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Published: August 11th 2008
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Barcelona bus station
Look how happy we were before we got kicked off of the floor It took one of the more difficult travel days I have experienced but we made it to Alicante, a cute coastal city in the southeast of Spain. When we got to the train station in Barcelona, around 11 in the morning, we were told that all trains to Alicante were full until 6 pm. Not being able to check our bags and wander around we posted up in the train station and basically camped out for six hours. It wouldn't have been so bad, I had rolled out my really nice camping pad that inflates and me and Shannon had just gotten comfortable for what was sure to be a long and satisfying nap (which was needed because we spent the night in a group of guys hotel room, in town for a bachelor party, after missing the last tram back to our hostel from downtown when they convinced us to stay at the bar for a couple more drinks) when we were whistled at by police guards and told we had to sit in a seat not just on the floor. In a daze a nice french guy came up and offered us his seats in the waiting area as
Alicante
The Castle perched above the sea and city, we sat on the beach literally in the middle of this picture. they were just leaving, but instead of a nice nap sprawled out, I sat, slightly grumpy in an uncomfortable chair wide awake. However the time passed and after all day in the station we finally got on the train for Alicante. We arrived groggy and out of it as me and Shannon fell asleep on the train, and proceeded to wander (in what turned out to be basically the opposite direction of the hostel) around the streets of Alicante because the directions we had were from the bus station, not the train station. After asking for directions three times, and basically deciding to find the sea first and go from there, we turned a corner, exhausted and more than slightly frustrated but mostly just feeling lost and helpless, I thought we might wander all night long. 'Ok' I said, 'up this street and turn right and we should hit water', when I noticed a sign for a pension (like a hotel). 'Wonder if the have any rooms we should just stay here' I said jokingly to Shannon. No sooner had I uttered those words when my eyes gazed to the other side of the small side street in the heart
The beach
My own picture of the beach, it was great swimming and lounging of Alicante, and like a beacon of light piercing the blackness our hostel appeared out of no where! Both me and Shannon's jaws dropped in disbelief, and our shoulders dropped in a giant sigh of relief, as we were finally freed of the burden of our bags and knew we would have a bed to sleep in. Call it divine intervention, call it blind luck but somehow, some way it felt like the hostel found us and not the other way around. After that it has been marvelous times, Alicante has an amazing castle perched over the ocean and city. It was free (save the 2 euro elevator ride, we were not walking up a mountain in coastal Spain summer heat, and only 2 euro was totally worth it) and the view was 360 degrees of spectacular. After the castle we successfully (and fairly easily) navigated the bus system back to the train station, and reserved our seats to Madrid in advance (just to be sure we avoided another six hour stint in a train station). It was good that we did because the train we wanted was already full, but a later one was available. After that business was
To the castle
The tunnel to the lifts sorted out we hit the beach, and lounged away the rest of the day. I made sure to lather up the sunscreen this time, and my burn has turned into a fairly even tan. The beach was pretty crowded, but it wasn't too hard to find a spot, and the crowd made for entertaining people watching. The sand was soft, the surf was calm, the view looking up to the castle on chalky cliffs and out on the city along the coastline was serene, and I bounced in the gentle waves for a long time with a dopey grin on my face, really loving life and appreciating how I was feeling (perhaps a slight reward for such an arduous journey to get there). This morning we checked out and just enjoyed some delicious paella, a traditional Spanish dish of rice and seafood (clams and squid and crayfish mmm!) somewhat similar to jambalaya but with some wholly unique flavors. Now we wait for the time when we will bus back to the train station (about an hour or so now) and head for Madrid, perhaps some ice cream and one last stroll down the beach before saying goodbye to Alicante.
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