A spring break on the Costa Blanca March 2022

Monday March 28th 2022

In late March 2022, my friend, Kevin Smith & I travelled from Birmingham to Alicante. For me, on Monday March 28th, I caught an early bus from my home to Reading and train from Reading to Birmingham International. I met Kevin around 8.30am. We proceeded to the airport, passing through security and settled down in Pret a manger while waiting for our flight. Ryanair FR2152

The flight was delayed by 1 hour, 40 minutes from 12.00 to 13.40. The 'plane, a Boeing 737-800 was full. The plane landed at 17.15 local time (1 hour ahead of British summer time). Alicante airport is named after Miguel Hernandes

After we landed, we passed through passport control, we collected our hire car, a Renault Clio and travelled to our hotel Campanile on the outskirts of Alicate. We checked in and then walked to the town, to have some supper and some drinks. We had a burger & chips from The Good Burger restaurant, and explored the winding streets in Alicante. We returned to our hotel for the night. 

Tuesday March 29th 2022

We woke up quite early, packed the car, and checked out. Kevin booked a walking tour of the castle for us, but the recommended parking lot was not available for motorists, as the entrance to the road leading there was blocked. We decided to proceed to Villajoyosa, about 40 minutes by car. 

I had a family holiday just outside Villajoyosa when I was 17. For me this trip was a trip "down memory lane". 

Villajoyosa (La Vila Joiosa in the local Valencian dialect) is a small town of around 30,000 situated between the city of Alicante & the popular resort, Benidorm. Villajoyosa is very different, as the town has kept its small quiet town image. There are remnents of the city walls in the old town. There are the "high street shops" along the main street, and narrow, winding streets lead down towards the sea. Facing the sea there are colourful houses, shops and bars, cafes & restaurants which serve Spanish & international meals. Some are around the small square & there are more along the "promenade". According to a legend, it was said the houses facing the sea were so colourful so that the fishermen home could find their way home. Villajoyosa also is famous for the manufacture of Valor chocolate and there is a museum dedicated to chocolate. 

 

When I was in Villajoyosa in 1973 there was a harbour where fishing boats arrived with their catches, now there is a yaghting marina. 

We drove to beach in Villajoyosa, parked up the car and had our English breakfast & cup of tea on the terrace of L'escenari tavern. We then walked along the beach promenade towards the yacht marina & we then went to Guadalest, a pretty village in the mountains, where we explored and had a coffee and biscuit outside the Balaguer cafe.

We returned to Villajoyosa in time to check in, we spent the afternoon & evening walking & having some beers in the bars on the promenade. We had pizza for our supper on the L'escentari  terrace. 

Our accommodation was a small apartment with a view of the sea. 

Wednesday 29th March 2022

We checked out of our apartment in Villajoysa in the morning. We bought some pastries from the bakery in town, and had them for breakfast on the beach before we left Villajoyosa. As our accommodation in Benidorm was not going to be available until late afternoon, we decided to go on our excursion to Canelobre caves first. The caves are situated in the mountains close to the small town of Busat. It was a 45 minute drive from Villajoyosa. 

Our route took us along the road along which I had travelled with my family in 1973, and we stopped to explore the ruined palace and observation tower atop the hill. The palace is Villa Giacomina which was built in 1910. The building has two distinctive façades, a Christian Gothic façade and an Arabic façade. The villa was occupied by Dr. Alfonso Esquerdo between 1910 & 1922. Dr Esquerdo's statue is on the promenade & facing the sea in Villajoyosa. During the Spanish Civil War 1936 to 1939 Dr. Bastos, a head of Traumatology at the Military Hospital in Villajoyosa was living in the villa. There is a local group who want to restore the villa. On the top of the hill, the Observation Tower has been repainted and spruced up since 1973, but the entry had been blocked. This tower was the private study for a famous psychiatrist & Head of the Republican party Dr. Jose Maria Esquerdo. 

We then went on our way and we arrived at the Canelobre cave around 11.20. Entry to the cave was by joining a guided tour, the next "slot" at 12 o'clock. While waiting we saw an interesting exhibition about the history of the cave & a short film in the visitor centre. We joined the guided tour which included commentary in English about how the cave, its history, legends & even how it's geological features were created. 

After out tour of the cave we drove to Benidorm. My first impression was how much the town had developed into a metropolis of about 60,000 inhabitants, wide boulevards, and high rise apartment blocks. 

We had trouble finding the accommodation agency office as the satnav directions were out by about a hundred yards but I managed to "suss" out how to use the parking meter. 

We found a little cafe which served a "small fish, chips & mushy peas" lunch for 5 Euros, which we had with a delicious cup of tea. 

We drove to Altea, a pictureque town, recommended as a half day excursion from Benidorm. There is a SEAT Altea car manufactured in Spain. 

In a car Altea is about 20 minutes from Benidorm, but due to a lack of parking spaces we returned to Benidorm, and had a job locating the entry to our apartment block. It had also started to rain heavily which didn't help either. 

After arriving, taking our luggage in the apartment we had a coffee. Then we explored the area near our apartment. There were plenty of bars, many of which had loud music blaring out into the street and those drinking inside were also loud. We found a cafeteria and we had kebab on a plate, and a beer for our supper. We then found live music, firstly an Adele tribute singer and a guy singing Take That songs in the railway themed Explorers Club. We then went to the Western saloon which had a country and western theme where we watched a rock playing duo & a country rock female singer called Kelly. 

We then returned to our apartment for the night. 

Thursday 31st March 2022

Afger all the rain yesterday afternoon & evening, the day turned out to sunny. We planned to stay in Benidorm for the day, and we had a late English breakfast in a cafe-bar. The breakfast was tasty, the price amazing at less than 3 Euros. However there was a group of loud people who were already drinking alcoholic drinks. 

Kevin had discovered there was a bus tour of the town Benidorm Bus Touristic. This a bus is based on the design of the San Francisco cable cars. For about the same price of a single cable car ticket in San Francisco, we had an hour's bus tour of Benidorm with commentary. The bus tour started & finished outside Hotel Pelicanos. The Hotel Pelicanos was one of the filming locations for the TV series Benidorm. The tour covered the 1980s expansion neighbourhoods as well as the Old Town and promenade. 

After the tour we walked towards the Old Town, and stopped by a streetside bar & had a beer. We had a great view of the beach & sea, but unlike the newer neighbourhoods the old town was quieter. 

We found Vincent's bar frequented by locals serving tapas (small savoury snacks) and wine. We had 6 tapas & a bottle of wine for 6 Euros. We found another bar and after another beer we went to a Chinese restaurant in the Old Town, where we had an excellent meal for two, including spicy chicken soup, pork, chicken, rice & ice cream. 

Our evening finished sitting outside Oliver's Bar & a walk back to our apartment. 

Friday 1st April 2022

We needed to check out early enough so we could travel to the airport and check in for our return flight. Catering inside the airport was restricted to "fast food" type establishments. We had our "breakfast" from Burger King. 

Our flight departed slightly later than the booked time of 12.40. Although we arrived on the tarmac at Manchester's Ringway airport at 3pm, we had a long wait before being allowed to disembark. There has been a shortage of staff at airports since travelling resumed after the Corona virus panademic.