Alicante, Spain… AGAIN – Day 4 & 5!

// July 4th, 2008 // 198No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/07/04/alicante-spain-again-day-4-5/Alicante%2C+Spain...+AGAIN+-+Day+4+%26+5%212008-07-04+10%3A28%3A54Ryan // Spain, Travel

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Day 4:

We got our lazy bodies out of bed this morning and decided that we would head to the Castillo de Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara Castle), for real this time! While Liz was getting dressed and ready, I ran down to the Alicante Tourist Information Center to grab a Santa Barbara Castle bus schedule.

When I arrived back at the hotel Liz was all set and ready to go so we walked down the esplanade until we reached the bus stop. It was about 30 C. (86 F.) at this point, and slowly getting hotter. We knew that today would be a hot one especially that we were going to climb to the top of the castle that overlooks the whole city! We were pretty much just making our way closer to the sun, instead of getting out of it.

The bus arrived on time to pick us up and it took us right to the top of the castle. I visited the Santa Barbara Castle back in the beginning of May and I was amazed by the views. Liz felt the same way as soon as she stepped off of the bus. Even seeing it for a second time didn’t bore me.

We ended up walking around to all of the different points of the castle and we took some really great photos as you’ll see below.

It was really cool to have someone with me this time around at Santa Barbara Castle. I had the chance to explore even more parts of the castle this time and also got a few really cool photo opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if I was doing it alone.

We walked around in the heat for as long as we could before heading back to the bus. Once we stepped on to the bus we felt a cold blast of air conditioning and we were in heaven. Finally! We just wanted to freeze before getting back out in the heat again.

Once we arrived back at our hotel Liz took her usual siesta, and I headed down to the hotel lobby to take advantage of the free internet so that I could update the site. After a few hours I headed up and woke Liz so that we could get dressed and ready for our official last dinner in Alicante! Once Liz was FINALLY ready we headed down to our favorite restaurant in Alicante, Foster’s Hollywood!

On our way to Foster’s we made use of our camera as usual. Liz found some beautiful flowers and decided to make a bouquet out of them for some reason.

Everyone that passed us seemed to think that I gave the flowers to her so it worked out perfect! I looked like the man, if you know what I mean.

After another unbelievable dinner at Foster’s, we headed down to Desden to meet up with Gosia and a couple of her friends for some drinks. We had a few social drinks at Desden with everyone before heading back to the hotel for the night.

We made one last stop at the Miami waffle stand before getting back to the hotel. We both ordered one of the best desserts that we’ve ever had, a glazed belgian waffle covered in hot chocolate syrup and whipped cream. It was unreal!

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Day 5:

Our last day in Alicante! Already?

This morning we woke up and started to do some packing before our check out time of 12:00PM. I thought that the check out time was pretty generous since there are plenty of hotels that make you check out at 10AM. Basically we just threw all of our stuff into the suitcase and headed down to the lobby where we hung out for a few hours before we took the bus to the airport.

At 2PM we headed out to the bus stop and took the C6 Bus from Alicante, to the airport which took about 40 minutes or so. By the time we got to the airport we had plenty of time to walk around to a few of the shops and get a quick bite to eat before our flight back to Dublin at 6PM.

Our flight took off exactly on time and we even arrived about a half hour early to Dublin. It was great. Another great flight on the somewhat controversial RyanAir. I love RyanAir, they’ve been great to me on this trip so far.

My uncle came to the airport to pick us up and we headed back to what has been my home base for the last three months. Although I’ve only been in Dublin for maybe two weeks throughout this whole trip, if that! We ended up having a really nice dinner that my aunt cooked for us and Liz went up to bed early. I think she’s a little jet lagged from all of this traveling, flying, etc. Plus, she’s ready to head home now after a jam packed, nearly three week trip to Europe. I don’t blame her!

Tomorrow I plan on showing Liz around Dublin a bit if the weather clears up. It’s been raining here for weeks now. Ireland is having a terrible summer! Let’s hope for the best!

Alicante, Spain… AGAIN – Day 2 & 3!

// July 2nd, 2008 // 1971 Comment »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/07/02/alicante-spain-again-day-2-3/Alicante%2C+Spain...+AGAIN+-+Day+2+%26+3%212008-07-02+12%3A00%3A54Ryan // News & Announcements, Spain, Travel

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Day 2:

This morning we headed off around 11:00AM to Playa del Postiguet, the beach that lies right across from our hotel. Liz has been feigning for some sun and I just wanted to jump around in the clear blue water. The views from the beach are pretty incredible as you can see in the second photo below.

If you’re wondering what that mountain looking thing is in the background, that is Santa Barbara Castle (Castillo de Santa Barbara). If you’ve seen my photo album of Alicante, Spain you’ll notice that I took some pretty amazing photos from the top of that castle during my last visit to Alicante.

After spending a couple of hours at the beach we decided that we’d go grab some lunch at Foster’s, the same restaurant that we dined at last night. Normally neither of us like to dine at the same restaurant more than once or twice, but to be honest it’s extremely hard to find good quality food here in Alicante. There are many restaurants along the esplanade but nothing to write home about.

After another great meal at Foster’s we headed back for a siesta. You know, Liz and I try to blend in with the locals here and take part in the traditions. You know the saying When In Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, the same thing applies here in Spain. Or maybe I’m making all of this up and we could really care less about the traditions and we’re just so lazy that we want to take naps every afternoon. Either way we enjoyed our little siesta.

Once I woke up I headed down to the lobby to get some work done on my website as Liz slept a bit longer. Once she was ready we headed off to walk along the esplanade and took a stroll through the markets. Once we built up an appetite we stopped into a restaurant called Penelope which is located across from the port on the end of the esplanade. We had a fairly good meal and a few good drinks as well.

After dinner we headed to bed fairly early because we planned on heading to San Juan beach in the AM.

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Day 3:

Well, what do you know? We slept in again this morning. We’re totally in lazy vacation mode. After going back and forth on what we should do whether it be head to the beach, or head up to the top of Santa Barbara Castle, I decided that we’ll go to the castle this morning to get that over with then we’ll head to the beach because once again, Liz NEEDS sun!

There are two ways to reach the top of the castle. You can jump on a bus for 2 Euro that comes hourly or you can walk. The walk really isn’t too bad, but we waited for a bus. The bus ended up not showing up so we decided that we’d attempt the walk.

Liz was feeling weak and tired and when we got about half way she decided that we probably shouldn’t attempt the climb because she might pass out.  Luckily we were right next to the TRAM station which was the connection to San Juan Beach. As soon as I mentioned that we had the option to jump on the TRAM to San Juan Beach her eyes lit up like a christmas tree. Hmm, weird?

Myself and the tan-aholic jumped on the train and took the 15 minute ride down to a beach that I visited the last time that I was in Alicante. This is by far the best beach that I’ve been to, and I knew Liz would love it!

We stopped to grab some lunch first at a beach side restaurant called La Ponderosa. Liz had Spaghetti Bolognese and I had a 1/2 Roasted Chicken with Chips, yummy.

Once we finished lunch we got ourselves a front row seat on the edge of the ocean. We rented two chairs and an umbrella for 9 Euro, which was sort of pricey but if anything the umbrella was most necessary because I can only lie in the sun for so long. Liz on the other hand… well, let’s just say that she left with a burn!

We spent a few hours at San Juan Beach and we headed back to Alicante around 4:15PM. Once we got back to the hotel we showered and got ready to meet up with my friend Gosia who I had met during my last visit to Alicante.

We met with Gosia and her two friends around 8PM at Desden where we had a drink before heading over to an Irish Pub called O’Hara’s which is located on the esplanade. While there we had a few sangria’s and some food.

Before heading home for the night we grabbed a gigantic ice cream sundae from this gelateria called Explanade. We took it back to the hotel and absolutely devoured it in the lobby while I did some work on the site. What an end to a great day!

Now I’m relaxed, and comfortable and Liz is a lobster! Remember what they say… the sun is stronger in Spain!

Off to Alicante, Spain… AGAIN!

// June 30th, 2008 // 196No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/06/30/off-to-alicante-spain-again/Off+to+Alicante%2C+Spain...+AGAIN%212008-06-30+14%3A19%3A55Ryan // Spain, Travel

Yep, back to Alicante, Spain! If you’ve been keeping up to date with my travels since I began my euro trip back in April you should remember Alicante quite well. Alicante is not only the first place that I have ever CouchSurfed, but it was also the first country that I visited in Europe not counting Ireland of course! Not only did I enjoy the meeting a bunch of great people in Alicante but I also fell in love with the atmosphere and the amazing scenery that surrounds this beautiful coastal city.

Last night Liz headed off to take a “nap” at around 8:30PM and didn’t wake until about 11:30. She woke up, packed really quick and then fell back asleep again. I think the weekend in Galway really beat her up. I ended up getting some writing done for my website while I watched the EuroCup Final football match between Spain and Germany. Once Spain came out victorious I headed upstairs to pack some things before getting some much needed rest. If we were only heading to Spain one day earlier, we could have been involved in the chaos that went down after Spain won the match!

Our RyanAir flight from Dublin to Alicante was scheduled to leave at 1:30PM so we dragged ourselves out of bed and I ran downstairs and us some Irish bacon and toast. We jumped on the bus to Dublin Airport at around 10:30AM and when we arrived we checked our one bag for the both of us with no issues at all. Luckily we were only four ounces over weight, because RyanAir has really strict weight restrictions on checked baggage! They only allow 15 Kg’s per person. If you’re over weight, you pay 15 Euro per kilogram after that. The woman in front of us in line had to pay 180 Euro at the check in desk because she was 12 kilograms over weight. Yikes!

We got through security with no issues and made the 15 to 20 minute walk all the way down to gate D75 on the opposite end of the airport. We spent about an hour waiting to board the plane and once we finally got on, we got to sit right in the front row. It was perfect! There was plenty of leg room, and we were happy to be able to be first off the plane once we landed. Sweet! The flight was a little less than two and a half hours we actually arrived a little early. The same thing happened on my last flight to Alicante. RyanAir is known to be one of the most on time airlines in Europe!

When we stepped off of the plane it was about 28 degrees Celcius (approx. 82 F), with a beautiful breeze! Ahh, I love Spain! We took the C6 Bus from the airport right into the city where our hotel was awaiting us. I had a feeling that our hotel was close to the esplanade, but not this close! The location of this place is unreal! It’s literally on the esplanade!

There’s restaurants, and supermarkets within a one minute walk and the beach (Playa de Postiguet) is just three minutes away!

Our room is on the 14th floor and it faces the beautiful port of Alicante where all of the multi-million dollar yachts are parked up for the summer.

After we checked in and dropped our bags we headed off to a restaurant that I had been to when I was in Alicante the last time which was called Foster’s Hollywood Restaurant. An American restaurant of course! Last time I was here I had a great burger, and I was really looking forward to another one. The food was great as usual and we had a great time eating on the outdoor patio that overlooks the port of Alicante.

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk of the port until we reached the beach and the Melia Hotel. We looked around for a bit and then headed to a bar called Desden that I had been to quite a few times during my last visit to Alicante.

Desden is the spot if you’re looking for cheap drinks in a chilled out and relaxed atmosphere. They used to serve 1 Euro Pints of Budweiser but now they’ve changed over to a beer called Sam Miguel. Either way, a pint for 1 Euro (approx. $1.55 USD) is quite a deal. Liz got some sort of pink mixed drink and they were only 2 Euro so we spent about $4.65 USD for 2 drinks. You’d be hard pressed to even find a deal like that at home.

We each had a drink and then headed off and did some more walking along the esplanade which is all illuminated at night and filled with illegal street vendors trying to sell sunglasses, purses and more. Afterwards we had a little photo shoot at the colorful fountains across the street from the Melia Hotel.

We headed back to the hotel around midnight and headed to bed. Tomorrow we’ll probably spend a couple of hours on the beach and then take things as they come.

Adios!

Alicante, Spain – Day 4 and 5

// May 7th, 2008 // 1321 Comment »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/07/ptm-alicante-spain-day-four-and-five/Alicante%2C+Spain+-+Day+4+and+52008-05-07+09%3A38%3A59Ryan // Spain, Travel

Yesterday morning I woke up early and headed off to take a day trip to Benidorm, Spain which is about a 45 minute drive from Alicante. The train that runs along the coast of the Costa Blanca has a station about 5 minutes walk from Ania’s flat so it’s really convenient.

The train system here in Alicante is called (TRAM). As long as you grab yourself a train timetable map, you’ll figure out how to use the TRAM fairly quickly. I figured that if I was to get lost, I would have all day to find my way back home so I jumped on the TRAM at the MARQ stop and headed out on a journey that ended up taking much longer than I expected.

Considering Benidorm is about 45 minutes drive, I figured that the TRAM might take an hour, or an hour and fifteen minutes. Well after meeting a 77 year old English man and more than two hours later I could not wait to get off of the train. I had been getting my ear talked off by this old english gentleman for the last hour and a half and he even caused us to miss our stop (Benidorm) so we had to get off and wait for another TRAM to take us 4 stops back to Benidorm.

Finally after my new friend and I arrived in Benidorm he insisted that we take a bus down to the center of town where the restaurants and beach is. Now we’re looking a total of two and a half hours to get to Benidorm. As soon as we got off the bus we stopped into this English Pub to grab a bite to eat.

After lunch I split off from my English friend and headed towards the beach, he wanted to come along, but I just had to lose him or I knew that I wouldn’t get anything done in Benidorm. I headed down to Playa de Llevant Beach and took in some of the beautiful scenery. I walked most of the length of the beach until I got to the rock cliffs that surround the east edge of the beach. I wanted to take a swim so I figured that the safest place to leave my belongings would be over on the rocks where nobody sunbathes and where I could just jump in and stay close in case someone decided to walk towards the cliffs. Everything worked out perfectly and I got to take a nice swim and relax for the first time since I arrived in Benidorm.

After my swim I walked back up through the city, and stopped into a few souvenir shops but I couldn’t find anything in them. It was all junk. I knew that I would have a long journey back to Alicante so I headed for the bus to Benidorm Train Station.

As I was waiting at the Benidorm Train Station I met a guy named Darren, originally from Co. Waterford. We chatted a bit about traveling and eventually I found out that the reason that he was in Benidorm today was because he owns two Irish Pubs there. He was down in Benidorm for the day making sure everything was in order and checking in on the Pubs. During the train ride back to Alicante, we realized that we were on the same RyanAir flight on Saturday afternoon from Dublin to Alicante, which was quite odd.

Darren is staying in the Hotel Melia down on the beach here in Alicante because a few of his friends have been working on a movie with Colin Farrell here for the last few weeks. He went on to tell me that he is moving out to Benidorm this weekend to take care of the pubs for the next few months so he decided to make a stop to catch up with his friends while he was in Alicante. By the end of the train ride back to Alicante, we arranged to meet up for a few pints later that night.

Myself, Ania, Aiste, Aiste’s mother, and friend decided to go out to dinner last night as both Aiste’s mother and I were flying out today. We went out to a restaurant on the esplanade called Tarantino’s, it wasn’t too bad. After Tarantino’s Ania, Aiste and I headed off to meet up with Darren in O’Hara’s Irish Pub on the esplanade and we had a pint there before heading to Desden, home of the 1 Euro pints of Budweiser! A few pints later, Ania and Aiste headed home and I stayed out for one more round with Darren before heading home.

Today I’m just lounging here with Ania until my flight 6:00PM this evening. I might take a stroll downtown to see if I can pick up a few little things, but other than that I’m just going to spend my last day here relaxing before I head back home to Dublin.

Hasta Luego!

Alicante, Spain – Day 3!

// May 5th, 2008 // 131No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/05/ptm-alicante-spain-day-3/Alicante%2C+Spain+-+Day+3%212008-05-05+17%3A50%3A19Ryan // Spain, Travel

Last night Ania and I headed down to O’Hara’s Irish Pub to visit Gosia at work. It’s a beautiful area. It’s right across from Playa Del Postiguet beach, and it’s on the esplanade here in Alicante. At night everyone sits out front of the restaurants and pubs to socialize and have a few drinks. We stayed at O’Hara’s for a bit then we headed home because Ania had school early this morning.

When we got back I got online to catch up with my family and friends back home and then headed to bed fairly early. I woke up around 10AM and had to be out of the house before Aiste left for the beach because I had no keys, and they needed to lock up the flat while we were all off doing our own thing today. Aiste, her mother, and friend headed off to the beach and I had to run to the local internet cafe so that I could print out my RyanAir boarding pass for Wednesday evening.

After printing my boarding pass I headed down to the Alicante Tourist Center to see if there was anything special to do and see in Alicante other than the beach, and the Castle that overlooks the city of Alicante. Surprisingly there wasn’t much else to do, which was fine with me. I came to Alicante for the sun, the beach, and to get away from the overcast weather of Dublin!

I found the bus that takes you to the top of the Castillo de Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara Castle) and I took the trip to the top for a very cheap price of 2 Euro! I had asked the clerk at the Alicante Tourist Information Center if I could walk to the top of Santa Barbara Castle, but he said that it wasn’t safe because cars and buses drive up and down it. Later on I ended up walking down instead of taking the bus. It was beautiful and no where near dangerous! There was a sidewalk the whole way, so I don’t know what the guy at the Tourist Information Center was talking about.

After arriving at the top of Santa Barbara Castle, I was short of breath. Honestly, the views were out of this world. The city of Alicante was built around the castle and I don’t know too much history on it, because I didn’t get the chance to actually stay up there for that long but I have to say the castle is simply amazing!

There are so many different views and vantage points in the castle, and there are sets of stairs leading to new views, and higher points of the castle every where you look! The best part about Santa Barbara Castle is that it’s FREE! You are free to walk around the whole castle, some of the insides and all of the outside of the castle. It is very well maintained and the grounds crews have planted all sorts of cactus, plants and other flowers inside of the castle. If you are ever in Alicante, this is pretty much the one and only visitor attraction, other than a few museums and the beaches of course! Don’t miss out on Santa Barbara Castle, you’ll regret it!

As I said earlier, I ended up walking down to the beach from the top of Santa Barbara Castle to meet Gosia. It took me about 30 mins to walk down, but it wasn’t bad at all. The weather was beautiful and I just couldn’t wait to jump in to the Mediterranean to cool off. We walked across the Esplanade and headed for a beach I hadn’t been to yet, the main beach that lies in front of Alicante Center called Playa Del Postiguet. It was just a nice as San Juan Beach, but much smaller. I didn’t care really, I headed straight for the water as Gosia watched my belongings on the beach. I spent about 20 minutes in the water and then headed back to lay out for a bit. We stayed at Playa Del Postiguet for about an hour and then Gosia headed off to work while I headed back to Ania’s flat.

And that was day three in Alicante, hope you enjoy the photos! To see more photos, check out the Alicante, Spain album in the Photos section of PTM!

Alicante, Spain – Day 1 and 2

// May 4th, 2008 // 1281 Comment »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/04/ptm-alicante-spain-day-1-and-2/Alicante%2C+Spain+-+Day+1+and+22008-05-04+17%3A15%3A00Ryan // Spain, Travel

Hola from Alicante, Spain!

I have to say that yesterday was the first time that I’ve taken a flight where you have to walk out on to the airport tarmac and walk up the fold out stairs to board the plane. I’m used to walking through a tunnel of some sort and directly on to the plane. I guess that must be how RyanAir does it? I’m used to flying Aer Lingus but hey, you get what you pay for! The flight to Alicante wasn’t too bad actually. It took a little over two and a half hours and when we landed in Spain, it was about 70 degrees. The breeze was great and I was looking forward to meeting up with my CouchSurfing host Ania (Ahn-yah) so that I could go back to her place and drop my bags. (more…)

Taking off to Alicante, Spain!

// May 3rd, 2008 // 127No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/03/ptm-taking-off-to-alicante-spain/Taking+off+to+Alicante%2C+Spain%212008-05-03+09%3A18%3A46Ryan // Spain, Travel

Off to Spain!

I’m heading off to Alicante, Spain today around 1:00PM and should be landing in Spain around 5:30PM, they are 1 hour ahead of Ireland so it’s about a 3 Hour flight. Not too bad!

I had some issues last night packing again, but this time due to flying RyanAir, the restrictions are very strict. They are a budget airline so they offer you super cheap flights but passengers beware when you go over your baggage weight or measurements by an ounce or a centimeter they WILL charge you astronomical fees! (more…)

Last Minute Trip to Alicante, Spain!

// May 1st, 2008 // 1231 Comment »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/01/ptm-last-minute-trip-to-spain/Last+Minute+Trip+to+Alicante%2C+Spain%212008-05-01+18%3A05%3A22Ryan // Spain, Travel

After searching, and searching for a flight out to Spain for this weekend, I finally came across a good deal on RyanAir.com and I jumped on it! As you probably know, I’m heading off on my Contiki Trip on the 11th of May so during my downtime here in Dublin I figured I’d try to find a quick trip to a country or place that I wouldn’t be seeing on the rest of my tour through Europe and Spain was one of the places that I didn’t have on my itinerary as of yet. Oh and of course I checked the weather and it’s supposed to be 80’s this week. Perrrrrfect!

Off I go to the warm and sunny coastal city of Alicante. It’s about 2 hours to Valencia, and about 40 minutes to Benidorm. I’m going to look into taking a day trip or two to a few places during my stay in Alicante. I’m really looking forward to catching some rays and a good few days exploring some of the southern coast of Spain.

I haven’t booked any accommodations for myself yet, but I’m going to try to sort all of that out tonight. I’m a member of two international exchange websites, Hospitality Club, and Couchsurfing. Both of these websites offer nearly 1,000,000 members from around the world that are mostly travelers that are looking for a means to travel and save money on accommodations by staying on someones couch or in a spare bed here and there along the way. You do not need to offer your couch or spare bed to be a member, you don’t even need to host anyone, you can offer to show someone around your native city, meet for coffee, and more.

I’m sure your next question would be, well how can you be sure that it’s safe? Well, both HC and CS have implemented a verification system for all of its members. If you would like to read more about the security/safety of either Hospitality Club or Couchsurfing click on the links below:

Couchsurfing FAQ

Hospitality Club FAQ