Overview

¡Hola a todos! Hope you've all been well.

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Background

In this one I head south from the city of Valencia to Alicante, another city in the region of Valencia.

Where are you right now?

Right now I'm in Alicante, Spain which is a province (and city) near the very southern tip of Valencia.

Again, here's the region of Valencia on a map:

My Travels

Done with the background, let's get into the travels.

Where did you stay?

In Alicante I decided to get away from the hostel a little bit and I booked a stay in Ibis Budget Alicante. I was able to find a fantastic deal for an eight night stay, but the only catch was the hotel was about a 40 minute walk from the city central. Me being me I decided to go and book it anyways because there just so happened to be a botanical garden, a cliffside view and of course a white-sand beach to walk along as I went back and forth.

This was probably the most walking I've done in such a short period - ever. Seriously, I must have set some kind of tourist record in this process.

Lots of Walking

In case you were curious, here's an actual table of the steps and distances I walked during my stay. I am staunchly anti-taxi, so I even trekked to nearby cities, somedays by foot:

Date	Steps Walk	Distance (miles)
Day 1	9,439	4.9
Day 2	30,004	15.8
Day 3	37,473	19.8
Day 4	32,538	17.2
Day 5	28,678	15.1
Day 6	23,402	12.3
Day 7	24,527	12.9
Day 8	19,521	10.3
Day 9	18,757	9.9
Total	224,339	118.2

If you know someone who can verify if these nine days broke some record, then have your people call mine.

This is what my walk to and from the hotel looked like. First, a quick stop by a very large arboretum with a bunch of different types of frogs:

Then, a nice view across the open water:

And finally, a pass by the the mountain range that ran nearby. What's cool was the city is nestled right between the end of the mountain range and the coastline:

Walking the streets

With all this walking I was also able to see a lot of really cool sights. Here's a great view I head on an evening walk of the entire city:

During my stay in Spain, I've spent a lot of time going in and out of various shops I pass to build a better vocabulary by reading products. It's been nice to have quick conversations as I go and to meet a wide range of people.

University of Alicante

Unfortunately, there was no university within walking distance of where I was staying, and trains are only for when I'm coming and going between my stays. Sorry university, you're out of luck this time.

Castle of Santa Bárbara

One very cool attraction that I went to was the Castle of Santa Bárbara. This is a very old (even by Spanish standards) fortress that sits atop Mount Benacantil and overlooks the city. What I really liked about this visit were the views and the atypical design of the castle. Where most fortresses are the usual castle-shape with with high towering walls, this castle was spread out and longer, which allowed for lots of walking around the cliffside.

Here's a view of the side wall, and the short doors that were place for quick entrance and exit for defenders.

And here's a western and eastern view of the coastline. By the way, to get up here I hiked a half mile straight into the mountain in a tunnel then took an eleveator straight up which was pretty interesting.

left side of Santa Bárbara castle coastline

right side of Santa Bárbara castlecoastline

What have I been eating?

Food here was a continuation of many of the dishes I had in the city of Valencia. Here's a nice meal I had before I left:

Course 1: Cold Egg and Ham Salad

Great refreshing start to the meal.

Course 2: Chicken Filet with Salsa and Fries

I really liked this salsa, it was mostly onion and pepper and had a creamy taste.

Course 3: Cold Flan

Flan is a very important dessert that's eaten in Spain, and really across the world. The dish is made with eggs, sweetened condensed milk, cream or whole milk, and flavorings such as vanilla, orange, coconut, or coffee. If you want a good tip, try to eat a cold desert like this flan with a hot drink like tea or coffee.¹

Course 4 (bonus round): Crepe with Condensed Milk

Also, since I've been getting my steps in I went and got this bonus crepe a little while after. The strawberry, red drink is called granizado and is basically a slushie, just less sugar and fruit-based.

Miscellaneous

What have I been listening to?

It's Over Again - Mild High Club

Here's a good track from a quieter pop band from Chicago. One thing about Alicante is that it was so, so hot. In fact, during my stay it was the peak of the heatwave in western Europe. Regardless, this is a nice relax and look at the water kind of song.

brb. - move

Continuing with the on-the-beach theme, here's another good track I found during my stay. See how there's a period after the group name? Based on some of the previous hits I've found during my travels, I'm convice that if you find any groups or songs with a period after their name then they will also be a hit. Seriously, prove me wrong.

Where am I headed next?

Next, I'm switching things up and heading south to the city of Murcia, which is located in the region with the same name. I'm planning on looking at a famous art museum and cathedral in the center of the city.

Closing note

Feel free to add any comments or reactions below. To do so, you'll have to make a GitHub account which is free and really easy. You can make a GitHub account by clicking here. If you want to send something privately feel free to email me at hello@jseanpa.tel. Thanks for reading, it means a lot. I'll see you again soon.

Footnotes

Unfortunately I was not able to follow my own tip during this meal↩