Alicante; Friday, 12 January, 2018

Despite booking into an airport hotel and having checked in my luggage the night before it was still an un-holy hour that I had to get up and stagger in a still sleepy state through security and into departures.

Thankfully it appeared that everyone else had decided to just walk zombie like to the gate rather than explore the departures lounge and 10 minutes before our scheduled departure time we were already pushing back and heading for the runway.

With a strong tailwind we zoomed down to the South of Span and landed 35 minutes early into Alicante and through an almost deserted airport. I was already on a bus heading into town at the same time as we should have arrived.

Of course, at 10am no good hotel is going to have a room ready so I wasn’t able to checkin, but they did take my bag off of me so I could go exploring. My first stop of the morning being to walk up behind the hotel to the Castell de Sant Ferran. The castle is interesting for being almost ruinous with no buildings, other than the outer walls, but from it’s remains there are excellent views across the city to the much more impressive Castell de la Santa Bàrbara. I had a long walk round the fortress, taking in the views, and the pleasant sensation of warm sun on my skin – something that had been missing in the UK for some time.

Just outside the gates of the castle was a very nice little café, which I stopped at for a large lunch – breakfast having been very quick at the airport many hours earlier. By the time I’d finished lunch and wandered back down the hill into town I was able to check in to the hotel and freshen up a little.

From the hotel I headed back out into town and caught the tram from the centre out towards Santa Barbara castle. I had a long wander around the base of the hill that the castle is on, before making my way round to the lift that takes you up through the centre of the rock and to the top level of the castle. By the time I got to the top the sun was setting and I was able to take in some amazing views of the city as it was bathed in the last light of the sun.

I continued to have a look round the castle, which is open until 10pm each night and, once those up for the sunset have gone, gives you almost the castle to yourself to explore. However, with the last lift back down at 19:45 I made sure I didn’t stay up too long as I didn’t fancy the hike back down in the dark.

Back down at sea level I walked up through the old town and took in the Basilica of Saint Mary and some more of the old town squares before finding a nice restaurant for a light dinner and then back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep.