My short break in Alicante [1] [2]
[3] [4]
[5]
Making my way back amongst the palm trees and colourful flowers
and plants, I eventually reached my car and drove onwards towards the city centre,
a photograph of the pelican with a permed mullet safely stored on the memory
card of my digital camera.
Alicante Harbour and Beach
The promenade in Alicante is truly magnificent. After
parking my car, I took a walk along the mile-long promenade towards the harbour.
At the far end of the promenade there is a great beach, but there
is an extensive harbour spanning most of the promenade. Luckily it was before
midday and the temperature wasn’t too hot. Besides, there are plenty
of palm trees dotted along the promenade which give shade. On the
left of the promenade were the many shops, restaurants and hotels
which have prestigious views of the sea and harbour, but I decided
I would see them later.
Rounding the
promenade at the bend where it leads down to the harbour end, I sighted
an interesting statue standing in the water: a seven to eight foot
statue of a naked man holding a tiny surfboard. His body was huge,
but the same could not be said about his head, which compared to
the rest of his body was pea size. He seemed to be looking suspiciously
at his spectators, as if to ask why we were all staring at him when he was
undressed, and after a few minutes, his expression got the better of me and
I walked on.
Here I found plenty
of bars, including one named Coyote Ugly (named after the bar in the film of
the same name), and plenty of restaurants, mostly selling seafood. Although
I don’t
really enjoy seafood, I have to admit that the look of the lobster, mussels
and shrimp all laid out with fresh vegetables was enough to make me want to
steal all the meals, dive on a speedboat and make off with them. Alas knowing
my luck, the nearest thing I could probably dive into would be a rubber dinghy,
which would become punctured on a rock and I’d be captured and imprisoned
in one of the castle dungeons. Thinking of that prospect, I forced myself away
from the seafood and returned back to the promenade.
Alicante City Centre and Restaurants
Walking towards the city
centre, I found a Mexican restaurant across from the promenade, where I could
sit outside in the shaded dining area and enjoy watching the variety of people
passing. I had a delicious chicken dish, but there were plenty of enchiladas
and fajitas on the menu. Not that I would swap it with that chicken.
Finishing
my meal, I walked on, finding even more restaurants and small shops.
For fast food lovers, there was a McDonald’s on the corner
of a road leading up into the city. If there’s something that
connects all my travels together, it’s these
chain stores: no matter what part of the world you’re in, you
shall always find a McDonald’s or Burger King. In junk food
we must trust, although I would never swap that Mexican chicken for
anything.
I
walked upwards into the city centre, coming across the central shopping
area of Alicante. There were plenty of well known high street ..
Gallivanting in Alicante >
Gallivanting in Liverpool >
Gallivanting in the Lake District >