Today we docked early in Alicante.  Our tour was not through NCL, it was by Spain Day Tours.  We met right off the ship at 8:15.  We were brought into downtown Alicante in a small bus.  We were dropped off out in front of the Main Market.  This market was blown up during one of the wars and killed 300 people, mostly women and children because it happened in the morning.  We were there around 8:30-9 and it was quite empty.  It was nice to walk around and look at all the different fish, meats, fruits and vegetables.  All were fresh from the region (although the meats could have been from all over because there were a lot of pig legs).

We walked through the streets of Alicante and very few stores were open.  I made a comment about how there were several ice cream shops open and our guide, Raquel, said that is because a lot of Spain’s ice cream is made in Alicante.  I love ice cream and did not know this fact.  

We wandered through some parks, took a look around the main cathedral (which looks plain outside, but it beautiful inside), and checked out the facade of the town hall.  We could not go inside there because it was being worked on.  We found the bus and drove to Guadalest. It took a little over an hour.  We went by the town of Bendorm, which is a well known area for young people to visit and party and is next to one of their amusement parks, which we also drove by. 

 Guadalest is a really neat tiny town with a castle on top of this razor like mountain.  We did not climb all the way to the top of the castle because it was just ruins and we did get a beautiful view from the town square including a bright reservoir down below.  We wandered around the shops and stopped to have some lunch.  

We drove back to Alicante to go up the the castle, which I had been looking forward to exploring.  The views were breath taking.  As I was taking in the view, I stepped right into a hole and went down on the ground.  My knee was scraped and starting to swell. The guide made sure to get me ice from a cafe and I was told to stay there as the rest of the group climbed up to the top.  So I got to see two of the three sections of the castle.  

My husband returned to me after exploring and showed me pictures (they were not much different from the ones I had taken earlier). As we were sitting there, he told me about how a woman fell off one of the towers taking a picture.  We watched as a man jumped up onto the wall to take the picture he wanted.  It was a straight drop (the guide said the woman died instantly) and I held my breath as he moved around on the wall.  He finally stepped off safely.  I can’t believe the risks people will take for a simple picture.  

The guide was so upset that I got hurt.  I told her that I am notoriously clumsy and she said it was not my fault. The whole walkway was perfectly fine except for where I stepped. There should have been a warning that there was a hole in the ground.  It made me feel a bit better.  She made sure to stop at a pharmacy to pick up a cream to soothe my aches.  It was very kind of her.  

I had a really good time on this tour because I got to speak quite a bit to the guide in Spanish. She was telling me all about the recent flooding in the area and how there are still a thousand people missing.  She said the government waited five days before they sent military help.  If they had sent people on the first day many people could have been saved, but due to political reasons, they didn’t send anyone.  It’s so sad.  It just shows that the U.S. is not the only country with messed up political issues.