Prelude:
I came to Alicante to visit my good friend and colleague Viktor, who is an economics professor at my university. I’m so glad Viktor invited me to come down for the week. This was not in my original plans, but as this semester has progressed, several things have changed, and I’ve rolled with it. This was just one of several unexpected wonderful things that have happened. It meant so much to be able to be in Alicante with Viktor and to meet his sister and her husband and learn a bit more about his family. It was also SO NICE to finally be with a friend again. I was getting a bit homesick the past few weeks while I was in the UK and this was just what I needed. Plus, Spain is a new country for me, so bonus there!
Monday
I got to Alicante Monday around midday. Viktor picked me up from the airport and we went to put our stuff in the Airbnb. Then we walked around the city for a bit because our Airbnb wasn’t quite ready for us to be there. We had coffee and a fun little outdoor café and walked around to try to find a Vodafone store so I could get a Spain SIM card. To no avail. But it was fun to get a lay of the land a bit. We got into our Airbnb around four or so, and decided we wanted to go to the beach. (The Airbnb was in a great location and such a cute place!) So we put on our swimsuits and headed out to one that Viktor knew about. It’s about a 45-minute drive down to that particular beach. We went to that one because it wasn’t right in the city. But unfortunately, the wind was really blowing hard that day, and nobody was on the beach because the sand was blowing everywhere. So we at least scoped it out and decided we would come back another day when the weather was a little better. It was really sunny and windy but not cold. So we made our way home. Parking seems to be a MAJOR ISSUE in Alicante. We drove around for quite some time and could not find a spot. It was really stressful. Viktor ended up dropping me at the apartment because honestly, I had to go to the bathroom really bad and we still didn’t know where we would park. His sister told him about a parking lot that he could park at, so he went there and found a spot, but it was a long walk to the apartment. At least he found something, but good lord! Finally, we got ready and went to meet his sister and her husband for dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. They are lovely people! We had a nice chat and walked around town a bit after dinner. Then they walked us home and went to their home. I didn’t get any pics of us, unfortunately.
Tuesday the 23rd was a rainy day. Viktor and I decided to just walk around town. We walked the lovely streets of this neighborhood called Santa Cruz. The houses are so cute! And there are beautiful views of the city as well. I think we just chilled at home in the afternoon. I don’t have any pics saying that we did anything different! And in the evening we went to a Colombian restaurant where I had a stuffed arepa – so good!
Wed May 24th Viktor had to go help his dad (his family currently lives here – that is why he is visiting here) so I had the morning to myself. It was also raining so it was nice to be indoors. I was also feeling tired from all the traveling and wanted to stay in. At the apartment I relaxed, watched TV, and did some work. I also had some time to see what there was to do in Alicante. Viktor came back in the afternoon. I told him I wanted to walk by the waterfront and have a drink., so that’s what we did! Then we found this awesome sushi restaurant that had sushi on a conveyor belt. I have never been to a place like that before. It was pretty awesome! After that we went home. I still think that I recovering from what I think was Covid a few weeks ago. I just get so tired. Plus, everyone knows I like to be in bed by nine.
Thursday the 25th was the day we went back to the beach! The weather was perfect! Sunny and no clouds in the sky, not too hot, and also not windy! So we went and enjoyed just being there. There were not very many people on the beach yet because it’s not quite vacation season yet. So it was really nice! When it was starting to heat up, we went to eat lunch at a place near the beach; we were also in search of a beach umbrella. So we did all that and then we went back out for another hour or so. It was a wonderful beach day! We came home in the afternoon and I found this really cool tiki bar I wanted to go to. It may have been overpriced and touristy, but I loved it! And I think Viktor enjoyed himself too, even though he doesn’t like super touristy things. But after that we went and had ramen for dinner, which he wanted. It was actually really good. Finally, we went to a tea shop and got some tea and cookies. Then home to watch some TV (stand-up comedy seems to be our jam) and go to bed.
Friday the 26th Viktor had to go home again and walk his dad and run some errands for his family. So I decided I wanted to go to the town of Villajoyosa on my own. It’s an hour train ride from downtown and so I went! I was proud of myself for figuring it out and going on my own, even not knowing the language. That was a big step for me. But I loved it! Walking around the beach front just taking in all the beautiful sites, especially the colorful buildings. What a cool way of organizing a town. I sat at a beachside restaurant, had a sparkling water, worked on my blog. and enjoyed the view. Such a lovely way to spend a few hours! Eventually I walked around and found a different place to sit and have a glass of wine and just enjoy life. At that point Viktor had texted saying he was on his way back. So I leisurely walked back to the train station and got back to Alicante around maybe four or five. For dinner, we decided we really wanted to go back to that sushi place we went to the other night. The food was so good and we wanted it again, so we went there again! You can do what you want on vacation! Then the walk home was nice as well.
Saturday the 27th we went back to the beach because we could and the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was still a little too windy today so we sat there for a bit but ended up sitting in the area behind the main beach part. It was ok, but I didn’t like it as much because there are a lots of trees and stuff in that area; not very beachy. So we decided to go home. We relaxed at home and just kind of did our own thing for a while. Then we decided to go to dinner. I told Viktor I wanted to go a bar by the beach, so we had a drink or two there before dinner. Viktor really wanted paella and I didn’t really care what we did. So we got paella as well as some fried calamari. It was all OK to me. Oh yeah, and we also watched this really drunk man who was at the restaurant fall out of his seat. The restaurant workers and apparently his friend tried to help him up. Luckily, his friend helped walk him home. What a spectacle.
Sunday the 28th was my last day in Spain. We decided to meet Viktor’s sister and her friend for breakfast. It was nice to meet his sister’s friend. But it was also really nice to chat with his sister again. We met up with some of their other friends as well, apparently her friends were here on vacation. They had some kids so we were trying to figure out what we were all going to do. Ultimately, we ended up breaking off from them because they wanted to go somewhere we weren’t really interested in going. Viktor and I decided we wanted to hike up to the Santa Barbara castle. The views were spectacular. That took probably a couple of hours, then we decided we wanted to spend the rest of the day going to the beach since the weather was perfect for it. So we went back home and got changed and decided we wanted to go to the beach up near Villajoyosa. Viktor had been there before, but I had it. Once we got there, I could not have been happier. It was so serene, so blue, and there was no one there. It was just perfect. I actually even swam in the water because it was not too cold, and it was hot enough that it felt really nice. Then Viktor met this couple who had showed up and was making conversation with the guy. Ultimately, we got to be friends with them and we learned that they are a Polish couple who were engaged. They volunteered to take us to another beach up the road where there was better snorkeling, and it was a different kind of beach – with rocks and more of an inlet. Viktor had bought goggles and wanted to check out what was under the water. So we went with them, and it was a beautiful place! They were so nice to drop us off back at the train station and then we made our way back to Alicante. What a cool way to end my time in Spain! Totally random venture with these random people. I was so tired by the time we got back to Alicante, but Viktor wanted to go eat so we went to this nice Italian restaurant. The food was so good! Once done with that, it was time for me to do laundry and pack for my flights the next day.
In summary, this trip has been really great!
Monday the 29th – travel day from Alicante, Spain to Kigali, Rwanda
Monday morning Viktor and I left the apartment around 7:45 to get me to the airport. I was flying from Alicante to London Gatwick. I got to London Gatwick at about 11:45 and then I had to get my bags and everything and take a train from that airport to Heathrow. I got two separate flights because that’s what I had to do. I had about a nine-hour layover in London. My main goal was to get to Heathrow and get settled there. I thought I might go back into London and do some sightseeing but once I got into Heathrow, I was just really ready to go. So I found a nice spot at the Hilton airport hotel restaurant and actually got a lot of work done. It was nice to just sit and work. Eventually I went and checked my bag for my next flight, which was leaving at 9:20 PM. It was quite a long stent of time in London but because I did a lot of work, it didn’t feel that terrible. So my flight from London to Kigali, Rwanda left on time and I got to Kigali the next morning at 7 AM. That was about an 8 1/2 hour flight. Luckily, I slept on the plane most of the way. And then my next adventure commenced!
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