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Our train from Barcelona to Alicante was tight, crowded, and late. So, unfortunately we weren’t in a great mood when we reached the bright city on Spain’s Costa Blanca. This stretch of Mediterranean coastline is lined with beautiful beaches and picturesque towns. As much as we were looking forward to the water, sand, and sun, we were overwhelmed by our bad travel day.

It proceeded to get more challenging since we arrived during siesta, the break in the day from 2 PM to 5 PM which Spaniards use for dinner and naptime. We needed a map and directions to our hotel, and we walked to three different tourist offices before finding one that could help us. Then we discovered that our hotel wasn’t actually in Alicante, but in Playa Muchavista…another 15 minutes by train up the coast!

We were relieved when we finally arrived at the hotel. It was beautiful! Our room was large and comfortable, a few steps from the beach with a sparkling pool. We were delighted that it was not in Alicante as we had almost the whole beach to ourselves.We immediately headed out to walk in the sand and wade in the warm water. Dinner was paella, a Spanish specialty: our version of the rice dish was a mix of delicious seafood with citrus flavors. Yummy!

Our second and third days we divided between exploring the city of Alicante¹ and swimming, walking on the beach, and resting. We were soaking up sun before heading to northern Spain to visit my parents, Tom and Libby, who are teaching a six-week linguistics course in a small town called Villablino.

Don’t miss these Alicante photos:
Bait vending machine
“Bump on your head” bar with 4 foot doorway
Esplanade walkway in downtown Alicante

Feel free to leave comments here or on our Flickr photo pages.

Notes:
[1] Alicante article on Wikipedia.org