Separated by 40 miles of land but so very different! A completely different feel to Alicante (and El Campello where we are actually staying).
Saturday and Sunday in Benidorm proceeded much as expected. We did very little, went for a couple of swims, walked a little, went to watch the rugby on Saturday in a bar where even the San Miguel was only 1.50 euros per bottle!..So later on Saturday evening was spent singing and dancing along to music in the van (some of you may have seen the video!)
Sunday evening we walked along to the Benidorm Palace to see The Rat Pack. A very enjoyable show but a little disappointing that the main event only lasted for 20 minutes more than the support act…. Glad we went though 🙂
We knew we would have to pay for any electric that we used over 4kwt per day at the campsite – we weren’t expecting over 23euros! In the UK campsites aren’t allowed to actually make money out of the electric; we’re guessing the same rules don’t apply here…
So, whilst we’ve enjoyed our time in Benidorm, we’re not sorry to be moving on now. We’ve just headed a little way down the coast to El Campello, just outside of Alicante. It’s probably not even 40 miles (it took less than an hour). Some lovely views along the way (and also the usual impatient Spanish drivers!)
Once again we managed to get into our chosen site, albeit in the ‘winter camping area’, which turns out to be really rather pleasant. We met another British couple coming the other way (around Spain & Portugal that is) who gave us some interesting information about Lisbon.
We set off down to the seafront for a bike ride and found a tramline! It turns out the tram goes direct into Alicante for 1.45 euros each – bonus. (It also goes back to Benidorm and beyond – who knew? Not us evidently!) Rather a lovely aspect along this seafront and much more chilled than Benidorm; also with a few statues thrown in.
A feature of the beaches over here is the volleyball nets and basketball nets etc. that are provided all along the beach. Also a lot of outdoor gym equipment is available. There’s a cycle path along almost the length of the seafront too. All very pleasant 🙂
I’d made a chilli for tea, which was okay but I’d forgotten to look for the fat content of the mince when we bought it…. I won’t make that mistake again!
Today we caught the tram into Alicante and walked 169m up to the castle (even the steps were steeply sloping). We made it anyway 🙂 (There is the option to take a lift all the way up – you only have to pay (2.70 euros) if you go from the very bottom, otherwise it’s free). The castle is really amazing, there’s a lot of it and it costs nothing. The lift takes you all the way back down to the beach, which is handy – last time I came here (with Lou about 11 years ago – I think) we pretty much walked back down the side of the mountain – in our flip flops!!
We had lunch, and a sangria, at a bar by the beach, and then wandered a little more. Unfortunately my heel was hurting again by now so we needed to head back to the tram – which we had to find first! Needless to say we did so and headed back to sit in the sun by the van (we’ve had 25 degrees today – bikini weather).
We’d also found a bloke’s wallet on our way out in the morning; we tried to contact him but ended up handing it to a policeman at the gate to the castle! Hope he gets it back.
We’re moving on tomorrow and hoping to stay close to Cartagena – it looks like it could be worth visiting 🙂
turnrightoutofportsmouth 