Day 5 - Alicante - 16 April 2015

We have breakfast in the Horizon buffet while we watch the ship sail in to Alicante.  The sun is shining and it's all looking good.  The Captain announces we are in port and there may be a chance of rain.   Let's hope not.

Another easy exit off the ship.  Another nice gang plank.  I like to think they considered this when they designed Britannia.  On the other cruise I went on I thought I was going to get killed at each port visit, the gang plank was sooooo steep.

We're pleasantly surprised about Alicante.  I can see Palm trees everywhere, it all looks rather tropical.  It's around 9.30 am so the sun hasn't quite heated the place up yet.

Andy gets busy snapping

We can see the Castle of Santa Barbara which is situated on Mount Benacantil, overlooking the city.

Castle of Santa Barbara

The marina is very picturesque.  It was a pleasure to be here.  I hadn't expected it to be so attractive.

We briefly stopped for coffee outside but apparently the cafe wasn't open.

Esplanada de Esparia

The promenade Explanada de Espana, is lined by palm trees and paved with 6.5 million marble floor tiles creating a wavy form.  At one point I was alarmed as I thought I was about to fall off a large step but it was just an optical illusion from the wavy pattern.

There were some nice sights to see and beautiful architecture,

We discovered a great shop called Ale-Hop.  Lots to buy here.  Andy discovers some cool shades,

It was nearing lunch time and it had started to rain!  So we snuck into this cafe which was Italian and only seemed to sell sickly focaccia filled with sweet fillings.  The woman talked us into having some. We literally took one bite and then couldn't face any more it was so sweet.  So we dashed out and luckily the rain had stopped.

The yukky cafe

We decided to walk along the promenade and look for somwhere decent for lunch.  We bumped into our table mates, Sheila and Maureen who said there was a nice cafe further down.  They were right, we had a delicious spanish omelette there.  There was a very odd looking beggar who was hassling the diners there, he looked a bit like a pirate!

Hibiscus

Later on back on the ship we sat on our balcony watching us sail away from Alicante.  Nice place I'd come back again.  I like ports where the amenities are nearby

We went to the Horizon deck to have a cup of  tea and ..... a few desserts.  Well, they are very nice and we are surrounded by them, hard to resist

My dessert for dinner was a chocolate mousse and I couldn't resist that either,  I couldn't fault the food.  It was absolutely delicious with lots of choice,

I will be back to blog in a couple of days, about a another day at sea on our way to Civitavecchia, Italy.  Thanks for reading