This is my last Spain post for this trip. After exactly one month in Spain, it’s a bittersweet goodbye. There’s so many more places that I want to go to in Spain (ie San Sebastian and Barcelona) but I feel ready to leave. For one, it’s more expensive than other countries we’ve visited/plan to visit. Another reason is that Spain is now tied with Argentina for being the most amount of time we’ve spent in one country during this trip. With only three months to go in our trip, there’s so much more to see.

The third reason that I’m ready to leave Spain is that I truly feel we’ve seen all the parts we planned on seeing. With this final leg, we crossed off Costa Blanca, which is the coastline just below Valencia. We started in Alicante, a three hour bus ride east of Granada. While it was a beautiful bus ride, I have been thoroughly disappointed by the lack of trains in this part of Spain. Since arriving in Ronda, we have not been able to take a train, instead relying on reasonably priced and frequent, but uncomfortable and slow, buses. I found Alicante while doing some researching on beach towns between Granada and Valencia. Alicante was recommended by a Condé Nast article as one of the best “undiscovered” beach towns of Spain. While it was a lovely little city with sights to see, I was definitely ready to leave after our three night stay. One of the highlights of Alicante was the castle at the top of the hill that was visible from most points in the city, Santa Barbara. On our first day we hiked to the top, enjoying it along with a slew of tourists from around Europe visiting on holiday. The hike up along with the view from the top provided stunning views of the city and water. The castle itself was extensive and interesting to walk around. Another highlight of Alicante was the beach. Unlike Málaga, the beach was integrated into the city and extremely easy to get to. As we wished, we finally went into the water. Actually, all throughout Costa Blanca we got the extensive beach time we’ve been missing since we left Brazil. Although the water is still cold in February, the sun is strong enough to warm us up after a dip. If you do end up in Alicante, I can wholeheartedly recommend D’Tablas for tapas and Swallow Cafe for coffee. D’Tablas is the most unique tapas place we’ve been to in Spain. Each tapas is €1.70 and the food is very tasty. The catch is: you don’t order food. When we walked in, I asked for a menu and the waiter looked at me confused and shook his head. I quickly realized (since he didn’t explain) that the tapas come out in batches and a waiter walks around to all tables, much like a caterer, offering food to customers. Another quirk of it is that you don’t always know what you’re getting. The two times I asked the waiter what a particular tapas was, he shrugged his shoulders and admitted that he had no idea. At the end, the bartender adds up all the plates (“tablas”) at your table and gives you your bill. My other recommendation, Swallow Cafe is tucked away on a cute little street and has the best coffee I’ve had possibly this whole trip. Other places I’d recommend visiting are the marina (specifically to watch the sunset) and Parc el Palmeral, a large and well designed waterfront park on the outskirts of town.

A short bus ride and we were in Altea, our second beach town along Costa Blanca. Here we stayed in a room in an Airbnb, hosted by a kind elderly woman who had a beautiful balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Altea is easily the most beautiful beach town we went to in Costa Blanca. Known as the Santorini of Spain, Altea lives up to this comparison. The town, while very small, has two parts. The first, which is where we stayed, is the waterfront and the esplanade alongside it with shops and tons of restaurants. Just a block behind the esplanade, the streets begin to incline and you find yourself winding up through the small Santorini-like cobblestone streets with little white houses and flowering bushes until you reach the top. At the center of the top is a beautiful cathedral with a blue tiled dome. Around the cathedral are small shops and restaurants. It gives the feel of an entirely different village on its own. We arrived in Altea on Valentine’s Day, so we got to see all the cute pink and red heart balloons hung all around this hilltop village. Granada too had publicly hung Valentine’s Day decorations. There were also seemingly more big displays of love for Valentine’s Day than in New York. When I asked, Sam postulated that it’s because the Europeans are just more romantic than Americans. And how could you not be romantic living in such a beautiful seaside town? Sam took me out for a Valentine’s Day dinner at Taberna del Xef which was a spot with delicious tapas, an outdoor patio with string lights, and a great vibe. To top off the night, as we walked down the hill back to our Airbnb, the almost full moon was bright and reflected on the water. The next day and our only full day in Altea, we ran along the beach, took a cold plunge in the Mediterranean, and continued to explore the city streets in a leisurely fashion. Altea doesn’t have any major tourist attractions to see; the M-O for visitors and locals alike is seemingly eating, drinking, and enjoying the impeccable views.

Our last town on Costa Blanca, Jávea (also known as Xabia), is the fanciest town Sam and I have visited in a while. We could both tell immediately that this town, filled with visitors, was an escape for wealthy Europeans. I could tell based on how people were looking at Sam and I (with our big backpacks and not stylish outfits). We then heard a woman tell another woman about spending twenty thousand Euros on something, so casually you might mistake her for saying twenty dollars. Our first impressions were reaffirmed many times over throughout our time: all the fancy houses we saw during our bike ride through cliffside neighborhoods overlooking the most beautiful beaches and the bright blue Mediterranean Sea, the fancy cars, and all the people we saw on their way to or from the tennis courts. For being an enclave for the wealthy, Sam and I, as per usual, found the way to experience it in the least expensive way. I found a tiny studio Airbnb that was a couple blocks from a beach, we cooked all of our meals, went out for snacks at an old-timey tapas place on the beach that was priced reasonably, and, of course, took advantage of all the free outdoor activities we could, including running along the beach, hiking, and swimming. Even the bike rental place we found was comparable to the rental prices in less fancy towns. We spent four nights in Jávea, which is about what I would recommend for a leisurely stay here. This way you can have a beach day, a day to explore all the beaches in the area via bike or moped, and a day to explore the (small) city of Jávea.

Our last stop in Spain was Valencia, the city where we fly out of to go to Morocco. We spent two nights in Valencia, renting a room in someone’s home near the bull ring. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do much in Valencia as I have been suffering from a stomach bug for the past 48 hours. I woke up on our last morning in Jávea feeling horrible and only made it the thirty minute walk and two hour bus ride to Valencia because Sam carried all of our stuff and directed my sick (and stubborn) self through the streets of Spain. Looking back, I should’ve listened to Sam and stayed another night in Jávea instead of suffering through a day of traveling while I was really sick, but we made it and I was happy to see Valencia, albeit a very small fraction of Valencia. From what I saw of Valencia, I really liked it (more than I thought I would!). It’s a very busy city and seemingly very commercial, but it has a really beautiful large park that has outdoor gyms, soccer fields, museums, fountains, and lots of flowers/trees. And that’s basically all I know/saw of Valencia. I am really disappointed to have missed out on exploring Valencia, but, again, it’s just an excuse to return to Spain.

Now Sam and I are waiting at the Valencia airport for our short flight to Marrakech, where we’ll meet Mary, who flew in a few days ago from Lisbon. I’m excited for a new country, continent, and culture!