In Alicante

[Mac]

It's good that Alicante, like Málaga, can exist as a thoroughly
Spanish city so close to the nigtmare developments of the coastal
strip. Benidorm! Marbella! The very names mage me grue, yet peple I
know go for their holidays there every year. Alicante is good for
winding down after a couple of weeks on the road - down by the Puerta
del Mar, blinking at the optical illusions beneath one's feet along
the esplanades, or along the wide avenidas, although a couple of them
are entirely torn up to extend the new tram system, which as yet is a
bit of a joke, extending only northwards, and rather slowly and
infrequently at that. The bus system is efficient, but not visitor-
friendly, as a route map is not published!

The large Mercado Central is in fine heart, and there are some
monumental, if not very elegant, buildings in the old part of town
where we are staying, including the large Basilica de Santa Maria,
whose large one-handed but accurate clock is very usefully opposite
our window, but apart from these the only must-see is the Castillo de
Santa Barbara high above us, with unparalleled views of the city and
surrounding sierras and frequent exhibitions in its various halls. It
can normally be reached by acensor, over 200 meters diagonally through
solid rock, but this is at present closed through 'technical
failure'. I'm glad the technical failure didn't happen when I was in
it. The driver of the replacement bus grinned when I asked when it
would be fixed: "By Christmas past, but this is Spain, you know!"

The Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina (MUBAG) below us houses quite a
small collection (but with some delightful portraits), in a fine
building with excellent acoustics, so the international piano trio
(Russian, Italian, Uzbek) sounded brilliant last night in the (free)
concert - real treat for us living as we do fifty miles from the
nearest city.

Do you know Lizarrán? I'm not a fan of uniform food and drink chains,
but whoever thought up this idea, popular with visitors and locals
alike, must be a multimillionare by now. An ever-changing help-
yourself array of tempting montaditos, bocadillos, pinchos, anything
which can be served with a toothpick through it - you pay by the
number and shape of toothpicks left on your plate. Presided over by
cheerful, jokey staff, they are found in all major Spanish cities and
have now gone international. They have chased McDonalds out of
Alicante, which can only be a good thing, and I liked this touch of
modern Spain.

Just to counterbalance scathing remarks on accommodation made earlier
this trip, I thought I'd mention a couple of places which might
actually be useful to others. What we look for is a cheerful welcome
to a clean, comfortable double room with private facilities (bath, not
shower, at my wife's insistence, and piping hot water) and free
parking, all for about EURO 40. We don't always find this, of course, but
if you are driving between Madrid and Andalucía, then the Hotel Meson
Despeñaperros in Santa Elena at the south end of the pass fits these
requirements, as does the Hostal Quatrellunos in Santa Pola of you are
taking a car back to Alicante airport.

We´ve made our winter trip a month earlier this year, and it has made
a difference: there are still few tourists around, but the
countryside is bursting into flower and we've hardly had to use the
small electric heater bought in desperation on the Aragon trip a few
years back.

But El Meteo tells us that winter is returning, and a freezing gale
this morning wrecked a large show pavilion by the port. And more to
come. So perhaps it's as well we´re off home tomorrow.

¡Hasta el próximo viaje!

Mac