Ali-Alicante!

Last night we got back from a very lovely weekend in Alicante. We originally went with 17 girls (kind of a hot mess), but we had to go to 2 different hotels for us to all be accommodated. I went with the smaller group to a hotel called Alicante Hills, which looked like a Greek hotel. It was mainly white with blue trimming and was apartment style! We only paid 30 Euro for two nights, so that was pretty awesome and roomy.
We misheard the woman at the train station and thought that our hotel was a twenty minute walk. Wrong. She meant a twenty minute busride. We walked for an hour and a half over 4 kilometers! Finally, we called a cab to take us to our hotel. It was literally a two minute ride and we were at our hotel. We were not pleased. However, we discovered this awesome lagoon-park on the way that we rested at and dipped our feet in. There are pictures on Facebook of Kristin and me on some rocks out on the lagoon and pretended to be the Little Mermaid. That was the silver lining in that treacherous walk that left demon callouses on my feet.
That night we took a bus back into the city and got dinner at this precious little restaurant called Prego. It was Italian, so we naturally all got wine (Meagan and I split the most delicious bottle of merlot for only 10 Euro. Later we found out it was 14.5% alcohol. Oops). I got this tomato-basil baked penne with basil leaves and mozzarella baked in. It was heavenly. Our waitress and bartender were so nice, too. They were joking and laughing with us the whole night. Clearly they liked the silly American girls with horrible accents because we got free lemoncello shots. Molte bene! Since dinner is so much later here, we didn't end up leaving the restaurant until 11:30. Being Americans, we are used to getting the check as soon as we are done eating and then moseying out the door two minutes later. Here, we always have to ask for the check. They encourage us to stay in the restaurant!
I actually got to bed at a decent hour and we woke up around 11 the next morning. We caught a bus to this fort called Castillo de Santa Barbara. It was so ballin! The fort was built into this giant cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and had all these turrets and secret pasageways. In the opposite direction of the sea we could see all of Alicante and the mountains. It was truly a beautiful sight.
After getting all hot and sweaty from hiking, we went to the beach right below the fort for a couple of hours to get some sun. Around 5:30 some clouds rolled in and made the windblown beach rather chilly, so we went shopping in the little market stands on the boardwalk. I got some presents for family and friends back home for great prices. If I had more money/ a bigger suitcase, I would have bought out some of those stands. Personally, I like their trinkets more than Valencia trinkets. After that we got some coffee and waited for suppertime. What a worthwhile wait. We went to one of the coolest tapas places ever! Each tapa had a toothpick in it and based on how many toothpicks you got that was the price you paid. I had a great spinach empanada, bacon-wrapped chorizo with lettuce on bread, lamb, chicken on bread covered in a queso-sauce, and a cheese and ham quiche. They were literally each two or three bites, but it the perfect portion. Once again, the waiters were so funny and nice.
Our last day in Alicante (Sunday) we went to the beach all day and relaxed. Joey, you are going to hate me, but we got Subway for supper and I kinda enjoyed it. Apparently there is a strike with vegetable farmers, so a lot of Spain doesn't have many veggies. This subway only had lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. Honestly, I have never craved a spinach salad as bad as I do now. With red and green peppers. And sweet onion. And feta cheese. NOM
Anyways, we got back to the dorms around 10 last night. On the train back, I realized that there are many things I love about this country, but 3 main things I hate.
1. They don't split the checks! It's a royal pain to try and count out all the Euro you owe and make sure that everyone gets their change back, etc. etc.
2. The PDA here is out of control. Saying goodbye to someone at the train station should not be a 20 minute makeout session for all to see complete with heavy petting. Ew. No. Stop. Not to mention, it is very inappropriate for 14 year olds at the beach to be straddling each other in the sand while small children run around. If we wanted to see that, we would go to the sleazy underground of Madrid.
3. People come into restaurants and solicit all the time! No, I don't want a rose from you, creepy old man. I want to enjoy my meal with my friends. Hey, nasty homeless guy, if you ask for my money again while I am sipping on my cafe con leche, I will feel inclined to stab you with my butter knife. I'm not used to that at all because that is very illegal in the U.S. And I am very much ok with that.
Whew! Sorry about the long rants. It was a very eventful weekend and I felt the need to share my thoughts with y'all. Stay prepared for tomorrow's post because we have a birthday girl who will want to do crazy shenanigans and I want to write all about it. The PG version, of course :).