back then. Without a doubt people were hard-working, but somehow their simple lives also seem appealing to us. These ruins show how not everything evolved around work and war. The communal baths, the town square, the small shops, and even a tavern is to be found in the ruins. People have actually lived here. Sleeping, eating, laughing, and falling in love.
Costa Blanca
The 200 km Spanish coastline named Costa Blanca, the white coast was something we had really looked forward to. We came offseason before the tourists arrived, so we almost had the beach to ourselves. As far as the eye could see, the clean, white beach welcomed us and we weren’t disappointed. The water was warm and crystal clear. This was the first swim in months and it felt absolutely amazing and gave us a taste of the coming months.
The city of Alicante
The esplanade, Explanada de España, runs along the port and is an amazing piece of art. The 6.000.000 tiles in 3 colors are forming a mosaic wave effect and the palm trees on both sides create an atmosphere like nothing else. At the esplanade, a lot of small booths are selling everything from local products for consumption to T-shirts and beautiful scarfs. Normally street performers are juggling, riding unicycles and making artworks at the esplanade too, but that’s in the tourist season and we “only” met one of the world’s smallest persons. Since Spain doesn’t really have an economical safety net for disabled people, she earned a living, by having her picture taken with tourists.
The buildings and the big fountain along the esplanade are incredibly beautiful and all the palm trees make the area look like the Miami we see in movies. It would be fun to visit in the summer too. We imagine there will be people on rollerskates, booths selling icecream and much more too.
Just outside the city, Castillo Santa Barbara is located. It’s the city’s landmark and is such a beautiful castle, that it needs its own blog post.
A lot of small markets
Alicante and Spain in general have a lot of small, wonderful markets. Actually, almost every town has one or more. At the fixed markets you can mainly buy fish, meat, and vegetables, while the weekly markets have a lot of stalls, which are mostly packed with clothes, shoes, and accessories at very low prices.
Angus in Santa Pola
In the small town Santa Pola, is a beautiful marina, that we drove to on our scooters. As you can see, the weather was fantastic and we got hungry from all the sightseeing. So we stopped at the small restaurant called Ristorante Lugano and ordered burgers. Those were the best burgers we have tasted so far! Made of 100% Angus Beef. And with the great view of the boats, it all came together perfectly.
Playing with lemurs
In Elche, we visited the amazing animal park Rio Safari Elche. Here we came close to all sorts of animals and even got to pet a giraffe. You can read much more about that right here.
Much more to see
When we return to Alicante someday we want to see all the other great things in the area too. On our bucket list is Parque Natural de las Salinas, where wild flamingos live, Peñon de Ifach, a big limestone cliff with an amazing view and also the old fortress Guadalest. Plus of course all the other things we find interesting on our way.
E&M
– Text and photos: Eva // Adding, photos and photo editing: Malthe
