Wednesday was our last day of touring around from our El Campello base. There was 'prime' sight we'd not gotten to, el Castell de Santa Barbara. It is a monumental castle built on a high mountain overseeing the city of Alicante. Like everything here, its roots go back to Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman times. But the current citadel was put in place during the later phases of the Moorish times, the Almovid rulers of the 11th and 12th century.
I, in my mind, was looking forward to seeing ruins from that time period. However, because of the strategic location of the castle and the importance of harbor, the castle was rebuilt and revised many times over the centuries. Therefore, what we saw was actually dating primarily from the 18th century.
Nonetheless, we it is a very scenic location.
Mandatory, of course, is the pre-ascent photo of the fortification in its entirety on the mountain top
(Insert forgotten photo here)
Substitute one taken from much higher up
Moving on, how about mandatory views FROM the mountain top
Looking back toward El Campello
A photo of our tram line which for some reason I feel is necessary to put in this post
View of Alicante Harbor
And beachfront
And beachfront and harbor
Wait! Wait! What's that in the upper corner?
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ye Olde Dreaded Cruise Ship! de-I's nemesis.
Espouses Fotograficus maintains her cool despite the eminent threat
(Note - Espouses has critiqued this photo and told me there should be separation between the cruise ship and her in really top rated picture. Duly noted. Make sure of separation.)
Piracy remains a problem on the coast. Here they sweep up unsuspecting tourist kayaking folk to sell to the digital marketing encampments in Israel.
View of the bullfighting ring in town
And other old fortifications in Alicante
Panorama from up top the castle
One of the few remaining sections from Moorish times - a rare, traditional, Almovid cell towwer.
Purely Photographic Section
THE MEAL
We had probably the best meal of our stay in the Alicante area. After trying to find something after coming down from the castle without success, we decided we had enough time to back to El Campello. Not far from the tram station was the restaurant recommended by Wife's knitting group for pizza. We'd been there earlier. They didn't have pizza available then but we had a very good menu del dia. The place, Bar Restaurante Lami, did not disappoint. Wife had the pizza at last while did the menu del dia again.
Wife's Pepperoni Pizza
For the menu first course they again had a cream of vegetable soup. This time the flavoring was completely different with a significant saffron touch, a hint of cured ham, and some spiciness.
The next course was lentils. Now lentils can be kind of boring. These were cooked with two kinds of sausage, and cured hams. I ate every bit. Please note the perfunctory parsley to ensure there is a vegetable component to the meal.
The main course was called chicken toscana. I had no idea what to expect. I kind of thought it would be simple chicken breast. Instead, it was chicken legs with this incredible sauce. I am careful with the superlatives, but honestly, his sauce was as good as anything I can remember for a long time. And I could not even begin to deconstruct it or figure out exactly what its components were. I was stuffed and took half of this and all the leftover sauce home.
The dessert course was called a cake but was more like a coconut custard pie without the coconut. Wife and I finished all of this.
We also brought home most of the pizza. We had a wine, soft drink and coffee. And yes, it only cost $26.
2 comments:
It is indeed rare to see a moorish cell tower!
The parsley garnish reminded me that my late husband regularly tried to convince be that the pickle slices in his chicken sandwich counted as a serving of vegetables.
I definitely would not be able to fit into any of my clothes after weeks of eating like that - fantastic!
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