Alicante

So this weekend the girls and I decided to take a mini vacation; because we have all had a hectic first few weeks here, especially in the classroom!

So Saturday morning we woke up a non-Spaniard Saturday hour of 7 am, and got ourselves to the bus station and on the 915am bus to Alicante.

Alicante is a city, still part of the Comunitat Valenciana, and is 2.5 hours south (by bus). The city is smaller than Valencia, still pretty big, but very walk able.  There is an airport that may be bigger than Valencia’s, and there is also a very high population of Erasmus students (Erasmus students are students who come from other European Universities as a type of exchange- a high Erasmus population usually means high levels of partying and lots of bars)

When we arrived to the city after a nice relaxing bus ride at 1145(and of course a pre-siesta) we booked it for la playa (the beach). We opted to go via taxi, to get onto the beach ASAP.

When we arrived at the beach, we settled down and asked ourselves “where are the young people?” Everywhere we looked, there were senior citizens! We thought this was a jovenes (young people) city! We contemplated this for a few minutes, then remembered that young kids party by day/early morning, and don’t wake up until after 1pm.

Low and behold, by about 2pm, all the old folk packed up their umbrellas, chairs and newspapers, and headed on out. Instantaneously, all of the young kids must have rolled out of bed hungover, and hungry and plopped themselves on the beach with their bocadillos (hero/sandwich, but 10 times better).

Like the beach in Valencia, the water was gorgeous, warm, and left a salty residue on your skin. But the weather that day was perfect: not too hot, the sun left your skin feeling warm, and there was a slight breeze to keep you from getting too uncomfortable.

Once the sun had set behind the city, we packed up our stuff and headed on foot to our hostel that thankfully, was very easy to find.  Our other stroke of luck: we booked a 6-person room for 4 people, and ended up with no other roommates!  The hostel was gorgeous and everyone was very nice. Our room was equipped with 3 sets of bunk beds (which may or may not have slightly resembled a jail), a shower, and a separate toilet (kind of unsanitary, but convenient when sharing with numerous girls)

The hostel was about 5 or 6 floors, and there was also a nice common room, a bar, and a beautiful roof top terrace for a nice botellón (bring your own bottle and sit around and drink it)

After showers and relaxation, Nora, Margaux and I headed out on a Vino Mission for our botellón. We walked quite a distance, but found a Mercadona (one of the major supermarkets) and purchased 2 bottles of wine, and a LARGE bar of Nestles chocolate for a total of 2.90 euros.  (every girls’ dream come true)

We happily trekked back to our hostel to join some Italian boys and Canadian girl for some wine, chocolate, grapes, and broken conversation which included lots of me mispronouncing Italian words on purpose, like mozzarella and ricotta. But I did impress them with my word “Attraversiamo!” which I learned in my bible, Eat Pray Love. 

By the time we were just about done with our wine and our chocolate was long gone, 10 pm had hit… It was time to meet up with another Fulbrighter!

Lauren was placed in a school near Alicante, and she chose to live in the city (good choice, Lauren!)

We met Lauren and her Irish/English friends for Tapas, and had an excellent time. Lauren is adapting well to the city and making lots of friends. The city seems like it is small enough to start recognizing others as regulars and making friends (a luxury we may not have in a city like Valencia)

Day two in Alicante, we woke up early, checked out of our hostel, and started to subir (to climb) the huge hill to get to the Castle of Santa Barbara. This castle is amazing and catches your eye from anywhere in the city. It is the highest point, and quite a hike up. An elevator ride is also an option, but I always try to maintain some sort of activity (I have to stay in shape to teach gym now, ya know!)

The climb was pretty difficult, and it is still quite hot out, but it was very rewarding. I was also quite nervous I might break one of my favorite Target sandals, but then I remembered this castle is pretty old, and back in the old days, people walked up this hill with worse footgear than some Target sandals. So my trek continues with one less worry.

At the top the views were absolutely amazing. I could have hung out up here all day. We did spend a good hour or two just admiring the views of the city and the Mediterranean (and maybe doing some people watching as well)

 All in all, the weekend was great and very worthwhile! (We even managed to spend about 100euro or less each! And bus rates are not as cheap as people believe….)