We started the day by heading the short distance into town through the park. There was once a river running trough this city, but it dried up many years ago leaving a dry river bed, which in turn got turned into a park with well established trees and lots of fountains. It still seems a little strange though to see these old bridges that seem to be several centuries old, complete with buttresses to withstand the current, spanning a leafy green park. Kinda cool though. What came as a surprise was to see Toi toi growing and a dignified row alongside one of the flower beds.
After exploring the city a little more we headed in the opposite direction along the river bed to the fantastic architecture displayed in the l’Hemisferic, l’Umbracle, Palau de les Arts, and the Museu de les Ciencies buildings. These places are stunning and you can understand how they won the architectural awards with them that they did. With the brilliant blue sky that we have today the pristine white of the buildings look stunning.
After spending way too much time being mesmerized by this city, we finally left for our destination today, Alicante. What we have found through Spain is that the countryside at times reminds us of parts of Italy, at others it seems to be as you would imagine Mexico to be, and then there are parts that look like they have been borrowed from the Grand Canyon. Today was no exception. Traveling through fairly flat scrubby drylands with olive trees and citrus orchards. Then the terrain became steeper and we were straddling high peaks of craggy looking rocks.
We had a stopover at Altea, which at first seemed to be a nice little, typically Spanish town. But as we left, we found it to be much bigger than we thought, sprawling over quite a large area. The part that we stopped in must have been the old town, and it was very quaint. Very steep streets restricted to foot access. An old church in its centre with a roof tiled with brilliant blue glazed tiles. The houses (mostly white) creating the perfect contrast against the sea and the sky.
When we arrived in Alicante and found our hostel in the middle of a building site. Well more accurately the buildings all around it are undertaking major renovations. As we look out of our second floor window we look straight across the small square to the Basilica de Santa Maria. 30 degrees to the left is that huge rock that looks down on this town. The top of this big knarly rock are covered with the fortifications whose size can really only be appreciated from the beachfront. Large ramparts across the summit, and then zig-zagging their way down to the town. From the beachfront you can take an elevator up through the centre of this rock to the summit.
When we got back to our room from our wanderings, we were looking out at the Basilica and admiring the view, when the bells started to toll. Oh my God!!! What a racket. Those bells are substantial and they have a sound to match. These things chime every quarter hour and they take most of that time to wind down before they start again. We just hope that they turn those puppies off overnight.
After exploring the city a little more we headed in the opposite direction along the river bed to the fantastic architecture displayed in the l’Hemisferic, l’Umbracle, Palau de les Arts, and the Museu de les Ciencies buildings. These places are stunning and you can understand how they won the architectural awards with them that they did. With the brilliant blue sky that we have today the pristine white of the buildings look stunning.
After spending way too much time being mesmerized by this city, we finally left for our destination today, Alicante. What we have found through Spain is that the countryside at times reminds us of parts of Italy, at others it seems to be as you would imagine Mexico to be, and then there are parts that look like they have been borrowed from the Grand Canyon. Today was no exception. Traveling through fairly flat scrubby drylands with olive trees and citrus orchards. Then the terrain became steeper and we were straddling high peaks of craggy looking rocks.
We had a stopover at Altea, which at first seemed to be a nice little, typically Spanish town. But as we left, we found it to be much bigger than we thought, sprawling over quite a large area. The part that we stopped in must have been the old town, and it was very quaint. Very steep streets restricted to foot access. An old church in its centre with a roof tiled with brilliant blue glazed tiles. The houses (mostly white) creating the perfect contrast against the sea and the sky.
When we arrived in Alicante and found our hostel in the middle of a building site. Well more accurately the buildings all around it are undertaking major renovations. As we look out of our second floor window we look straight across the small square to the Basilica de Santa Maria. 30 degrees to the left is that huge rock that looks down on this town. The top of this big knarly rock are covered with the fortifications whose size can really only be appreciated from the beachfront. Large ramparts across the summit, and then zig-zagging their way down to the town. From the beachfront you can take an elevator up through the centre of this rock to the summit.
When we got back to our room from our wanderings, we were looking out at the Basilica and admiring the view, when the bells started to toll. Oh my God!!! What a racket. Those bells are substantial and they have a sound to match. These things chime every quarter hour and they take most of that time to wind down before they start again. We just hope that they turn those puppies off overnight.
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