Alicante, Spain

Another beautiful day in a lovely port. Alicante is the second largest city in the province of Valencia. The waterfront is full of lovely buildings, esplanades and lots of cafes. The city was founded by the Romans who named it Lucentum, city of lights. It was incorporated into the kingdom of Valencia in 1308. The current population is 340,000. The area is mountainous and in the summer the temperature can reach 100 degrees. There were some pretty beaches with white sand.

It was held by the Arabs for 500 years from the 8th to the 13th century. It was a busy port starting in the 1800’s. The fort we visited was built in the 11th century by the Arabs. It is called Castillo de Santa Barbara.

After leaving the fort was did a walking tour of the old city center. We went to the city hall and learned that the first step there is elevation zero for all of Spain. Also in the city hall is a Dali sculpture of St. John the Baptist. When we were in the city hall there were lots of staffs filled with rosemary sprigs. On the next day there were going to be upwards of 300,000 pilgrims walking from Alicante to a church 8 kilometers away in honor of some saint (did not get the name).

Our last stop on the tour was the cathedral named for St. Nicolas de Barre, the patron saint of Alicante. The organ is from the 18th century. The interior of the church was very plain, but the altar was ornate. No columns or stained glass.

We next made our way to the promenade. It had mosaics that reminded me of the walkways in Rio, wavy. They are in 3 colors, red, black and white, and represent the Mediterranean Sea. Along the walkway were tall palm trees. There are exactly 365. During our free time we went to the Ocean Race museum. It was very interesting. The Ocean Race is an around the world race in huge sailing yachts. It always starts in Alicante and this year will end in Genoa. The videos about the people who do this race were amazing to see. Here is a link about the race. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ocean_Race

All in all a very interest day and it was Bob’s birthday. He got a special cake at dinner and the waiters and staff sang to him.