Each year there is a carnival in Alicante that starts around the 2nd of February and runs for three weeks. On Saturday evening we enjoyed some of the carnival. The La Rambla and El Barrio streets were blocked off and lots of people fill the streets with unique  costume  and there was a parade, music and dancing.  We walked the Rambia Street and saw some of the locals in costumes. The street was packed with families and children all dressed up. It was like halloween with an array of different costumes. All ages take part and event some of the servers in restaurants and bars are dressed in costume. Here are a few pictures of the people on the street.

After checking out the street we stopped at a restaurant called “El Portal”. The restaurant was crowed and we could only get a seat near the bar.  We settled in at the bar for something to eat and have a drink or two. The bartender was really helpful and showed us the menu of tapas and we ordered a tapa. It was shaved cured ham and bread with blended tomatoes. That is a fairly popular tapa in Alicante. We had the tapa and a glass of wine. While we were enjoying the tapa, we had a conversation with the bartender who could speak a bit of english. He took a shinning to us and we had a nice conversation with him. After we finished the tapa we ordered another one this time it was a mini burger, also very tasty. We were having a lot of fun and enjoyed watching the people in the bar area. We chatted with the bar tender, practiced our spanish and ordered a different drink.  I can’t recall the name of this drink but it was made with vodka, rosemary, and a few other ingredients.  He claimed it was the best drink in the bar and his favourite. Once we had one we agreed it was the best drink we have had in a long time (excluding wine of course).

After our tapas and few drinks we walked back to the waterfront to catch the bus. We had a about an hour to wait for the bus, so we went and had a coffee at the local cafe. We then took the bus and headed home for the night.

Apparently when the carnival ends in two weeks there is a  ceremony called “Funeral Wake and Burial of the Sardine”. The ceremony has a parade where people wear black and carry burning candles. This signifies the end of the carnival and the death of the costumes until next year.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dias”

Saturday we decided to take in a gourmet walking tour in Alicante. The tour started along the waterfront at the Explanada. We met our tour guide and two other couples there at 11 am. Our tour guide was very informative and pleasant. He told us about  the history of Alicante as we walked along to the restaurants through the old part of the city. Our first stop was a small restaurant on the main walkway. They served us “Horchata” which is a sweet drink that is made from the little beads (called tiger nuts) that form on a long string type root of the chufa plant. The drink was white (similar to milk in colour) it had a very unique and almond sweet taste. It is very popular with locals here.

We then walked through the old part of the city. We went through some smaller streets to some really neat and interesting spots.

We eventually stopped at “La Chinata” an olive oil store. This was an amazing spot, with all sorts of different olive oils and other olive products. We had a tasting of five or six different types of olive oils, using fresh-baked bread. Shelley was enjoying the olive oil tasting and sampled each olive oil a few times. We are planning to come back to this store once we move into our new apartment and stock up on different olive oils.

Our tour guide gave us some history of the olive oil industry and that Spain is the largest producer of Olive oil in the world.

We then  walked to the local market. There are two floors of the market the top floor has all meats and the bottom floor has bakeries and vegetables. We sampled some fresh fruits and vegetables. The vegetables are all produced locally and are very fresh. We then sampled some blood sausage. yuke!!! not for me.

We then went to a small fish shop where we sampled some salted fish. We tried them but I can guarantee I won’t be back to buy any.

There was also “Bonito” a small dried tuna fish. This dried tuna is kept hanging in the kitchen and small pieces of the meat is peeled off when  needed for salads etc.  This one fish apparently can last for months in a kitchen.

After we finished the market area we walked back into the old part of the city and ended our tour by sampling some wine. Now this was a nice way to finish the tour. We sampled some local wine and had an assortment of cheese and crackers. It was quite nice and the wine was of course very tasty. In fact we ended up staying there after the tour with two other people from the tour and enjoyed a few more glasses of wine.

Overall it was very enjoyable and we saw some traditional shops and  sampled some of the gourmet foods made locally in Alicante.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dias”

 

Today the weather was cool and windy and somewhat cloudy. We decided to take a walk down the beach. We walked the beach for about an hour looking at sea shells. We picked up a few sea shells along the way and enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Other than that a very relaxed day. I thought I would share some of the photos from our walk today. “adios y que tenga un grand dias”

 

While doing some research on Alicante we came across this website called “Cafe Idiomas” which translates in english to Cafe Language.  Once a week they have an event where anyone can attend and have a coffee with someone with a different language and practice a second language. It sounds like an interesting spot so today we decided to head down to the cafe idiomas and try our spanish on some poor people.

We arrived at about 6 pm at the Cafe Idiomas, which turned out to be a small cafe located in the local school for languages called “Proyecto Espanol”. The school teaches Spanish, English and German to locals and foreigners. They host this free 2 hour language exchange at the cafe once a week. We signed up at the cafe and they were very happy to have us take part. There are not too many people who speak english and we were the only ones there tonight.

We were introduced to two spanish gentleman in their late twenties  or early thirties. We discussed any number of  subjects that arose  for about an hour in english.  During the second hour we talked spanish but still used some english when we couldn’t find the word in spanish. We definitely spoke more english than spanish overall, but our spanish is improving. It was an enjoyable evening and we will be  making this part of our routine every week.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dios”

 

As a former municipal worker I have been exposed to the challenges of running a city. I have always taken a keen interest in municipal services. Now that we are travelling the majority of the time by bus, I thought I would talk about the bus system in Alicante and area.

The city of Alicante’s population is approximately 330,000. The city has two bus systems within the city and then there are regional buses that work seamlessly with the Alicante system. The regional bus system has several companies. One is called the Subus and the other is called “Baile”. The Subus provides travel throughout the region from city to city. The Baile is a singular region route.

The Baile buses run to and from the City of Alicante through several smaller towns ending up in the town of Santa Pola. We are currently living along the Baile route and use this bus system. It runs on an hourly basis with several buses diverting throughout the day to the international airport. The cost of a one-way bus ticket on the Baile system is $1.50 euro. What I find particularly interesting is the bus driver role. He is required to make change while driving the bus. There is a small coin drawer built into the bus console which is used for coin. There is no automated coin box or slot for paying like in Canada.  A passenger will simply lay the coin or bill down on the ledge and the bus driver makes change from the coin drawer. If the passenger pays by a larger denomination the bus driver will make change from bills in his pocket. The bus driver also sells “tarjetas” which are the multiple bus ride cards. The tarjetas cost $15 euros each and are for 10 rides. I found it odd that the bus driver carries that much cash with him on the bus. Some bus drivers keep the money (bills) in their shirt pocket while other bus drivers keep the money in the pant pocket. They will pull out the wad of bills to make change at times.  All of this is done while the bus is either at the bus stop while people are getting on, or even sometimes if they are running late the bus driver will finish the cash transaction at a red light while waiting for the light to turn. The passenger will stand beside the driver until they get their change even when the bus is moving.  There are times when passengers will ask the driver questions while he is driving. He will answer and carry on a discussion even when driving. The bus drivers tend to be very helpful and friendly.

The bus drivers in the city of Alicante tend to be less friendly and a little less helpful. I believe the main reason for this is simply they don’t  have extra time to chat while driving in the city.  Driving in the city is a challenge and requires constant attention to the road.

The buses in the city of Alicante are colour coded into two groups, blue and red.  The blue buses are the “Interurbanas”  lines. They run between the main bus station to the outer areas of the city. For example you would take a blue #24 bus to go from the waterfront  at the south end of the city through to the far north end of the city. This would be similar to the express bus system used in Kingston Ontario.

The red buses are the local ones which cover certain areas of the city.  There are numerous red bus lines and they are all numbered routes.

It can be very difficult to know which bus to take, if you don’t know the area. There is no automated or PA system to announce the bus stops and it is up to the passenger to know when to get off.  The cost of a bus ticket in the city of Alicante is $1.45 euro.  You can pay the bus driver in cash or use a tarjeta. You can only buy a tarjeta at the main bus station. You can get a basic tarjeta or have a personalized one for an additional cost. There are different cost for the tarjetas depending on your situation. Student, Senior, tourist or adult are all priced differently.  Below is an example of the cost for bus transit in city of Alicante.

It has taken us a while and a few wrong bus rides to figure out the bus system, We are now getting comfortable using the bus system our next venture will be the TRAM system.

“Adios y que tenga un gran días”