Something fishy this way comes...

Alicante was the last tourist destination my mom and I were able to visit before she left. It is a city about an hour away from Murcia. The airport in Alicante is where I will take most of my flights to other countries from. We didn´t know very much about Alicante before we arrived so when we got there we went directly to tourist information. The first place we headed to was the Castillo de Santa Barbara (I know you will enjoy this Breezy). It was a castle originally built by the Moors in the 10th century. The castle looks like it is a part of the mountain. The walkways were cobbled and I could almost imagine the hustle and bustle that occured when it was occupied by soldiers. Most places I visit here make me feel like I am walking back in time and this castle was no different. It was quite a bit of exersize strolling up and down the paths and both my mom and I were winded by the time we got to the top. The view was wonderful and we were lucky enough to have someone take our picture.

View of Alicante from Castillo de Santa Barbara

Mom in the arches!

Looks like it grew right up out of the mountain...

After we came back down from the castle we walked the palmtree lined promenade, La Explanada de España. It has 6.6 million beautiful tiles and I later learned it was created for the romantic spanish custom of paseo, an evening stroll. It doesn´t surprise me that the spanish consider strolling a romantic custom, but it certainly delights me. It reminded me what I love about this culture and its people.

La Explanada de España

For lunch we went to the highly suggested tapas restaurant, Nou Manolin.We finally had paella, one of the most famous dishes from España. It is a rice dish with chicken. Surprisingly, the best part of this particular meal was not the food but what my mom decided to comment on. My mom does not speak spanish so decided to point and ask in english what the man´s dish next to ours was (I tried to stop her but it was too late) and that my friends is how we arrive at...

Tip#3:
Do not. I repeat, Do Not,  point at people`s food. Especially when you are a foreigner in a spanish speaking country. And especially if you do not want to eat whatever is on their plate!

I am sure you can imagine what happened next. The two men next to us who could not understand a word my mom was saying, assumed (rightly so) that she would like some of their food. That food, happened to be some unknown marine creature, with tentacles and one eyeball (probably squid, but one can never be sure). I, being an innocent bystander, was also given one. Thanks mom.

My mom has not eaten a fish of any kind in 20 or more years, and while I like fish I steer clear of anything with tentacles and eyeballs. I tried it first. It was probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever eatan. The creature popped in my mouth squirting out squid ink. It was cringe worthy. The only good part of the situation was watching my mom go next. Not as brave as me, she cut off part of the head and ate some squid brains. Her face was priceless. I don´t think she will be trying fish for another 20 years. My biggest regret is that I didn't take a picture. Of course, one would think that after pointing once she would have learned her lesson. Instead, she decided to point at their next dish. She was rewarded with another unnamed fish, so was I. The third time she went to point I nearly jumped on her. So here is everyone´s warning: don´t point at what you don´t want in España, or, just to be safe, anywhere else.

We finished our wonderful day in Alicante walking along the Mediterranean sea. Being the tourists that we are we went to go touch it for the first time.

First view and touch of the Mediterranean!