Alicante.. the perfect sea temperature?

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Day 462
After a fantastic sleep in our perfectly dark room (that will happen when there are no windows) we checked out of Pension Alicante (Valencia), got a taxi to the bus station and made our way to Alicante itself. Past the orchards of Valencia oranges and stunning scenery we arrived in hot and sunny Alicante passing our Hotel on the way. The 26 story hotel Tryp Gran Sol was easy to spot so with our rediculously overloaded backpacks we made it on foot, checked in to our airconditioned room and headed straight to the beach.
The beach presumably filled with English tourists with barely enough room to stretch our your arms. We headed straight for the ocean in what can only be described as the near perfect sea temperature (for Carly anyway).
When we absorbed enough sun without getting burnt we headed back to the room for a shower and to catch the dismal cricket score. Enough said. After fighting with the internet to purchase bus tickets to Madrid for a couple hours (compliments of Barclays). We picked up a kilo of prawns and bottle on wine and returned to the rocks of the beach for an amazing picnic dinner. With the sun nearly set we headed home stopping for gelati and wandering through the night market, entertained watching the illegal stalls pack up in seconds as the local cops strolled through and set back up within minutes of them passing.

Day 463
Sleep in! Then we were straight to the beach still failing to beat the hoards of tourist all ready lining the shores. We passed morning swimming and sunbaking, heading back to our hotel for a quick shower before check out. After brunch of smoked salmon and chorizo tapa's in the park we set out for the famous fortress on the hill. Only to discover the lift was closed ( and potentially the whole site) there was no way of us making it up and down in time for our bus. Back at the hotel we discoved Barclay's had cancelled our payment and our flights had been cancelled leaving the rest of of time to try rearrange our plans.
Having not printed our bus tickets (prebooked over the internet) we arrived early at the counter to collect them. This task proved easier said then done. Finally after showing passports, credit cards, booking reference numbers from our laptop we collected our tickets and boarded for Madrid. (Definitely recommend printing all internet purchases in the future!).
We arrived in Madrid a little over four and half hours, caught the metro to our Hostel Salamanca. A clean, quiet room and helpful receptionist who mapped our itinerary for the next day. We dumped our bags in our cosy double room and enjoyed some delicious Indian at the Tandoori Station next door.

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