Viewing: Alicante

Alicante: Where to eat (and eat and eat)

The credit card bills from Berlin and Alicante have just come in (happy weekend to you too!) and I need to keep reminding myself what an awesome time we had. So today I’m drooling over the food

Great food was one of my criteria in choosing our impromptu getaway destination, and Alicante did not disappoint. Traveling with a small baby, we were prepared to forego good dinners out, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn’t have to.

Alicante Monastrell tapas bar

Monastrell is a favorite on Chowhound (my go-to guide for foodie research), so we were delighted to discover that it was literally on the doorstep of our hotel, the Hospes Amerigo. Just a step outside the hotel lobby put us into Monastrell’s pasaje, a passageway between two buildings that’s been turned into a terrace for light snacks, drinks and dinner.

Alicante Monastrell

Monastrell also has a bar and an acclaimed restaurant, but we didn’t make it that far. Maybe next time?

Alicante Monastrell bread and olives

Good bread is always a preview of a great meal, don’t you agree? Wrapped in a stamped brown paper bag, served with olive oil and the biggest, juiciest, meatiest and most intensely flavored olives I’ve ever had (Gordal olives grown in Sevilla), the first things laid on our table promised good things to come.

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Posted on July 26, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , ,

Out and about in Alicante

This heat wave has really sapped my blogging mojo. I meant to finish my Alicante posts last week, but without the comfort of airconditioning, I just haven’t found the energy to do anything. There are a few more things I want to share from our impromptu weekend escape—proof that there is more to Alicante than just the beach, and proof that we didn’t actually lie around like beached whales the entire time.

I love how European cities and towns always seem to have a main promenade. In Alicante, it’s the Explanada de España, which runs alongside the marina and ends just before Playa Postiguet.

Alicante Explanada de Espana

Alicante Explanada de Espana buildings

Alicante Explanada de Espana mosaic

Lined with palm trees, overlooked by elegant old buildings and laid with an estimated 6.5 million marble tiles, it’s where the locals go for the paseo, (evening stroll), or to occupy the wooden folding chairs scattered around the promenade and gossip with their amigas.

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Posted on July 24, 2013
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , ,

Alicante: At the beach with baby

Our weekend escape to Alicante marked Tala’s first swim in a real ocean. Marlon and I truly love the beach, so this is one pleasure we were thrilled to introduce to our baby girl. At four months, babies don’t need much for a day at the beach—just a swim nappy, swimsuit (lots of moms swear by SPF suits, but all I had was an ordinary one), sun protection (SPF 50 and a hat), a towel, and a shaded place to rest. So it was really easy.

At first, Tala was wary and had her mehhh face on, probably because we were cautious and tentative going into the water.

Tala and Daddy swim
We waded out until the water was chest-deep. Waves pick up speed closer to shore, so further out there’s less of the rocking and splashing that could upset a baby. We made sure to watch her closely for signs of distress, and when she started going a little blank we knew it was time to cuddle her all the way back to shore. Still, no tears, so yay.

Alicante beach with baby

The next time we went back in, Marlon and I decided to act super perky and excited going into the water. Our strategy worked! She definitely took to the water much better, and we were rewarded for our efforts with adorable baby laughs.

Happy baby in the ocean

In the beginning, Marlon and I really missed being able to swim and cool off in the ocean together, since one of us always had to stay and watch Tala. But when the three of us headed into the water together, things just clicked. Being with Tala in the ocean was one of those perfect moments when life exactly matches the picture you’ve always had in your head. And, baby or no baby, you know that doesn’t happen often.

Baby feet in the sand

Back on land, we burrito-wrapped Tala in her fluffy white towel (which she loves) and dressed her in her little Vespa-printed jumpsuit. We stood her up and let her dig her little toes into the sand, and watched as she charmed a herd of bikini-wearing, leathery-skinned Spanish grandmothers into ecstatic bursts of “Que bonita! Que guapa!”

Tala and Mommy in Alicante

Then we just spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, napping and letting her people-watch from the safety of Mommy and Daddy’s embrace.

All together, not bad for a first dip in the ocean! I would love to bring her to the beach again. But closer to home, and the frigid North Sea? Hmmm, let me think about that.

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Posted on July 19, 2013
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , , , ,

Alicante: Playa Postiguet

“Didn’t you know you’re not allowed to act spontaneously anymore?”

This is an actual, um, thing we were told when Marlon and I let it drop that we had booked, on impulse, a flight to Alicante, on Spain’s Costa Blanca. Apparently, new parents of nearly four-month-old babies don’t just book flights three days before departure and run away to the beach for the weekend. It’s simply not done.

Well, we did it. It was the cheapest flight we could get to somewhere with a beach, hot weather, real sunshine (not the wishy-washy, nambly-pambly thing that passes for sun here in Holland) and great food. It was just for three nights (“seems like a lot of trouble with the baby for just three days,” Marlon was told at the office). But it was fantastic!

I’ve been spoiled by the horrific building codes of the Philippines, where accommodations are built right on the beach—you can practically tumble out of your door half-asleep in the morning and land on the sand. So we chose our hotel, the Hospes Amerigo, because of its proximity to Alicante’s biggest sandy beach, Playa Postiguet.

Alicante Playa Postiguet

Every morning for three days, we joined the exodus of beachlovers down the tiled promenade of Explanada de Espana, toward the beach. I loved (and envied) the casual ease of it, locals walking around town with folding beach chairs tucked nonchalantly under their arms like purses.

Alicante heading to the beach

Arriving early is key to getting a good spot. Since this is Spain, early is relative: at 9 or 10am, there’s nobody at the beach but pensionados and families with little kids, and most of the beach chairs are still empty.

Alicante Playa Postiguet beach umbrellas

Where is everyone else? All the singles and young people are still asleep after crawling home at 6am. Like I said, this is Spain.

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Posted on July 18, 2013
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,