Alicante

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When you arrive in Alicante the first thing you might notice is the castle, high above on a hill. Or you might notice the pretty little beach only a few blocks from the downtown action. Or maybe your attention will be drawn to the beautiful facades of the churches and museums. But after we spent the weekend in Alicante the thing that struck us the most was the amount of characters wandering around the beach. Alicante might just be the Florida of Spain, judging from the amount of seniors. And I suspect that the combination of life experience teaching a person that appearences are not that important, and the free and easy Spanish way of life is responsible for some of these people:

- an old man with a paper sailboat/hat on his bald head. I am guessing that it is to keep it from burning in the hot mid-October sun (jealous Canadian friends?) This was confirmed by another bald man spotted the next day with a paper cone keeping his head cool.

- the "major of Alicante" (as we dubbed him) with tiny trunks almost entirely enveloped by a massive belly. It wasn't just the belly that caught our attention, it was the aura of power and wealth that surrounded this man. That and the fact that his hands were down his pants half the time.

- a man strutting down the beach in a giant parka and a equally large smile on a plus 30 day.

- a woman in a ankle length mumu with a matching face, white with a thick layer of sunscreen, drifting around the beach like a ghost.

But the character that takes the cake was not to be found on the beach. The old man of the hill truly does live on the steep side of the hill leading up to the castle. There is a cave and an outdoor bath, a beautiful garden of native plants, and more feral cats than we could count. We think that the cats are probably his army and that they communicate with him. In any case, we did see bowls of food and water here and there and suspect that the hill's only inhabitant must be responsible. And how did we meet him? Why, we took the short cut up to the castle. After all, you can't get lost when your destination looms above you from any point in the city, right? Okay so we could have asked for directions or looked at a map. But just because there is a fence and a sign in Spanish that might be a warning, doesn't necessarily mean that you are going the wrong way, right? The experience of hiking up a hill for over an hour only to find ourselves on the wrong side of the high walls outside the castle was a bit frustrating, but worth it. Sure we had to pick our way through giant cacti, sure I forgot to put on deodorant, sure we may have broken the serenity of an old many living alone in nature, but it was definately worth it. We met him on our way back down and through a combination of gestures and terrible Spanish we made it known that we had not meant to disturb him, and that we were lost on our way to the castle. He picked up a cat, smiled, and pointed out the quickest way to the correct path. What an interesting life that man must lead. I wonder how many other bumbling tourists have found their way to his steep garden on the hill?

To all the characters we saw and met in Alicante: thanks for making our stay interesting and enjoyable.

Posted By Dennie.

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