Palma de Mallorca

This past weekend marked the beginning of my European travels, and the first of six weekends I will spend away from Alicante. Up this weekend was a trip to the island of Mallorca, just off the Spanish Coast.

We left midday Friday, after language class, and after maybe the shortest flight of my life, 35 minutes, we arrived in Mallorca around 4:30. We were staying in a town just a couple minutes outside the main town on the island, Palma de Mallorca. We took a short bus ride to our hostel where we stayed. Friday night consisted of exploring the town around our hostel, walking around the beach, and doing so good souvenir window shopping.

We were up early Saturday morning to take the bus into Palma. Drizzle turned in to full on rain as we were exploring the city, so we conveniently took refuge inside the Cathedral of Mallorca. We spent some time in the Cathedral looking at the beautiful artwork and marveling at the sheer vastness that comes inside many European cathedrals. The Cathedral was gorgeous.

Taking a few minutes to enjoy the Cathedral drizzle free.

During a break in the rain, we ventured out to explore the city some more. Looking at the beautiful architecture, the old buildings, and the sea all combined to make Palma an absolutely beautiful city. We spent the day wandering, taking pictures, and dodging puddles. We had lunch in the Plaza Major and enjoyed people watching in the heart of the city. I can definitely see why Palma is such a huge draw for European travelers. With the beach and culture, there is plenty to do and explore in Palma. Only having one full day there, I feel as though we barely scratched the surface.

Sunday, we again returned early to Palma, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning! My cousin recommended seeing Valldemossa. A quick google search and asking what bus to take, led us to the beautiful mountain village of Valldemossa. It was only a short, cheap bus ride there and definitely worth the trip. Although there was a tourist presence there, the town still felt quiet and sleepy, very untouched by modern hustle and bustle. We only had about an hour and a half there, so we wandered around the curving streets and I took about a billion photos. We stopped by a sweet shop before we left to grab some homemade fudge which perfectly ended the trip.

A short ride and we were back in Palma. We grabbed some lunch and then off on another bus to the airport. We had an easy time flying with RyanAir, the notoriously cheap European airline. A short flight and we were back in Alicante. It really was a perfect weekend trip. Enough time that we saw a lot and definitely got the vacation feel! Palma de Mallorca was absolutely beautiful and a great place to start my travel adventures.

Hasta luego,
Kelsey

Perfect Alicante Weekend

This past weekend was quite honestly, the perfect weekend here in Alicante. Filled with fun, friends, and la playa! It started Friday after we finished our intensive course. My first two weeks here were spent taking an intensive Spanish course- 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, and 2 exams. After our second exam wrapped up on Friday, we went on a group trip to a local winery- La Bodega de Santa Margarita.We had a nice visit where we got to learn a bit about wine making and sample some local wines.

Grapes!

La Bodega.

Some fancy piece of equipment used to make wine- our guide only spoke Spanish.

Wine tasting!

Everyone was tired for the ride back.

One of my favorite parts of the trip, and one of my favorite parts of Spain, was the castles. I love castles, some people love to travel and see ruins, some people art, for me it is castles. On the hour drive to the winery we pasted five, nearly every city has its own castle. I of course took several pictures out of the bus window.

Castle #2

Castle #3

Castle #4

Saturday morning a couple friends and I visited a local mercadillo in town. This was a flea market with clothes, shoes, plants, and vegetables. It was huge! Very big and very popular with a lot of local flavor. Then it was home for lunch and to Alicante beach. There is a beach right here in Alicante, maybe a ten minute walk from my place. It is smaller than many of the surrounding beaches, but it is close and there is just something special about swimming in the Mediterranean Sea while starring up at the Castillo de Santa Barbara. It was a great afternoon on the beach, not too hot after 3pm and the water was, as always, perfect. We stopped to get ice cream on the way back for dinner, and then in the evening it was out on the town to hang with friends.

The Mercadillo.

Perfect- sand, sun, and Castle.

Sunday, a friend and I decided to take a day trip to El Campello. A small town about a 25 minute tram ride outside Alicante. The Tram in Alicante is a great, easy way to get around Alicante and out to surrounding areas. El Campello was much smaller than Alicante and had a great beach. It was smaller and a lot less crowded- the perfect place for a relaxing Sunday. We stopped at a seaside cafe to get some cold drinks and then returned to Alicante for the evening.

El Campello.

Seaside Cafes.

Another perfect beach.

It was such a full weekend, that I couldn't even get the energy to write this post til Tuesday. But this weekend was full of new adventures and relaxation. With many more weekends here I am excited to see what other adventures I can find in Alicante!

Hasta Luego,
Kelsey

El Mercado Central

Today after class, we took a class trip to the Mercado Central, the main market here in Alicante. The market was originally constructed in 1921 and is still today, where much of Alicante purchases fresh meats, cheese, fish, fruits and vegetables, and bread. We had an assignment to walk around and talk with different vendors, discovering different foods and goods available in the market. I went in a circle for a good five minutes, following the directions of different vendors trying to find the "bonito seco" or dried tuna.

Outside of the Mercado Central.

The building that houses the market is easily 4 times the size of Eastern Market or Pike Place. When you enter the market, the first floor has an amazing selection of meats. Nearly the entire first floor is made up of different meat vendors and a large variety of meat options. Some options I never want to see raw again, or maybe even cooked for that matter.

First floor, one row of meat vendors.

Downstairs, there are fruits, vegetables, a large selection of seafood, and a variety of breads and sweets. Here in Alicante, I have had some of the best fruit I have ever had and there is always a large supply available. At my home we have pears and apples always on hand, and sometimes for a treat I stop to get a peach from a small store. At the market there were so many varieties of fruits and vegetables available. There were also a large variety of seafood. I never really ate fish before I move to Spain, but now we have it for cenar or in our ensaladas, and I really have become accustomed to it. Being right on the coast, there is so much fresh seafood available at the market. Finally, the fresh baked bread in Alicante is amazing. We always have great rolls with dinner and the panaderias (bread shops) always have the freshest looking treats. I couldn't help myself from purchasing a fresh chocolate croissant from one of the vendors!

Lower level shops, seafood to the left and bread straight ahead.

Outside the market, there is a plaza where they sell beautiful flowers and there is a small cafe with drinks. There is such a community feel while out the market. Old friends meeting up, families wandering around, many families purchase their food from the mercado.

Outside, the flower area.

The Mercado Central is physically and emotionally the center of the city. It is a very common meeting place and a great place to wander and get a taste of what Alicante living is really like!

Hasta luego,
Kelsey

Guadalest/Altea

Hola! Warning, this will be a very long post-

Everyday in Spain is an adventure, but Saturday my group had an amazing adventure as we toured two smaller towns in the Alicante Provincia. We first toured Guadalest a very small mountain town, then Altea a beautiful coastal town a bit north of Alicante. We took off in the morning and it was about a two hour drive to our first town, Guadalest.

Guadalest


The town of Guadalest is very small, and from what I could see, much of the economy centers around tourism to visit the remains of the castle that was perched on a mountain for many years before it was destroyed by the earthquake. With only remains left atop the mountain, a small town has developed there as well as a large home formerly owned by one of the richest families in the land. I took nearly 50 pictures while at Guadalest, the beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and the castle remains proved to be very picturesque. Here are some of them I wanted to share:

The town of Guadalest outside the castle walls.

The bell tower and castle walls.

The bell tow and castle tower from above, looking over the valley and east toward the sea.

The valley looking west.

The houses on the mountaintop and the lake below.

More towers and levels of the castle.

From the highest level.

Looking out of the castle. 

Oh wait, this may be higher. Literally have 20 pictures of this.

Castle from the back, overlooking the town.

Paella

My professora, Irene, is originally from Guadalest. Here father works at the castle and served as a guide for us. He gave us a great tour with all kinds of information about the old castle and the house and town on the mountaintop. After our tour, we took a short walk to his house where he hosted us for lunch. We had a picnic on a large blue tarp and ate paella. Now, paella is a traditional Spanish dish that is very popular here in the Valencia region. It can be made many different ways, Guadalest is famous for its meat paella with a mix of lamb and seafood. Paella is one of my favorite foods here in Spain and mi madre makes very good seafood paella for lunch sometimes. For lunch we had paella provided by a local restaurant, one veggie and one their original creation only found in Guadalest. Irene's father arrived and pulled two GIANT pans of paella out of his trunk, they were nearly as large as the tables we had for them.

Grapes outside the house.

Big as the table!

Specialty of Guadalest.

Close up on the veggie, beautiful colors!

My meal on our blue picnic tarp.

The paella was amazing! It is my favorite meal here and this was definitely the best I have had. We had the perfect lunch overlooking the valley and after we all took a short siesta on the tarp and had melon for dessert- I love meal time in Spain!

Altea

It was only a short ride from Guadalest to Altea, I am not sure on the exact time as I slept the entire way. Altea is a small, beautiful coastal town. It sits overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with white buildings and a beautiful church. It started raining while we were there, so we stopped and had helado (ice cream) outside under the umbrellas of a cute little cafe in the center of town. We walked around the town, seeing the different streets covered in flowers and bright artwork.

White buildings of Altea.

The church.

Overlooking the sea.

More Altea, with Benidorm in the distance.

Streets.

Church.

Little cafe where we sat outside having helado.

More colorful streets.

Many of the buildings had these beautiful paintings hanging off them.

The sea.

We left Altea as the sun was reemerging. And drove back to Alicante. The cities around Alicante are each unique and beautiful. This was such a great chance to see two of them and get some time out of the city. I can't wait to see more of the region around Alicante.

Hasta Luego!