Even though Alicante is located by the beach, it also happens to be close to Elx, a world heritage site and the home of Europe’s largest Palm Tree Forest. On Sunday, I decided to take advantage of the free day and catch a train there. It’s only half an hour away from Alicante, and was relatively easy getting there, despite the language barrier. Getting back was slightly more disturbing as which train to catch was not too obvious, but I managed to get back in time for my flight.
Elx is a beautiful city, combining ancient buildings with the modern styling of gardens and newer buildings that seemingly flow together with ease. Numerous plazas and groves full of palms intersperse buildings, though the larger palm forests are slightly outside of the town centre. I went on the Historical Palm Groves Walk, though at only just over 2km was extremely easy to enjoy. There are also numerous museums and buildings depicting older ways of life and you can even stay in a hotel in the middle of the palm forest, though I would not necessarily say it would be worth the experience.
The forest itself is not as dense as when you think of the term forest, but seems more like a collection of palm tree farms, that put together makes up a significant part of the town. It could be the legislation that the local government put into place that makes it necessary to maintain all of these trees, but although the trees didn’t seem completely natural in their current presentation, still looked impressive to me.
Heading back into the town centre, I was lucky enough to capture the Easter day parade. Thousands of people, if not all of the townsfolk and other regional visitors crammed all the many streets where a procession took place. Bands heralded in the procession, closely followed by people that gave lollies to any kids in the crowd, then followed by a statue surrounded by flowers that I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to represent. Church members then followed the statue as townsfolk showered it with coloured printings of biblical pictures from the top of all the buildings that the rest of the townsfolk then quickly gathered. It was amazing sight to see and although I don’t quite fully understand what all of the parts represented, the community spirit and families that attended the parade astounded me.
Heading back to Alicante, I ended up grabbing a bite to eat and finally visited one of the city’s most impressive attractions, the Castle of Santa Barbara. Being on the clifftops above the city, this Castle is apparently one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe. When you are standing on any of its higher levels, you can understand what made this such a prominent castle, with outstanding views of the bay, farmland and city. Retired cannons still mount some of its walls and there are plenty of gardens and things to discover to keep you occupied for some time.
Alicante is a great city to escape London and the warmth of its beaches and people are definitely worth experiencing at least once. See more pictures of the day here.
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