Viva Espania! Museums and Mushrooms

After Monday night's session on the Cruzcampo Reserva, which my friend Michelle informs me is a whopping 6.4%, my pounding head meant that I was up late on Tuesday morning, leaving the boys to find breakfast in town, opting for a cafe opposite Alicante town hall, stuffing themselves with broken eggs and ham & fried eggs with Spanish bacon washed down with cafe sin leche. As Jayne observed, Jon eats a lot more meat when he's in Tony's company.  

Jon returned an hour later with a box of pastries and a tub of blueberries which soon worked their magic and I was dressed and ready for action within minutes.

First on our list was a stroll along Calle de Las Setas (Mushroom Street). In 2013, in a bid to help businesses suffering from the economic downturn and to rejuvenate the area, part of Alicante's Calle San Francisco (St Francis Street) was transformed into a trippy wonderland of yellow brick roads, toadstool houses and towering mushrooms, created by Spanish artist Sergio Martinez.

We stumbled across the Museu de Fogueres D'Alicante shortly afterwards, a museum of displays and objects relating to Alicante's annual Les Fogueres de St John (The Bonfires of St John Festival) which takes place in June. 

Created to be burned, each year the public vote for their favourite figures, or ninots, which are officially pardoned and saved from the fire. Along with these incredible, life-sized figures, there are costumes, embroidered panels, vintage posters, programmes and an audiovisual room with projected scenes from the fiesta.

Indoor mask-wearing is mandatory throughout Spain but we were allowed to remove ours for a few photos.

I'd love to come back for the fiesta but sadly it clashes with the UK's biggest party of the year, Glastonbury!

Shortly afterwards we stumbled across 175 Aniversario Aniversari Teatro Teatre Principal a celebration of Alicante's principal theatre held in the old fish market - check out that wonderful Art Nouveau swirly script! There were no programmes or information available in English but we entertained ourselves - and the ladies on reception who fell about laughing when Tony managed to squirt sanitiser all over his teeshirt rather than his hands.

  

Keen to visit one of Alicante's concrete bunkers, relics from the Spanish Civil War, we walked out of town along the old railway track where the authorities are in the process of establishing a new green space for the residents with wheelchair friendly paths, channels of recycled water irrigating the plants, outdoor gym equipment, bridges and fountains. 

Tony checked his phone and told us that we'd taken 300% of our recommended daily steps so we walked back into the city for a slap-up lunch on the seafront. After a chilly start, we'd cast off our layers and were enjoying the glorious 20°C sunshine

Jon chose a Caesar salad, Tony had oven-baked Provolone cheese and I opted for a vegetable salad, wishing I'd ordered a half portion when it arrived in a bowl the size of a hand basin. After a couple of large beers, we were sufficiently refreshed and ready for more exploring.

Our final destination was The Archaeological Museum of Alicante established in 1932 and winner of the European Museum of the Year.  

With exhibits ranging from Neolithic and Roman to the early 20th Century and both beautifully illuminated and laid out, we were in there for hours - the 3Euro admission fee was an absolute bargain.

After al fresco coffee in the late afternoon sunshine in the museum gardens, we made our way back to the Hotel Les Monges Palace for a siesta before layering up and meeting up on the roof for a sunset beer.

Apparently, the rooftop gets rammed during the Summer months. We loved having it to ourselves.

We ate dinner in a restaurant opposite the town hall, Jon had stuffed chicken in a Provolone sauce, I had breaded Brie with tomato jam and Tony had a medium-rare entrecote steak as well as Padrons and patatas Bravas. We drank Alicante red wine and the bill arrived along with a large bottle of homemade Limoncello - we only had a small glass each despite the waiter urging us to have more, I'd learnt my lesson from last night!

Part three to follow shortly.....