Un Paseo en Albir

20/6/2019

Over the Summer I spent a few days relaxing on Spain's Costa Blanca. I flew out from Stansted into Alicante to meet my parents, who were already there. They were staying in Albir for a couple of weeks, so I went to meet them for a short break. We were staying in a friend's apartment which we've visited before, it's great as it's really close to the beach and within a very short walking distance to the town's restaurants and shops.

Albir is a nice little town on the coast, in between Valencia and Alicante. It's also not far from Benidorm if you're after a trip to Little England ;). But Albir isn't like Benidorm, it's a lot more residential, and far quieter - but not in the sense that it's sleepy, because it's far from it; but it's a nice level of peaceful with some lively spots. It's a very picturesque little town, with a long beach, plenty of restaurants and bars, and some really beautiful spots, including a cliff which you can walk up to see the lighthouse which stands on top.

So I'm not really one for sitting by the pool all day, I get too hot! And I'd much prefer to be sightseeing and looking for pretty scenery or views. So, I went on a few walks in the town, and also spent a bit of time in the local area exploring, I'll put separate posts up about those because I have a lot of photos.

On my first day on holiday, I walked along the beachfront, (partly hoping I'd get a bit of a tan), and then to "Camino de l'Albir" (basically Albir walk). I'd seen this online and it seemed a great opportunity to see a lovely view, and I'd read that if you're lucky, you can sometimes see dolphins in the bay - I was sold! So off I went up the hill - I'm no good at walking up hills especially in the heat, but it was quite a slow incline and there were a lot of shaded parts, so it wasn't too bad at all - in fact the worst part was in the streets below where it was steeper with little shade. The views from the walk were lovely - you could see all the way along the coast, out past Altea. Unfortunately I didn't see any dolphins though :(

Once I'd had a little rest, drink (there were free drinking water spots too!) and taken in the view, I headed back down the hill and had a walk around the main town. I'd been to Albir before but it was a few years ago, so I was familiar with the place, but it was nice to see if anything had changed, and not much had apart from a few new restaurants and pubs. After my wander I headed back to the apartment for a shower and to see what my parents had in mind for dinner.

Over the course of the trip we went for dinner in a few different restaurants, but the best one in the town which always came up trumps was Patagonia Steak House (http://www.patagoniasteakhouse.com/albir.php). It's not on the beachfront and slightly off the beaten track, but it's fantastic and has a massive variety of steaks alongside whatever else. The staff in there are great too and we loved it so much that they got to know us. We made it a regular occurrence that after dinner and drinks, we'd go for a walk along the beach front, which was gorgeous at sunset, and just as nice after dark. It was mostly quiet, and the beach was illuminated by the moonlight.

Albir is a great little town to stay in. It's safe, the locals are friendly, and it's got good links to the major towns in the area (Alicante, Calpe, Valencia, Benidorm etc.), you can get a train from here all the way along to Alicante if you like, it's really cheap too.

Over the rest of the week I went a few other places in the local area, and had a few more wanders around Albir. There are some cute market stalls on the beach front, full of handmade trinkets, there are also loads of places to eat and drink, and some of them are fantastic value for money. For a relatively small town, there's a lot of choice for you. There's also a couple of big supermarkets (Aldi... my favourite) so you can get everything you'd need.

Sidenote: is it just me or are sunsets in Spain so much nicer than anywhere else? Every time I go to Spain I see beautiful sunsets.