Visit the official Alicante Stopover site www.alicante2008.com
ABOUT ALICANTE
Alicante may be best known as a popular holiday destination but that would be to misunderstand the role the town is performing over the next two years. Yes, its airport handles every year the fourth biggest passenger footfall in Spain, but a lot of that is heading even further south, to the beaches of places like Benidorm.
Alicante itself is much more of a mixed, and even traditional economy, and it will be picking up a flag of regional representation when it hosts the Volvo. Spain is divided into 17 regional governments, and Alicante is part of the Generalitat Valenciana, which also takes in Castellon.
So, after the America's Cup focus in 2008, the top yachting event next year moves 180kms south from Valencia to a city determined to project an international flavour to the job it has been given by the state president, Francisco Camps.
The yacht club of the organizing body, Real Club de Regatas de Alicante, which was founded in 1889, has new, extensive premises which look and feel as though they have been there forever.
A fleet of six J22s, soon to be increased to eight, sits on the hard alongside a pair of I2.4Ms, used in the Paralympic sailing events. Its most famous living son is Olympic 470 gold medallist Kiko Sanchez, part of a powerful Spanish onslaught at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
On the walls inside the club are rows and rows of medals won by its rowing section and the crews practice regularly in the evenings to maintain a national superiority. On the ground floor there is much heavy breathing and grunting in the gymnasium, in the restaurant diners look out over a harbour dancing with lights, and there are dreams of developing the top, balcony floor into a Volvo Ocean Race venue.
Bringing the Volvo start to Spain for the second consecutive race is, however, much more than the result of enthusiasm by a yacht club.
Up in Valencia, which is ultimately responsible for both organisation and central funding, the rationale for the Volvo Race initiative rests on sport, tourism and commercial development.
The role which the America's Cup has played both locally and nationally is immense and many of the sailors taking part are both ex and future Volvo Race competitors. The Volvo in Alicante also has an internal role to play, continuing that sense of pride among the local people and, as Juan Llantada from Turisme Valenciana explained: "It will help to create links with culture and with the schools, connect the citizens with the sea and help them be more involved with their traditions."
There are 20 marinas and yacht clubs which are home to 12,000 yachts and Alicante is a weekend destination for yachtsmen - and fishermen - from Madrid.
Alicante, with its protected harbour and flat plains behind, used to be the gateway to Spain for the Romans and an export port, not least for the marble, which is quarried nearby.
Now it will be the start port for the new-style Volvo Ocean Race. It will offer a Mediterranean perspective to the pre-race atmosphere and the in-port race challenge and then a tricky ride down to and through the Straits of Gibraltar before launching the fleet onto its ride south down the Atlantic.
As a gateway to the Costa Blanca’s popular and well known holiday resorts, Alicante appears initially as a sprawling working city where everything leads to the long, mosaic boulevard fronting the Puerto Deportivo, a well-appointed marina.
On closer inspection, it is the hidden Alicante, the ancient part of the city, that is not only beautiful, but fascinating too.
Dominating the entire city is Castillo de Santa Barbara, which is where my search of hidden Alicante began.
Almost immediately, I was distracted by the daily market, held on two floors of an old building right in the centre of the city. I spent almost an hour here, inspecting huge stalls of every kind of fish and shell fish imaginable. Large pieces of tuna were being carved into slices by men in white aprons while women gathered handfuls of large prawns.
When the smell of fish became too much, I ventured up the stairs to view the array of fruit and vegetables. I wished, at that point, that I was not flying back to England, but heading to lunch in a seaside apartment armed with a basketful of succulent big red tomatoes, a large lump of cheese, and some warm bread from the bakery.
Instead, I enjoyed a cafe con leche in the plaza outside the market, sat at a table admiring the flower stalls.
Revived by caffeine I walked from the market towards the castle high above me. The commercial streets were swapped for a narrow, zig-zagging pathway alternating with long wide steps, affording a breathtaking view of the city below.
I broke the climb on a terrace bench just as the many clocks in the city began to strike 11. My eye was directed to the chimes and it was then that the hidden parts of ancient Alicante began to emerge.
Standing out from the office and apartment blocks, which dominate the city, were ancient towers with clocks that chimed the past in unison.
I was enticed off the beaten path to my left by the clutter of Santa Cruz where I found narrow, winding lanes bedecked with painted flower pots on every doorstep or window sill.
An appetizing aroma of lunch reminded me that soon, activity in Alicante would stop, the clatter of pans broke the silence as I wandered among the small, terraced, whitewashed houses.
Colourful doorways with ceramic tiles showed images of the saints and the Holy Visage. Wrought iron grilles and flower-covered balconies plus secret, painted terraces curving into narrow alleyways, all seemed to lead to the chapel of Santa Cruz at the top of this old quarter of the city.
Another climb, and another momentary rest, and I reached the top of the Benacantil mountain, which rises to a height of 166 metres, and entered the Castillo.
It was worth the climb to visit one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe. It was originally built to protect Alicante, and, virtually surrounded by the sea, it is still a major landmark of the city, from which the panoramic views are the best of all.
The castle dates back to the ninth century. Remains have been found here from the Romans and the Moors, but most of the castle was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. It covers the whole of the top of the mountain and much of the hillside too.
The downward walk, almost a scurry, took half the time of the ascent, and once back in the main street, I walked towards the seafront and the elegant promenade La Explanada de Espana, built over the original quay in 1867.
Alicante is famous for two things: marble and shoes. First, the marble.
The most spectacular part of the esplanade is the marble floor, which is made up of 6.6 million tiles that make a huge, half-kilometre-long mosaic.
The mosaic is made from three colours and displays the varieties of marble found in the region: Alicante red, ivory cream and marquina black.
Bordered by date palms and pink bougainvillea, the central boulevard is flanked by two, smaller, side walkways and ends in a spectacular fountain which was designed and built in 1960 by Carlos Buigas, who also designed the Montjuich fountains in Barcelona.
Turning off the Esplanada, I wandered through some of the shady plazas that are dotted around Alicante. Some were old and narrow, others modern and spacious.
And then there were the shoes.
Now, a beautiful pair of brown leather boots are mine, their pointed toes and blocked heels a lovely reminder of why, along with the castle, I am looking forward to going back to Alicante very soon!
Lizzie Ward
Getting there
BY PLANE:
The El Altet international airport (Airport of Alicante), which now has 2 terminals in operation, is one of the biggest in Spain and it is located just 9 km southwest of the city, within the boundaries of the town of Elche. The airport can be accessed through the A-7 motorway and the N-332 dual carriageway, with the average journey time being around 15 minutes from Alicante city centre, rising to 30 minutes during rush hour.
BY ROAD:
You can take the AP 7 motorway, which runs through the province of Alicante from northeast to south-west, connecting to Valencia, Barcelona and the French border to the north and Murcia and Andalusia to the south.
You can also take the A-31 motorway connecting with Madrid.
BY TRAIN:
The train station operated by Spanish rail company RENFE is located on Avenida Salamanca. From Alicante you can take trains that are part of the national network that connects the province with the whole of Spain.
For more information visit the website www.renfe.es.
BY BUS:
The central bus station connects Alicante with the rest of the province, Spanish regional capitals, European capitals and Morocco.
The terminal is right in the middle of Calle Portugal Street.