Wait for us, Alicante
Summer comes when you hear the song of invisible seagulls on your window. When you rescue the flamingo, donut or alpaca float that had been collecting dust for a year from the trunk. When you start the car and yes, go from section to section with The Gipsy Kings in the background heading to our particular oasis.
And Alicante has always been one of our favourites. From that childhood on the beaches of benidorm where a pin did not fit, to the colorful streets of Villajoyosa , passing by the paella (or should we say rice?) in the favorite chiringuito.
Prints that have been slightly postponed in a year in which the health crisis has led to greater uncertainty but also, the hope of stepping barefoot on that beach again and forgetting about the world on the hammock.
Choose your route, discover new corners and open your eyes more than ever. The countdown has already begun to rediscover Alicante as if it were the first time.
Villajoyosa or the Alicante town we would like to be from
OF WHITE VILLAGES AND SECRET COVES
Lorenzo Carbonell, mayor of Alicante in the 1930s, once said: “Alicante, more than Valencian, is Levantine”. A phrase that is diluted in an area of Denia, in the north of the province, where the orange trees are confused with the blue of a coast flanked by octopus dryers.
The sea breeze caresses us from the top of a castle from which the shadows of ancient pirates can still be glimpsed, and through an old town where the senyoret rice is served forceful, with extra socarrat. oh! And with a glass of Marina Alta, of course.
From Denia, the descent to paradise finds in Javea the pride of one of the best inns in Spain.
Although, if you prefer, the Cabo de la Nao also explodes in exuberant accommodations and a nature discovered by the coves of Ambolo, Granadella or Portixol, a group of fishermen's houses that could well be confused with any remote village in Mykonos.
Portitxol
In Calpe, the Rock of Ifach invites you to climb to its top and outwit the aggressive seagulls that protect their eggs.
only from there, Calp seems to us a more curious microcosm: salt flats for flamingos, old royal baths in the sun or the architectural heritage of Ricardo Bofill around a Red Wall as hypnotic as tired of instagrammers.
It's time to renew, forget the massive goal to get lost in other streets. For example, those of Altea, the town that best represents the Mediterranean we dream of: cafes with art galleries in the back, narrow alleys of lime and bougainvillea, or a viewpoint from which to feel like the king of the Costa Blanca.
Red Wall, Calpe
A place that in another reality we would never imagine next to Benidorm, the Levantine Manhattan, that of the kitsch skyscrapers to which, with as much surprise as nostalgia, we looked up that first summer.
The province of Alicante boils here more than anywhere else thanks to the set of influences, rhythms and contrasts that form new watercolors.
For testing, just continue to Villajoyosa, that little town whose old quarter still shines today with the colors of the facades that once guided sailors back home. And there, in an unexpected alley, breathes a Levante that smells of orange blossom and rice, of hanging clothes rocked by the sea.
Benidorm, the Levantine Manhattan
THE MILLION TERRETA DEL MON
Between Villajoyosa and El Campello, two of Alicante's great sun and beach meccas, you have to set aside time to get lost by car and get to coves like El Conill, where a secret beach bar and its natural pools are the best reward.
already in El Campello and San Juan , the beaches that the locals crave throughout the year also yield to foreigners.
And so, summer Spain, as iconic as ours, merges (or, this year, perhaps not so much) in a sea of volleyballs, impossible floats and a joie de vivre that never goes out of style.
San Juan Beach
However, to understand a province it is always good to drop by its capital. The city of Alicante has been consolidated during these years as an open city, both to the world and to the sea, in the form of festive neighborhoods, an exclusive port or cultural wonders overshadowed by the honeys of summer.
One of them is Santa Barbara Castle, whose hill draws the profile of an ancient caliph from El Postiguet beach.
The best starting point for a route through its foothills through the Santa Cruz neighborhood , where its neighbors look askance at tourists from white terraces and pottery workshops.
Although if what you want are castles and history, the Vinalopó River discovers a delicious historical route woven through towns such as Villena, Elda or Sax , ideal to get away from the coastal hustle and bustle.
Towns defended by castles and sites to link with the suggestive modernist charm of the Sanctuary of Santa María Magdalena, in Novelda, and from there drive to the sea of palm trees that surrounds Elche.
Castle of Santa Barbara, Alicante
ALICANTE WAS A PARTY
Elche is often overlooked by those who prefer to get lost on beaches such as Arenales or Carabassí, from which planes take off from the airport with the same frequency as that of an ecstatic world that this year has allowed itself a truce.
Nevertheless, elche not only does it offer a delicious gastronomic establishment (its baked rice, or "with crust" is a good example), but it is also the only city in Spain that has three UNESCO heritage sites.
The first, of a natural nature, falls on its famous Palm Grove, the largest in Europe ; the immaterial that surrounds the Misteri d'Elx, religious celebration that every August 15 explodes in a huge gunpowder palm tree (the concept is everything), or the mixed heritage that the Center of Traditional Culture-School Museum of Pusol.
Palm grove of Elche
The cod it may never become an intangible heritage, but it is still a recurring soundtrack in the south of Alicante.
It is enough to listen to the echoes that accompany each summer any journey through the so-called Vega Baja , the same one that draws an outline of the famous Murcian orchard but always reserving space for the best beaches: those of Santa Pola or the recommendable Montcaio and La Roqueta de Guardamar del Segura, until reaching those of Torrevieja.,
Here, this mecca of clubbing and pink lakes contrasts with the caves of Rojales, the former dwelling of the orchards, today converted into a curious artistic rarity.
Tabarca Island
But if you want to feel privileged, you just have to return to Santa Pola and take a boat to the spoiled girl of Alicante: the island of Tabarca , a quiet corner where its delicious and typical pot of rice is prepared to the beat of the waves.
Only here, the world seems slower and timeless to us: in the alleys the pennants shine throughout the year and the whispers of old corsairs sneak into colorful houses that one day disassociated themselves from the world.
A refuge from which to take perspective and digest the sensations of this province as if it were our first time. As if we had been waiting for her for more than a summer.
because as he once said Miguel Hernández, a native of Orihuela, Alicante: “If ever a drop touches this field, this field feels the memory of the sea. Will it ever come back.” That time is today.
Orihuela, your destination on the Costa Blanca