10-25 Alicante w Granddaughters

 What do you do when grandchildren visit you in Europe - take them to see a castle of-course!  And sense Lia and Natasha are here with us for only a few days we took them to the closest one - Alicante Castle.  We parked by the Alicante port as there is usually parking there and planned to take the elevator up to the castle.

This photo looks like there was no one there but us!  So misleading!  We waited almost an forty minutes outside.  Once inside you have to buy your tickets using a machine.  Luckily there was someone there to facilitate the process as most tourists could not figure out how to get the right tickets.  With tickets in hand, you can walk down the long tunnel until you reach the other end where you wait again in line for your turn.  Only 12 at a time can ride the elevator up.  

Once up at the castle - our explorers took off.

Natasha got into her role as a commander of soldiers.  

The port below.

Natasha the warrior - Lia says not me!

But hey - shooting a cannon would be great fun!

The distant hills and mountains.

Alicante bullring.

Natasha showing what a well-rounded soldier she is.

Culminating in "the fight"!

We're hungry and there is a cafe at the bottom of these gazillion steps.  What are you waiting for?  The two elders in the group protested - if we climb down all those steps, we have to climb up all those steps - the elevator down is on this level!  No I will not go.

Instead, we went down the elevator and found a tapas cafe where we all got something or maybe a lot more that we liked.  Natasha and I loved the tempera shrimp.  Michael had his Insalata Russa.  Lia loved the breaded, fried Brei.  The fries and meatballs and croquettes were very good as well.

The meal was followed with Helado.

We made them walk to mushroom street, passing this plaza with its beautiful tree.

And then headed for the seaside so they could experience Alicante's famous promenade.  Then we called it a day and headed home.