We do understand that it’s a little early to be bothering you with Christmas already, while it’s still summer, but this is a post we’ve been meaning to publish for awhile. And besides, if you book your trip to Alicante now for this holiday season, you might be able to score some bargains.
We visited Alicante for a couple days before the Christmas holidays. Despite its proximity to Valencia, this was the first time we had visited together. Alicante is a popular beach destination in the summer, so we plotted our visit for mid-December. Little did we know, this is also a busy time; not with tourists, but with people who’ve returned home to celebrate the holidays. We found the restaurants packed with revelers, and the streets crowded with slow-moving families strolling around, admiring the city’s lavish Christmas decorations.
Alicante is known for its gigantic nativity scenes which occupy the Plaza del Ayuntamiento during Christmas. But we weren’t prepared for how huge they were! More than anything, the figures of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus reminded us of Fallas figures… the main difference being that these don’t get set ablaze at the end of the holiday. It might be cool if they did, but somehow we think that the pious alicantinos wouldn’t go for it.
The nativity scene, or belén as it’s called in Spanish, was nice and we enjoyed the city’s Christmas lights. But what stuck with us was this rather weird street in the center of the city. Calle San Francisco is also known as Calle de las Setas which translates into Mushrooms Street.
Had we taken a wrong turn into Wonderland? For some reason (or perhaps after consuming some themselves), city leaders decided to add giant mushrooms to this street as part of an urban revitalization project meant to draw families with children into the city center. We think that the real purpose for the mushrooms is to provide a place for kids to play, while their parents enjoy a drink at one of the pedestrianized street’s many outdoor bars.
But our favorite activity of the day was climbing up to the castle for sunset. The Castillo de Santa Bárbara is Alicante’s main landmark and is visible throughout the city. But the view when you’re standing on top of the castle is the best, especially when the low winter sun is setting over Alicante.
We aimed to end our day with a walk through one of Alicante’s oldest neighborhoods, the Barrio Santa Cruz, right underneath the castle. We loved getting lost in the barrio’s tiny streets while the glow of the sky cast soft golden colors over whitewashed walls. Ending up in a lively little square, abuzz with early evening energy, we sat down to enjoy a well-deserved break before dinner.
I’m not sure we were really in the Christmas spirit, but this had been a wonderful first day in Alicante. Stay tuned for our another article, about our second day this incredible Spanish city!
From our Travel Blog.
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