Alicante



..the second fortress



Well, I was supposed to leave today but seems the reception desk in Denia is closed Mondays...? Was a bit late to do anything serious by the time I found this out, so went to see a few sights that I hadn’t time for yesterday, and spent a bit of time on the beach. Did find out that that fortress thing yesterday is in-fact just that, built in the early 19^th century with the idea of slowing down Napoleon...seems it didn’t succeed.

Early documents speak of faces in the hillside below Santa Barbara Castle – they refer to them as the ‘Moorish faces’. I thought I had noticed something resembling a face, but didn’t really pay any attention until I went back and looked at some of the pictures I had taken earlier – most are fairly abstract, but If you look really closely, one is fairly pronounced... You may have to squint to bring it into focus ... :)

Santa Barbara Castle as seen from the backside

I climbed the hill again for fun (and also so I could take the elevator) ...by the way, the access tunnel is 200m long and the lift up is 150m, which were installed in the ‘60s. There was another tunnel dug in the 1700’s by the French, but its only purpose was to contain a bunch of gunpowder with the idea of blowing up the castle – they did partially succeed, but the resulting landslide also destroyed many 100’s of buildings at the foot of the hill.

Would you believe this building was originally commissioned as a house? Seems the guy had an issue with the concierge at the hotel he was staying at so he had 'such a house built as to outshine the hotel'.

 Trip total 11209km

Alicante

I was supposed to head straight to Denia (up the coast a bit) as I am booked at a resort there right now but I decided this place looks like it has character and I should stay here for a couple of days. Mostly by luck I have a most excellent hostel right under a huge (well really, really tall hill with a fortress/castle on top. And next door is a church and a block away there is another and another...and they all seem to have bells – the good thing about that is that I always know what time it is! Went for a walk this morning before the sun came up and managed to find a way up the hill (most ways are gated off till 10am) and got about 1/4 way up – took pictures and went down for breakfast.



...view from the rooftop patio
No, that is not a giant snail, it is a giant bell!



After breakfast I went all the way to the top, then down to the beach for a bit, but it was hot and I wasn't properly dressed, so now I’m sitting on the roof-top patio (with the church bell ringing about 10m away) as I write and put together pictures...



 



It is February, and the beach was crowded! Ok, so about the castle on the hill (Casteo Santa Barbara)... I know I went on about the one in Eivissa, mostly because it was so complete - including the old town still enclosed behind the walls, but this one is perhaps even more impressive. Not only is it at the top of a seriously impressive hill, but it is also huge! From this angle (down here on the patio) you don’t realize how big the top of the hill is, and consequently how large the fortress is.



a really long tunnel



The only reason this place loses any points is because there is no town, but that wasn’t the way it was built... It does have an elevator to the top however...and a really long tunnel to access it...Anyway, Ren liked it so much she is going to stay here a while and look down on everyone!





 



Saturday night...seems everyone goes out for eats and drinks on Saturday evening...and then there was the ‘parade’ – well more of a march to protest the austerity cutbacks (mostly it would seem to the public sector) so even more people were out (we’re talking in the thousands)! Speaking of public sector...everywhere I’ve been I notice the street cleaners out at dawn and other people cleaning and picking up garbage everywhere.

Perhaps if the average citizen could figure out how to use a waste bin...! But I’ve also noticed the average citizen is somewhat unconcerned by a lot of things... they seem to think someone else will take care of whatever... somewhat like a child with an overprotective parent. Anyway...I arrive in town around 8pm and things are just starting to pick up – by 10 things are really rolling (most restaurants/cafes/bars are open till midnight) ...and the club around the corner finally closed at 8 this morning. In this part of town there is a restaurant/cafe/bar every 20m it seems and most are doing a fair good business.



During my walk round town this afternoon I came upon another ...something...that could have been a fortress ...maybe? It was really big and a lot looked really old and could be really impressive if it was cleaned up. This one apparently was not a world heritage site (like the other two I've gone on about) and has been left to rot. Literally covered in graffiti, part of it simply serves as a convenient place to mount a bunch of communication antennas and part has been converted into a kind of playground...really quite sad... Does make one wonder who is paying for the upkeep on the world heritage sites... Speaking of graffiti, I came across some that actually had some true artistic value! (Bubble letters are NOT art!).

Trip total 11191Km.

Barcelona

Well, it was a really good idea, but in actuality it ended up being a lot of stress and work. On the other hand it was a lot of fun and I likely would do it again given the chance. In the end I only had three and a half hours in Barcelona itself, after accounting for trains, waiting, finding a luggage locker...all those mundane little things that end p cutting into your ‘fun time’. So it became somewhat of a marathon.... I am glad I was able to visit, but it wouldn’t be the first place I return to...I found it really big and really busy and really, really crowded –especially after being in sleepy little(ish) towns for the last couple of weeks!

Last night I started to clue in that I needed to be prepared, so I got online and found out the locations of a bunch of ‘places to see’ and plotted them on my map and uploaded to my GPS (which ended up saving the day) then went to bed early so I could get up early. Got woken up a little too early as my new neighbours came home around midnight and had a little get together on the balcony – thankfully didn’t last too long but of course I couldn’t really sleep after that so at 5:30 I finally just got up and had a cup of tea. The taxi arrived at 7:00 and I arrived in Barcelona 13 minutes ahead of schedule.

Finally made it into town at noon and soon realized that there was just way too much stuff to see if I allowed myself to be distracted – there is art or culture or history or something around every corner (not to mention another corner around every corner).and not just little stuff – most of it is really, really big.

 I eventually left the crowds behind and ended up in the gardens above the city. Very peaceful and beautiful (and really a long walk). I planned my tour in a kind of circuit with a second exit that cut things short in case time ran out. I had set myself a time limit that I had to start my return run for the train at 3:30 . Well it was all going well until 3:20 when I realized all the gates to the garden I was in had been locked except the one I came in – which was now nearly a kilometre behind me... and then the street I need to be on is closed so now another half kilometre to go around..thankfully I had the second train station programmed into the GPS so I made a bee-line for it...If nothing else, it was exciting! I know I wouldn’t have dared doing what I did without the GPS to navigate by. I see people all the time with street maps trying to figure out where they are and how to get to the next place and I remember being just like them and I smile and say to myself “I hope my batteries don’t run out!”

Saturday night in Alicante – got to the hostel at about 20:00 and the evening was just beginning so I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Trip Total 11172km

Eivissa

 

Cathedral, and castle above upper fortifications

old town and lower fortifications...

Absolutely massive!

... can you see the two workers on the wall

 in the forground?



I was actually quite impressed with Eivissa, especially the old town (Dalt Vila) which sits on the hill high above the 'modern' town. Dalt Vila is, for the most part, a fortified town and much of what didn’t survive (relatively) recent history has been restored....and it is all free – no entrance admission anywhere for anything (that I saw). I wandered in here for hours – absolutely huge – gigantic – massive, yes massive is the right word. I’ve never been in a fortification before that you would walk for 20 or 30 meters through the fortifications to gain the inner grounds... and as to the height of the walls... well, let’s just say, “wow”!



...how about now if i zoom in a bit?
That is a road along the top of the wall - wide enough for a semi!



The town was originally built on the hill some 2800 years ago by the Phoenicians and fortifications were added later to provide protection from pirates and invaders. Most of what can be seen today is much more recent however, such as the current fortifications which were 'upgraded' in the 16^th century.

 

one of the lower bastions overlooking the port



 Just outside the lower walls, the streets (in the newer town) are well worth a wander as they are chock-full of cafes and shops and plazas. It may not be worth the €100 ferry ride on its own, but if a person had other reasons to be here, they could easily occupy themselves here for a couple of days...and then there are the beaches, nice ones, lots, big....empty! (but that is sure to change in 2 months)

Trip total 10244km....so the question becomes whether or not I can break 20,000km.... The circumference of the earth is about 25,000km isn’t it? Nope, won’t make that. J

Sant Antoni de Portmany

...island of Ibiza in the Balearic Sea ...which is in the Mediterranean Sea. I was a bit confused at first because there was this place everyone kept calling Ibiza Town, but all I could find on the map was a place called Eivissa ....and then I remembered some pronunciation rules, and it started to make sense....and then I found out a different dialect is spoken here, hence the spelling... (but I don't suppose that's going to matter to me much anyhow as no one understands my Spanish anyway...) I'm not in Eivissa, but on the other side of the island near San Antonio (or Sant Antoni, depending...) in an area called Port des Torrents, which ...and I don't mean to be mean or anything, but in winter this place is about as alive as a slug in salt water... My apartment building is on the beach and quite modern and large, but currently I am one of the only residents, so its a tad 'quiet' here even for me ...so I walk the 4km to town every day to see people. My apartment does have a wonderful view though. Sant Antoni has a rep for wonderful sunsets (probably due the haze from the mainland on the horizon) ...anyway, as luck would have it they occur on a fairly regular basis (almost exactly every 24 hours) right outside my window - which is pretty cool... oooh, look, there's one right now!

So, no new photos, but I was modifying the context of some old ones by blowing up small pieces

  

 Trip total 10,192km

Malaga

  Strange thing happened today - I got up and it wasn’t sunny. Didn’t know what to do! Ended up taking the train to Malaga, and as fortune would have it, by the time I got there the sun was working again. Malaga itself is fairly standard – it’s got the old town with the tiny streets and a square at every corner and an impressive old church/cathedral/mosque in most every square and an old fort on a hill and a palace – you know, the usual stuff. Since the fort “Castillo de Gibralfaro’ has been sitting up there looking over the town for 700 years, I decided to go there first. Its a fair good hike up (~130m) but there are lots of benches and lookouts along the way and obviously lots of good views from the top.€2.20 to gain admittance to Gibralfaro and €3.65 to see both Gibralfaro and the palace below (Alcazaba) that Gibralfaro was built to protect. On the way down, pass through the Alcazaba Tunnel and in about 100m you can find a most excellent tapas cafe (on Calle Mundo Nuevo).



YUM! One free tapa with each beer!
those are little mini burgers and
eggplant con miel - delicious!



Once again, the only customer, but the tapas were superb! ..and cheap... There is definitely no shortage of cafes and restaurants to choose from in the old part of the city – nearly every square and every street has one, if not a row...



another square with another monument and more cafes - actually this
one was quite neat - absolutely huge!

 Trip total 9382km

 


- Alcazaba Tunnel -
look carefully and you might
see me sitting there enjoying
a beer and tapas in the sun!

  
 


art is everywhere - a wall of glass at the port



more art in the middle of the street!



and must not forget, El Toro!

Benalmedena

...typical

Tried to do a bit of studying today but got bored and went for a walk – had the thought that I might take the gondola that gives a 600m lift to the top of the mountain, but unfortunately it is still winter. Speaking of which, I heard a rumour that it’s the coldest winter in 25 years... I don’t think it really qualifies as cold here, but I will admit the mornings are rather chilly. I’m thinking the nail is pretty much in the coffin for the term ‘global warming’!

Took the bus to the old town Benalmedena Pueblo which is described as a typical white Spanish village (well it is that – a bit blinding at times) but I’m not sure if there is any ‘old’ left...certainly the streets are narrow – the main street is only wide enough for one lane, so there is a traffic light at each end. Had a look round, then ended up spending a sunny afternoon studying my Spanish on a pub patio.  I named the bus route there the ‘Circle Tour’ because I’m sure whoever designed the route simply played connect-a-dot with all the traffic circles they could find – a little bit like taking the teacup ride at the fair...

on the left, note the elevator which will take you up (or down)
the cliff - in case you don't have time to walk the path...now
that is public transport!