Alicante Day 2

The day started pretty early cos we wanted to get out before it got too hot. I had saved a walking tour of the area near our hotel on my phone so we followed that route about town. It was delightful and we saw some gems including the Theatre and the Miro square.

Our next stop was a well earned breakfast of porras y chocolate (basically thick churros).  It was good but nowhere near as good as our favourite porras place in Malaga.

It was starting to get hot at this point even though it was only about 930. The beach was already pretty busy too. We were headed to the castle and there is a lift that goes to it from the waterfront which is much better than schlepping way up the hill! The lift didn't up til 10am so I went a wee quick paddle while we waited rather than just stand in the direct sunlight.

The castle was great (and free!), the views were tremendous! We ambled about a bit then had stop at the cafe for a wee drink cos we overheated. While we were sitting an adorable wee squirrel was hanging about near us so we got some shots of it. We continued our castle viewing for a while after that enjoying the sculptures dotted around the place as well as the ruins and the views.

Back at ground level we went and saw the old town hall and sat outside for a bit enjoying the cold cold beer (me) and coke and tortilla (k).  Our next stop was the modern art museum (free!) and we went via a wee wander about the old town en route, the Basilica Santa Maria D'alacant was particularly beautiful. The Museum was great and there were a few pieces that I'll look up for more information when I get home.

Post museum was lunch time so we decided to go to Sento Barrio since it was too busy last night. We grabbed a table in the shade and ordered patatas arrugadas to share and they were one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. We also got 2 montaditos to share, one with sobrasada and honey and one with jamon, cheese and asparagus. Both were great so we ordered a couple more! K had one with sobrasada and melted brie and I had one with thin steak, parmesan and pesto - what a time to be alive! We then went for fro-yo for pudding. It was self service with about 10 flavours and a million toppings and sauces. We were quite restrained and spent about €8 between us but a lot of people were going mental! My favourite fro-yo I tried was green apple. K liked donut flavour!

We were done in at that point but decided to get a coffee on the way back to the hotel. We sat in a wee square surrounded by weird trees that looked prehistoric.

Back at the hotel we both had showers to cool down and watched some paralympics, we missed Balding!

At about 6 we headed back out and decided to get the tram 20min up the coast to San Juan. The beach there was beautiful, much wider than the one in alicante. We grabbed a seat at La Sureña which was practically on the sand. We got a bucket with 5 bottles of beer and a plate of chicken fingers for €6.50!!! We just chilled there for a while enjoying the views and drinking beer juice.

Back in the city a while later it was dinner time. I really fancied a salad and we'd heard good things about La Cocina so we headed there. We were not disappointed, it was incredible! We shared a big salad with nuts and a wee bit of goats cheese which was super fresh, we also shared 3 mini arepas each with a different filling,  stroganoff fries and a Croqueta each. My Croqueta was sobrasada, goats cheese and caramelised onions,  it was sensational! It was good that you could order the croquetas individually cos I was full to bursting but was really glad I could try it. I couldn't have managed a full portion. The owner was so so very nice and even gave a wee shot of a homemade Venezuelan liqueur at the end. Amazingly this whole feast in a really nice, modern restaurant was only €18! We tipped way more than the Spanish way because we felt it was too cheap.

After dinner it was pretty late but we went a wee wander down to see the beautiful fountain at the Placa de Los Luceros and a wee 50c beer juice which I couldn't even finish cos I was so full. Afterwards, even though it was Spanish early (11pm), we just came back to the hotel via a supermarket to buy water cos it has been a long long day. I genuinely can't believe that some of the things from this morning were today cos it seems so long ago!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the final day of our mini break. We're meeting up with Cath at some point cos she's in town so that'll be cool.