Alicante Spain

From The Fort

Castillo Santa Barbara

  Although this is a few days late and I just posted about today in Pordenone, I wanted to go back and try to remember some of the other great things we have done on this trip.  Alicante was the stop we made while on the ship the day after Gibraltar.

   We had planned to just wander all day but the hop on hop off bus was offered at a very good price and we decided not to limb the stairs to the fort. We teamed up with Rick and Patti from Highland Lakes Florida for this day.
   The bus saved a lot of energy.  The fort is called Santa Barbara and has been there for eons.  The original site goes back to Roman times and perhaps before.  The sites from the top were very impressive.  The fort was unlike others that we have visited in that there were many forts within forts all protected by the necessary slopes and high walls.  They currently use the well kept part or special exhibits.  There was one on pirates but we decided to move on to other things.

Harbour

     Our next stop was the local market where we were able to

Beach Walk

get some fresh pastry and a fine Valencia orange grown in that region of Spain.  That provided us with enough of a lunch to keep us going for a little bit.After boarding the bus again, we decided to get off at the waterfront and just walk.  Rick and Patti went to the local museum but we strolled along the marina and eventually found ourself at the beautiful waterfront park.  It was a year warm sunny day and there were plenty of the Spanish population enjoying the warm sun.
    We followed the beach almost to the end where we found a place called "Rampoelas" where we sat and had a Sangria and some tapas. In this case it was some fried fish and green olives.  We did spend a bit of time just sipping and doing some people watching.  Then back to the ship for our sail to the next stop which was Barcelona.
 

Enjoying A Cool One

 They did have a sail away party that day so we decided to go.  The cruise staff stayed for about 30 minutes with the usual dances but then left.  However the band played on.  So the 4 of us stayed and did line dancing to the music they were playing.  Between Patti who knows lots of dances and myself we were able to entertain ourselves and the people watching until the band finished.  Needless to say it was a good way to end the visit to end our visit to a very nice and welcoming port of call.