Old City – Ex-pats in Mexico

Europe, history, Living overseas, Retirement, Spain, Travel

Spain is more than just Alicante

Leslie and I have been living in our Alicante apartment for a little over a month now. Some days are like today: rainy and chilly. So we just stay home and read our books or work on planning our next vagabond move. There have only been a few of those days, although it seems the rainy season may actually be here now. And when I say “chilly” I mean highs around 62º or 63º F. The locals are bundled up in winter coats, while we put on a light jacket or a sweater. Most days, we’re out doing something, like going to Central Mercado for groceries or visiting one of several local museums.

But we also realize that we need to get out of town and see more of Spain. Last week we hopped on an early morning train for Valencia and did an overnighter. Valencia was one of the cities we considered living in for an extended period. It’s famous as the birthplace of paella, and we wanted to see what the “real thing” tastes like. To do that, we found, takes some planning. You need a car to get out into the countryside and find a place that cooks paella outside, over an open fire. That’s the Valencian way. And we learned that true Valencian paella does not include seafood, just chicken, rabbit and sometimes snails.

We took advantage of a walking tour to see the historical sites in the old city, and we got a tip from our tour guide about a nearby restaurant — not a tourist trap — that does Valencian paella. It was great. We definitely needed a siesta after that meal! We’ve had several different kinds of paella now. I can’t decide on a favorite.

The walking tour covered the major tourist sites, such as the cathedral, the archeological museum with its Roman ruins, the Central Mercado and the narrowest building in Europe. This building is only one meter wide. Really. Take a look (left). One meter. That’s not quite 3.3 feet. And people actually lived in it a few centuries ago. Today it’s just for tourists to gawk at. Most of it has been reworked so that it’s part of the building next door.

Valencia is larger than Alicante, with more than 800,000 people. We liked what we saw and think we could live there. It’s got a different feel, a stronger vibe, more energetic. Get out of the old city and you find City of Science and Industry, an attraction almost like a theme park that includes Europe’s largest aquarium, Oceanografic. We hope to see it on our next visit there.

Old city housing is similar to where we live here in Alicante. We didn’t get a chance to visit any modern areas, but the outskirts of the old city have newer buildings, and a hustle and bustle that’s similar in ways to downtown Chicago.

The next day, we spent some time in the Cathedral of Saint Mary, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, with additional work done over the centuries since. When we arrived in the plaza to meet our tour, we thought the building was a synagogue because the stained glass window includes the Star of David, as you can see in the photo (right). On the tour, though, we learned it was designed as a tribute to Jesus having been Jewish.

There are a number of chapels that contain precious works of art, including two Goya paintings. In one chapel, the left arm of St. Vincent the Martyr — patron saint of Valencia — is on display. And in the most important chapel, we saw the Holy Grail. Yes, THE Holy Grail, the cup Christ used at the Last Supper. Always skeptical, I did some research later. One brochure says this cathedral’s claim is actually quite strong. It seems other potential Christ cups have been debunked, but they claim the jury is still out on this one. Anything’s possible, I suppose.

Heading out of town, we were really impressed with Estacio del Nord, the train station that handles most regional traffic. The other station is for the high-speed AVE trains to Madrid. Nord is impressive, as you can see. Built in 1917, the tile work is incredible, inside and outside.

This weekend we plan to visit two smaller towns just up the coast from Alicante: Altea, which we once considered for a base, and Vila Joiosa which we’ve only learned about since being here. More on that later.

Finally, it seems that everywhere we go, we run into a wedding. Remember I told you about the wedding at Edinburgh Castle that stumbled upon us back at the beginning of the journey? And when we were in Greece a year ago with Educational Opportunities, I took some shots of a photographer shooting a wedding on the island of Santorini. Well, we were just about to leave the plaza outside the rear of the cathedral in Valencia when I turned and saw this couple. Weddings are everywhere, it seems. We hope they will be very happy together.

Europe, history, Living overseas, Retirement, Spain, Travel

Alicante is the best place in the world!

That’s actually the city’s official motto, as we learned today from guide Maria. She led our little group on a walking tour from the waterfront through the old town and up to Central Mercado, pointing out landmarks and giving us quite a history lesson.

Alicante has a troubled past. Lots of death and destruction in the War of the Spanish Succession and later the Spanish Civil War. This city was on the losing side in both conflicts. But since the mid-20th century — and especially since the 1980s — things have gotten progressively better. Tourism has created many jobs, helping the population grow to more than 300,000. Now when you look northwest from the heights of the Castle Santa Barbara, you see a thriving city that feels good about itself. Hence, the motto.

While a few historic structures remain, most of the city’s buildings are 20th and 21st century. Alicante was bombed repeatedly by the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, and it became the last Republican city opposing Franco’s forces. Many of those who opposed Franco escaped Spain from the port of Alicante, which you can see in this photo, also taken from Castle Santa Barbara. The old city is prominent also. Just right of center, you may be able to see the blue domes of Co-cathedral of St.Nicolas. Stunning from the inside. It dates to the 1600s, but has been renovated several times, once following a fire.

In an earlier post, I wrote that I didn’t know the age of the apartment building we’re in. Update: Only about 60 years old, according to its owner, but the foundations are over 200 years old. That’s why the streets are so narrow. Some buildings in the area are older, such as the Alicante City Hall and Basilica Santa Maria, both of which survived bombardments from sea and air.

Central Mercado also survived an aerial bombardment on 25 May 1938. But 300 civilians were killed when bombs fell on the plaza just north of the market. A plaque in the plaza floor commemorates that tragic event.

On a cheerier note, Maria explained that tourism started taking off here when Scandinavians discovered Alicante’s beaches. At the time, though, highly restrictive dress codes for women prohibited bikinis. Even into the 1960s! So a delegation traveled to Madrid and petitioned the Franco government for relief. The Scandinavians won’t come if the women can’t wear bikinis on the beach! And did we mention how much money tourists bring into the city? So the government eased off, and the tourists are still coming today. Here’s part of the main beach on Friday, Nov. 11, from Castle Santa Barbara.

So the people here think this is the best place in the world. Is it the best place for us to retire? Hey, this is our first stop. And we’ve only been here three weeks. Let us check out some other places.

But it’s definitely on the short list.

Europe, Living overseas, Retirement, Travel

Settling in to the Spanish lifestyle. The siesta is alive and well in Alicante!

Buenos tardes from our apartment, or “piso” in Spanish. Here’s a photo (right) of our end of Calle Mayor in the Cosco Antiguo, the Old City of Alicante. I have yet to learn how old the buildings are in this area, but much of the city was destroyed by cannon fire from English ships in 1691, so most are likely 18th or 19th century, although a few older structures survived the battle. More history later.

The Cosco Antiguo, as you can see, has narrow streets, some of cobblestone. Just wide enough for one car, or most likely for two hombres with their burros to pass each other. Vehicle access is restricted to those with special permits.

Below is a shot of our building, Calle Mayor, 43. It’s a very comfortable apartment with two bedrooms and two baths. We’re in piso 1 on the first floor, but European “first” floors are what we would call the second floor in the U.S. Here, though, when you enter from the street you are on the ground level, or floor 0. We’ve checked out the rooftop terrace, from which we can see most of the Cosco Antiguo and Centro barrios, and just a small part of the Mediterranean Sea. Looks like a great place to hang out with a glass of wine in the afternoon.

It’s about 1600 as I write this. If you were in the military, or if you’ve spend much time in Europe, you will recognize that as 4 p.m. Lunch is over and siesta has begun. Most shops, and some restaurants, close around 2 or 3 p.m. and re-open after 5 or 6 p.m. Spanish families generally have their main meal of the day at lunch, anywhere from 1 to 3 p.m., then a light dinner or tapas after 8 or 9 p.m., often followed by a stroll through the plaza or down the rambla. It’s not unusual for tapas bars to be full of people at midnight or even later. We’re not fully acclimated to siesta yet (although Leslie is napping right now!) but we think it’s highly civilized!

We started our day early today (Friday, Oct. 28) with a walk along Alicante’s most popular beach, Playa del Postiguet, for sunrise at about 8:30 a.m. Lots of local folks were out, too. Some were jogging, some walking dogs, a few were even swimming. We were very comfortable in T-shirts. High today, about 74 degrees F. Here’s what it looked like this morning during our walk:

Later we roamed through Central Mercado, an indoor market place with hundreds of vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, seafood, and pastries. This is where the people of central Alicante come to buy food.

The fruits and vegetables area brought to mind our Saturday mornings at the Downers Grove farmers’ market the past several summers. But this was much bigger, with more vendors. At one stall, we picked up some lemons, apples, celery, broccoli, potatoes, a big red pepper and a bunch of seedless grapes– all for 8 euros, less than $10.

We still have some exploring to do in our temporary home, but so far we like Alicante. Hey, it’s been almost a week and we have yet to turn on any AC or heat. We could get used to this.

Adios!