Nov 9 10 and 11

November 9^th

I had to move Hostels as mine was overbooked and I didn’t renew earlier in the week, yea a stupid move in hindsight, but isn’t hindsight always 20-20? . At the new Hostel I met some American tourists that said they were going for a swim. I tried to catch up with them and decided to take a walk to a beach. Like all my quick trips this ended up as a 2 hour hike across most of Valencia.

I also made a side trip towards the 32^nd Americas Cup bay, which is being hosted in Valencia next June. I was completely unaware of how big the Americas cup completion is. There are all kinds of infrastructure built for it, as well as team headquarters which look exactly like large corporate offices. Each team also had their own little museum dedicated to the technology and history of yacht racing. I saw a few of these high tech boats and a catamaran practicing far out in the sea.

I continued my epic 2 hour journey across town to the beach that was by all points closed for the season. There was debris washed up everywhere and only a few sun bathers aimlessly wandering the beach. I wasn’t that impressed and walked home.

I met the rest of the people in my room later, two finish girls a Mexican guy, a montrealer, and an Italian. They were a real cool crowd that caused me to stay out for drinks till 3:00, I had to get up at 7:00 to meet with Jen to go south.

November 10 Alicante, Calpe, Day 1

Today I ripped over to Puerto de Sagunto to meet with Jen and her G-parents to go south and check out Alicante. I arrived a little late, and with my cell phone dead. After the initial cup of coffee, we drove south, to a place called Calp. Calp is famous for a 400m rock that sticks out next to the ocean beside it. Calp has long been a lookout for navigation as well as invaders to the Calp area for thousands of years, and is quite a spectacle from all angles. I wanted to climb it, but my company was quite tired from the drive. We then drove to Benidorm a city still on the Med.

(photo is of Calpe from the rock)

Benidorm is a strange place especially for me. Elsewhere on the Mediterranean there are a variety of ages and backgrounds on the beach. Benidorm is a retirement/packaged beach town, which means the typical person there was over 50 and from Britain, or Germany. Everyone moves at a much slower rate in a beach town made by retirees. Usually there are a number of different people on the beach; mind you I’ve been staying in both metropolitans and small towns for the majority of my trip, but not in this case. It was such a weird place for me as a geographer, an anomaly in the socio/demographic milieu of Spain.

We continued onto the town of Alicante where we moved our bags and I found my hostel.

(photo is condos in Benidorm)

November 11 Alicante Day 2

Today we (Jen and g-units) went to the castle of Santa Barbra in Alicante. The castle had a nice view of the beach and surrounding area. It also had some modern art. We then (with my persuasion) went to a nearby cave. I use nearby with the most liberal of terms, it’s 25 km away, and without some road signs; after an hour drive and a lot of re-constucted roads, we found the place. The cave we went to is called the cueva de candelabras (meaning cave of candles). It’s a huge vault with a 120 meter ceiling. In the cave vault there are a lot of large stalactites and stalagmites in the cage that give the cave its name. It’s has great acoustic qualities, and for once, they let me take pictures!!! It was like being a dream. We then went for lunch, and Jen and I looked for internet on the beach of Alicante.