Martin’s Alicante Blog- Second Instalment

Martin’s Alicante Blog- Second Instalment

It’s Thursday 7thFebruary meaning I have been in Alicante for 15 days. Enjoying everything so far, well almost everything, receiving exam results always puts a dampener on moods but we all passed so all is well.

Naturally this blog will be slightly a bit shorter than the last seeing as we have all settled into our 9-5 routine at the university. On a plus side, my first batch of wine is slowly fermenting away in the lab and the second shall be in progress by tomorrow. Nothing like a bit of home brewing to see you through the day.

An almost perfect day

My second weekend in Alicante started much the same as the first, plenty of parties to go to and drinking to be done. Friday night was meant to be a quiet one out for “just a few” but the laws of psychology dictate that once you are in this frame of mind a night of staggering home and ringing your neighbour’s doorbell/light switch is inevitable.

Waking up a little fuzzy on Saturday, some a little more than others, it was off to the beach. Although a little windy the weather was verging on “taps aff” meaning that after a game of volleyball and football I was already starting to feel the tingle of the UV doing its work. Not too bad for February.

Lying about on the beach, the sky and the sea blue as a really blue thing, the sun warming my face but the wind just enough to keep it bearable I couldn’t think of any better way to relax on a Saturday afternoon. There luckily a wee jakie who thought he could think of something.

“Weed? You want weed?” came a voice from the pavilion 20 metres behind us. I’ve got to hand it to the pro-activeness of the Alicante drug dealers. 

We politely declined and continued to sun bathe until the most important time of the day, the Scotland-England 6 nations match. After a quick search of the local pubs we found an excellent wee number in El Barrio showing the game on two 40” wide-screens... outside. Absolute bliss. If it hadn’t been for the 38-18 on the scoreboard in England’s favour it would have been a rather perfect day.

Valencia

Sunday was another day of adventure. Phone, keys, wallet and tickets, we were off to Valencia for the day and more importantly for the Valencia-Barcelona game that night. We boarded the bus and in two and a half hours we were in Valencia.

Leaving the bus station we were met by the Jardines del Turia, a band of greenery that carves its way through essentially the whole city providing a place to walk and sit about, out of the way of the manic Spanish traffic. Making our way through the park we soon realised that we had no idea where we were going, or what we were going to do until the football.

Eventually, we found our way out of the gardens and into the typically narrow Spanish streets of Valencia, the high buildings on either side providing us with shade from the sun, not something necessary in February but I can imagine it would become rather welcome in the summer months. By stroke of luck we quickly encountered a hostel where we acquired a map and were able to make something of this labyrinth of streets. The graffiti, I noticed, was much more artistic in Valencia than in Alicante with some of the vandalism appearing more attractive than some ‘modern art’ masterpieces.

One thing I did however observe to be the same was the Spanish obsession with tiny dogs. Not a collie or Alsatian to be seen, just lots of barking guinea pigs on leads. I find it hilarious seeing a man’s man carrying his little handbag sized dog down the street with one hand.

Finally managing to make our way to a slightly more open area, we realised we were in a gorgeous little square surrounded with bars and tapas places outside Valencia Cathedral, just in time as a spot of lunch was in order.

The game

Not being much of a football fan  myself I was a bit dubious about spending so much money on a match ticket, but I had been convinced that Barcelona were the best team in the world. Before we reached the Mestalla, Valencia’s stadium, we were already surrounded by the carnival atmosphere in the build up to the game. Ambling our way towards the stadium we were confronted by a manic crowd screaming and pointing their phones at something we couldn’t see. As it transpired it was the Barcelona team bus arriving, so being tourists at that moment, we joined in with the camera pointing.

The pre-game pints went down nicely in the gazebo outside one of the pubs adjacent to the stadium and before long it was time to head in. After battling through the crowd to the gate I noticed that I had left my bag back at the pub.

“S**T!!”

Practicing my side step I managed to sprint through the crowd reaching the gazebo at the other side of the stadium as quickly as I could manage. “Phew”. There it was under the table where I’d left it. Thank goodness I had got away with that. What a t*t!.

Second attempt, we were finally in and climbing our way to the stratosphere where our seats were. These were the “cheap” seats as well. Is it showing that football is not really my thing?

I have to admit though, upon seeing the stadium from that height is was quite a spectacle. The 55,000 capacity stadium (we found out the capacity after the game after a lengthy debate between Peter and Lewis on the exact number- an argument which cost Peter €10) wasn’t quite full but the fans there were making enough noise which would not cease for the entire game. I just wish the game was as much of a spectacle as the confetti, the fans and the atmospheres.

Full of pipas (dried and salted sunflowers which I now have quite a liking for) we left the stadium en route to the bus. We had an hour to make it across the city to the station which should have been easy. Not realising that the gardens which we were hand-railing to the bus station were the wrong gardens we got slightly geographically embarrassed which resulted in a nice little jog through Valencia’s streets to catch the bus.

Sweating and breathing heavily we joined the back of the queue boarding the bus. We had made it. It didn’t take long before we were passed out and Alicante-bound once more.