Alicante, Spain - Elche and Castillo de Santa Barbara

Today's adventure started out with an early morning latte at the International Cafe.  I ran in to Michael from New York (from the earlier laundry adventure) and he thanked me for the intel on laundry strategy. Our paths may have crossed. He attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh when I was going to school and working there.  He's a Sigma Nu (hey, K!!). 
We all met for breakfast, back to the room for touring prep, and then to the Theater to wait in a group for our bus. “Cream 7” gathered and we disembarked to find out bus.  Alexandra was our tour guide for the day.



The bus left the terminal and drove in to the city.  The first thing that I saw was a sandy beach.  Palm trees were everywhere. The architecture was an interesting mix of Spanish and stark, new, efficient.  Grafitti is a problem as it is in Phoenix.
We left Alicante on a freeway of sorts. First, the dismal view. There were frequent abandoned buildings and run down, junky property. Some of the small fruit tree farms were in disarray and abandoned as well. Sad state.  Now, the good view. The other parts of town look well taken care of and very clean. Streets and parks were covered with palm trees.
Huerto del Cura is a garden with a large variety of palm trees. I saw a robust collection of cactus. The guide explained that some of the palm fronds are yellowed young and used to make baskets and other decorations.  As we walked in, a photographer snapped our photos. By the time we were queuing to get back on the bus, there were stands with fridge magnets and keychain holders with our photos. I don't think that may people bought them.
We visited a church [more about the details go here later]
Back to Alicante for a trip to the Castillo de Santa Barbara. The bus driver was incredible and got us up the road with hair pin turns and buses coming in the other direction. AHHH! Great views of an old fort. Great views of the beaches on the Med.
Returned to the ship and met up for tea and scones.  I wasn't hungry for dinner and had a burger and fries.  The show tonight was Vocalist Richard Beavis from Wales. A little bit of Sir Tom Jones with other music.  Nice end to a busy day.