NYBs and I decided to opt for one last night in Alicante, basically as our flight was so late it seemed silly not to use the time to our advantage. Arriving to find our taxi couldn’t get us to our hotel door, because the city is about to go into full swing of street parties and the streets need to be closed off, meant we had to wander up and down the street to find our hotel on foot. Unfortunately as the place was called (an unflattering) Hostel on the Internet (which meant we were more than a little worried it was a dump) we ended up missing even When we actually walked past it 4 times (yes we are stupid English people) because it had a huge sign saying Hotel rather than Hostel!!! But happily the place was rather better than we had feared. Clean, adequate facilities and the staff were lovely, in fact everyone we met in this city couldn’t do enough for you.
Our first couple of drinks was sat in a lovely street cafe bar, which we had discovered a few years back ‘ Bar Soho’ a small pavilion bar with fabulous trees with lots of weird roots which Spain tends to sprout, which gives a surreal feel to it. The generous servings of drink came at a price (unfortunately for the kitty) but we enjoyed it till it came time to watch the festival processions part of the towns celebration this week.
The processions turned out to be rows and rows of women dressed in traditional costumes with brass bands (or Kazoo Bands as NYB F called them, he not being too impressed with the tunes they were producing). I think each local clan/village must have had its own tradition dress code and local (kazoo) band, unfortunately it seemed to go on on ages and lucky (or not for NYB F) repeated the next day. The NYBs were disappointed there were no floats (they deciding this was Rio rather than Spain!! Apparently). There were rather large cartoonist type statues placed around the city (in the absence of floats I expect) and big they were. To me they seemed reminiscent of Betty Boop era, mildly erotic and mad at the same time, well perhaps its the Spanish way!!
The night seemed to go on forever, this city doesn’t come alive till 11:30pm at earliest and around every corner the streets had make shift discos and seatings, where it looked like whole families were sat enjoying the music (all Spanish music – unfortunately we don’t have the ear for it we agreed). We did last till early hours before finally admitting we were too old to keep it up and treating ourselves to yet another ice cream an ‘after midnight treat’ before heading off to bed.
In the morning we packed and headed off to wander the city and sample tapas and local beers till it was time for our nighttime flight. We started with breakfast on the main street, adding to it a local Brandi with coffee as the Spanish people do around 10:30am (according to Brother that is). I found I liked this local custom and could see how it is so popular (hic). Meanwhile NYB P, pointed out everyone he thought looked as if they were on their last day too, saying “they are going home today”, this conjecture was based on no real evidence and was probably based only on the fact he didn’t want to be the only homeward bound people around. I also like how he is tackling the Spanish language this trip, with his phases such as ” hang on, hang on, one momento” which we pointed out was mostly English with only 1 Spanish word attached (which was for cosmetic reasons – we reckoned). But still none of us are very good at the language and if our teachers were marking us we would all get a “must try harder” in red pen for our effort.
We headed off to the Marina in the afternoon, as we like the ships and boats docked there, you just know that you have to be massively rich to have one of these beauties. As we took turns to point out which one we would have if we ever won the lottery (if I ever put it on that is), we agreed we would need to be rich enough to get a driver (or is it as Captain on a ship?) too as we didn’t have the foggiest idea how to sail something like a boat. We ended the marina tour with a lovely Chinese meal (well, when in Rome or what ever -as they say) and a look inside the Hotel Medinez, which looks huge from outside and is bigger (it seemed) on the inside. This allowed me to have a spin behind the bar, part of this years hobby is asking to be photographed behind interesting bars, (Barology – I call it) there is no reason to do this other than just because I can and no one ever says no). So with photo wonderfully taken by pretty barmaid we spend a little time on the rocks looking at the beautiful coast line. We suggest that photos can look very samey and perhaps we should not always look at the camera directly. A bit like those old 70s knitting pattern photos were the men stand and point off into the distance while wearing striped mint tank tops (oh where did those sexy fashions go!). Unfortunately NYB P is a bit like a Pavlov Dog when it comes to getting his photo taken. He can hear a camera getting ready from a hundred paces and immediately sets a pose, even when we tell him to look away, you can see the strain on him trying to comply. Well it’s in his blood and who are we to try and force him to change!
At the end of our last day in sunny Spain, we think about what we are going to do when we get home. Well NYB P does, NYB F seems rather like me, he is neither thinking about it or not. Instead we try and keep the relaxed atmosphere going for as long as possible inside and out. I know I don’t want to eat chips or ice cream for a while, I do know I want to catch up with family and friends, a week seems a long time for some people to get into chaos even without me. Holidays are like that I find, you leave people behind who you do life with and spend time experiencing life that can only ever be temporary. I know Brother spends a lot of time here but even he admits normal is back in the UK. For me, I never come home for the place, I come home for the people who spend their mad, bad and glad times with me. They are my home and if ever I do move away I will keep them in my heart as that they say is where your home should be.
wherethehellisgillian 