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Alicante, harbour and Castillo Santa Barbara
Playa Postiguet
Hogueras
Alicante/Alacant, chief town of its province, lies in a picturesque bay on the southeast coast of Spain, at the foot of Mt Benacantil, which is crowned by the Castillo de Santa Bárbara. Alicante, known to the Romans as Lucentum (the "place of light") and to the Moors as Lecant, is a town of modern aspect. Alicante is both a summer and a winter resort. In recent years new parks and gardens have been laid out and many streets have been widened.
Alicante city centrum is always very busy, so when walking around, checking all the beauties of the the old architecture, down to the pedestrianised Paseo Explanada de España (runing parallel to the harbour, always check when crossing street. It is very common cars (and motorbikes) are driving through red light; Alicantiños are not really a careful nor polite drivers. Accidents do happen all the time.
Paseo Explanada is very popular in the evening as a "chating place".
All restaurants (except some junk food) opens late e.i. at 20.00 or later. If you spend your day walking around and you feel hunger, forget about eating at 18.00; you had your time to sit and eat between 14.00 and 16.00 or later when the night life begins. For non-Spaniards this is pretty late, as everybody gets out around 11 in the evening or even later. Old part of the town, known as El Barrio, has a lot of pubs, restaurants etc., but one should avoid this part as staying over night in the Barrio hotels. Spaiards are always in some kind of celebrations and "fiestas" so you won't get your beauty sleep there.
Maybe the the most famous is Hogueras or also known as Fiesta de San Joan at the end of June (24.06.) when the city stages its own version of "las fallas" - fireworks, music, festive bonfires.... During this week, the city centre is closed for traffic, Spaniards take this week off, partying the whole night and sleeping over the day. At the end of the fiesta smoke is all over town as Hogueras are burned.
Alicante has quite nice, long beaches. Immediately north of the port is the sandy beach Playa de Postiguet, but larger and less crowded beaches are at Playa de San Juan, easly reached by bus number 21 or 22.
Busy airport is located just 11km from the city center; bus number C-6 goes there 3 times per day or you can always take a cab as there are plenty of them all around.
The place is nice, recommended for a week or so, but prepare yourself for "slow life", "crazy drivers" and "laud crowds".
p.s. DO NOT allow yourself to visit this place without speaking at least very basic Spanish; they speak Spanish and Spanish only, unless you are lucky and you bump into a foreigner.
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