Mostly Spain 2023 - First Visit to Alicante

 We've told most of the world that we are visiting Alicante in Spain. The truth, as you readers know, is that we have in fact been in the small town of El Campello. Today, after a week of getting settled, we were ready to head into the main city of the area. This involved figuring out the tram line getting from El Campello to the Alicante. 

One of the nice things about this area is the tram system extends a long, long way up the coast from Alicante. That means you can live quite a ways out from the city in a smaller town and still take public transportation into the main city.  Despite there not really being a whole lot of tram lines it is still a bit of a mystery as to how we pay going north of here versus going south to Alicante. 

Nevertheless, we secured our tram card yesterday (we can use one card for both of us), loaded it with credits so were ready to head into the city. You all know that de-I and Wife ARE VERY EXPERIENCED TRAVELERS. We know what to do and how to be prepared. So it will be no surprise to you that we arrive at our stop in Alicante realizing we've not brought a singe one of our maps, guides, or tourist office information. AND as we take the escalator up from the tram station to find it is raining (despite weather reports claiming there would be no rain today), we realize that neither of us packed our umbrella. (This is not 100% true. I was SURE I had put my umbrella in my backpack. But, I could not find it. Until the rain had passed. At which point, Wife asked if there such thing as a common law divorce.)

Thankfully, the center city of Alicante is not very complicated to navigate and I did have my phone with access to various maps. We meandered our way in without a whole lot of energy. Until we stumbled into a photographic wonderland!

Spider Eyes

Lots and Lots of Opportunities for Candid Shots

Study of Lamps

Alicante's Well Known Waterfront Promenade

Public Buildings and into the Old Town

The Old Moorish Castle that we will visit on a future visit

Lunch - More Spanish Food! TAPAS

I loved the little tie on our napkin

Patatas Bravas - a very famous tapa - deep fried potatoes with a creamy, spicy sauce on them - the star of the meal

Olives come as part of the meal. They were quite good.

Croquettas with Jamon Iberico - Okay but not as good as the Patatas Bravas

We also had chicken in garlic but I forgot to take its picture. It was tasty but needed some salt. 

It was a very satisfying meal and with drinks (coke, bottle water, a glass of wine) was $31.

And let us finish with...

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Every once in a while there is a sign that just needs no explanation