Alicante

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After finding some last minute accommodation online we were feeling at ease on our express train trip to Alicante. We arrived close to 11am and decided we would attempt to walk to our hotel.

After walking for a good 30 mins we realised that due to roadworks there was no way we could continue walking toward the hotel, so we turned around disheartened and made our way back into town to grab some lunch and start again. Rob realised we could catch a tram towards the area of our hotel so we jumped on and made our way into the next suburb. Getting to the hotel was an effort in itself, steep inclines and dirty dusty roads were the norm until we arrived at hotel - which from its exterior, seemed lovely. Although on closer inspection it dawned on us that it was also extremely...deserted! We rang the intercom several times and walked around the perimeter. Nothing, abandoned hotel! We even walked up and down the road just to make sure we had the right place, sure enough it was abandoned! We didn't have any water, no phone credit...and do you think there was a phone box around when we needed it?! Nope!

Trying to see the funny side of it worked for a while, but after getting lost on the way back towards the tram stop which included getting stuck on a building site and having to toss our backpacks over a fence and then squeeze through it!

After what seemed like an eternity we finally found a Burger King and I bought 5 bottles of water immediately! We then realised that we had walked in the complete opposite direction of where we needed to go and the realisation that we had to walk all that way back sunk in! By this time we were both getting stroppy and somewhat delirious from the heat and dehydration but eventually we made it back to the main part of Alicante..Then we faced another frustrating task...Finding a hotel with vacancies!

We walked the streets for what seemed like an eternity asking hotels and slowly lost more hope as each place said they were full! We then looked at this beautiful resort on the water and thought....it's probably going to ask an arm and a leg but we need to ask! Thankfully they did have a vacancy, and although it was considerably more than we'd like to have paid...it was absolutely what we needed! I don't think I had slept so well in a long time!!

The next morning we awoke refreshed and went down to breakfast, the hotel had a buffet and it was incredible! We sat down and stuffed our face whilst admiring the view of the beach before setting off for a day of sightseeing!

We made our way toward the Santa Barbara castle which sits on an outcrop over 150m above the ground overlooking the city. We wanted to hike up there but the trail was closed, instead we caught a lift up there! All the way through the mountain! It was originally built by the Moors in the 10th century and the view was amazing!

After spending some time sightseeing we then decided to hit the beach for a well deserved swim before having dinner and drinks at a local.

The next morning we had some time to kill before we boarded a bus to take us to Granada.

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