Exploring Coastal Spain - Part 1

The second part of my sabbatical trip was visiting the eastern coast of Spain, also known as Costa Blanca. I have visited most of the major cities in Spain a few times, so I thought this extended time would help me see more of the country (and also enjoy the nice weather).  

Costa Blanca refers to a region in Spain in the Alicante providence, covering over 100 miles of coastline.  The name “Costa Blanca” has no significant historical value. It was allegedly created by an airline in the mid 1900s to drive up interest in the area, and means “The White Coast”, in reference to the white buildings and beaches often seen in the towns that make up this region. 

My first stop in Costa Blanca was the actual city of Alicante. It is one of the largest cities in the region, with around 375,000 people living there. Its name comes from a love story between a princess and her lover, who both killed themselves, and then whose father killed himself after finding out. It is a combination of their two names.

Unfortunately I had a flight delay getting in to the city, so I did not arrive until quite late my first day and just went to bed. More about that in another post. What became my first day in Alicante city started out with a city tour. It was very difficult to find any tour groups for Alicante (most are day trips to other cities, snorkeling, or wine/tapas tours), but I found one on Airbnb. Joining me were a group of four Italian women and a post-grad backpacker from Denmark. 

The tour began at the central market in Alicante. The market is actually the largest market in Spain, which I found surprising having visited many of the others, but I was surprised at the scale. The market covers two floors: the first, typical meats and cheeses, and the second, seafood. The seafood is so fresh that the market does not have any seafood on Mondays because ships do not arrive into the city on Sundays.  Our tour guide gave us some tips and we tasted some meats and cheeses. It was a very quick part of the tour and I wish we had more time. 

After the market, we visited Castillo de Santa Barbara. This castle towers over the city on a mountaintop overlooking the beach. The castle was originally built in the 9th century by Muslims. Part of it was reconstructed once Christians took over, so you can see some influences of both in the architecture. The views from the castle were incredible, and it allowed our tour guide to point out areas we should visit. 

After the castle, we hiked down the mountain to the old town. I felt bad for the Italian women as they came dressed to the nines and were wearing nice sandals. However, we all made it down okay and saw a family of kittens on the way. Old town has two parts: an older and then a “not as older” part. The older section of the city has whitewashed buildings, which transport you to the Greek islands. Many of the homes are very tiny and our tour guide showed us the skinniest house in the city. The newer part of old town switches the palette to very colorful buildings, including some with tiling, which was reminiscent of Portugal. 

One thing to note here is our tour guide mentioned not many tours come through here. There were some homes with signs up that asked you to be quiet or (less polite) for tourists to go away. I got a sense that they are worried their quiet streets will one day become crowded with tour groups. 

After the tour, I went to the main beach within Alicante city. Some of the locals told me to avoid it due to crowds, but I wasn’t about to take a train for over half an hour to get to another one. The beach was not too bad; I quickly found a spot and enjoyed the sun and sound of waves in the background. 

The rest of the afternoon I walked around the city a bit more to get more familiar with it. I also did some shopping so that I’d have a pair of chinos to wear to nicer dinners while I’m in Spain. I always forget they tend to be a bit dressier here, and I didn’t want to show up looking like one of those American tourists. 

I had a nice dinner that I’d highly recommend, and then closed the night out with a nice walk around town.