They have a tradition in Alicante of starting New Year’s Eve early in the day.  The festivities begin with a children’s party at 11:00 a.m in the plaza at City Hall. They celebrate with music, balloons, confetti and party toys. The party goes until 1 p.m. when they have a New Year countdown called the “Australian.”  It is based on the start of New Year in Australia.

After the children’s party is over, people either go to different bars or to the Mascletás and the festivities begin.

We started our New Year’s Eve by heading down to the Luceros Plaza for the Mascletás (daytime fireworks). We gathered on the plaza along with thousands of other people.

People were celebrating and having drinks of Moscatel which is a sweet wine. As we were waiting for the fireworks to start the group in front of us offered us a glass of Moscatel. We gladly accepted and enjoyed the drink with our new-found friends.

The crowd was very well controlled and there were police throughout the area.

The start of the Mascletás was signaled by a single firework blast. The crowd cheered and the fireworks began. They are very different because of the focus on sound and not light. Where we were standing you could feel the vibrations of the sound hitting your chest. It was very invigorating and exciting to experience. Below is the video of the Mascleta in its entirety.

After the Mascletás the people go to local bars and pubs for tapas and drinks. Some of the bars are very popular and fill up very fast.

We headed to one of our favorite bars in the old quarter of Alicante. The bar is in the lower section of a building and is fairly small.

We arrived early and it was still fairly empty, so we settled in and enjoyed a few drinks and Tapas.

Afterward, we headed home to rest before heading back out for the evening festivities, but that will be for another blog post.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dia”