Despite the financial crisis Alicante,El Altet airport has had the best year of all the Spanish airports, turning a profit of 43.5 million Euros in 2009,only two other airports made a profit, Palma and Girona with Madrid and Barcelona making losses. Meanwhile Alicante airport extension is coming on well and will increase the number of passengers to 20 million a year.
When we were visiting Alicante last week, we noticed the Parque de Palmera on the N332 south of the City and decided to stop and take a look, this turned out to be a lovely recreational area which overlooks the sea and harbour entrance to Alicante. There is a large variety of plants, mainly palms, with lots of seating areas set around the pathways and features. There is a cafe bar, exercise equipment, sports courts and a rough terrain mountain bike track. There are also some manmade waterfalls, pools and canals where it is possible to hire a small boat to navigate round the system. I should think the park (which is a free facility) is a great place to go in the summer with a breeze from the sea and plenty of shade from the trees.
If you wish to turn into the Lemon tree road from the Torrevieja direction there is no left turn, so you have to go 1.5 kms to the roundabout at Guardamar and return on the right hand side of the N332 where you can turn right into the Lemon tree road. Similarly leaving the Lemon tree road you cannot turn left onto the N332 towards Guardamar but have turn right towards Torrevieja where after 1.5 kms a new roundabout has been built enabling you to reverse direction again towards Guardamar/Alicante. This situation has been created by the widening of the N332 from Guardamar to Torrevieja and we wait to see how the N332/ Lemon tree road junction will operate when the road is completed, though this could be a while yet as there has been very little work on the road in past few weeks.
Here we are, its a bit misty this morning but mild, Im picking a friend up from the airport, check flights are arriving at Alicante, all seems well. get to the arrivals point to find the flight has been delayed for at least 3 hours, oh well go home again..... check the weather in Manchester (the departure airport) on the internet. to find all flights are suspended as it is snowed in. I had no idea they were having snow again. Next time im meeting someone i will check the departure airport as well!
For first time Alicante police imposed the a fine on a swimmer
The new by-law approved by Alicante City Hall last summer makes it an offence to swim on the city’s beaches while the red warning flag is flying, On Tuesday a man swimming on the Playa de San Juan was the first bather to be fined for doing just that.
It happened when Local police were called out to the beach after the man reportedly ignored instructions from Red Cross lifeguards to leave the sea because of the dangers of swimming. A council spokesperson said the objective in such situations is to give a warning rather than issue a fine,however it was the man’s attitude which finally pushed officers to impose a fine. He is reported to have told police that he would swim whenever he liked, as he had been doing for the past 20 years, and that no-one was going to tell him when he could or couldn’t bathe in the sea.
The by-law allows for fines of between 750 to 1,500 €.
photo:typicallyspanish.com
We were sitting on our Solarium last night and heard two muffled explosions, definitely sounded different to fireworks, we wondered what it was and we see on the news this morning that two acetylene bottles exploded in the Ciudad de Asís area of Alicante, the resulting fire closed the railway line and three long distance trains were affected by the stoppage, but the quick action of the firefighters has meant that train services have now returned to normal.
Fancy the summer in Alicante, Because an Alicante hotel is offering hotel rooms at 375 € a month as a way of beating the recession.
The hotel, on the front line at Albufereta in Alicante, has offered the discount price since last month, according to the newspaper Información. The price comes for those who make a reservation for at least three months.
Hotel sources say that there has been a 17% fall in tourism in the area, and their idea of offering 30 rooms long-term has already seen seven taken and another eight under offer.
Many of us in Los Palacios have fine views over the Vega Baja to the mountains. To be honest that's what sold our place to us, the first time we stood on the example roof terrace the sun was sinking behind the distant mountains, its a sight we never tire of and is never the same twice.
The Vega Baja (Valencian: Baix Segura) it is the southern most district of Alicante spreading as far as Elche - Europe’s largest palm forest to the north and to the historic city of Orihuela in the South. La Vega Baja is divided by the River Segura which flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Guardamar. Despite having lived here for over 4 years we still find little corners we have not explored. I thought it would be a good idea to give you a little news from the wider area, tell you what the neigbours are doing so to speak.
One thing they are not doing is, at least if they are in the Guardia civil*. is printing out important documents cos they've run out of ink! I kid you not. This same body it seems are looking less than there normal smart selves and they have till now been a smartly turned out lot. It seems they are not only waiting for ink cartridges but also for new uniforms. Times are hard for everyone it would appears.
Last week there was a demonstration in Orihuela. Around five thousand people marched to protest against the quality of health care in the area and the use of private hospitals. I wish we got news of these things before they took place, I have often seen reports about protests that I would have like to supported.
Now a word about trains, I have used the rail system a number of times and found it first class. The Alicante-Murcia route, which has suffered more than most from dilapidated cars, is to be upgraded with new, faster diesel trains which are capable of speeds of over 160 km per hour and which can carry up to 165 passengers.
The new stock will include 103 AVE high- speed trains and it is hoped that the improved service will attract 150 million new passengers over the next two years.
Alicante will see the upgrading in the first quarter of 2009, in particular on the route crossing the Vega Baja to Murcia. The government of Valencia has made it clear that improvement of rail services is a top priority Residents of Orihela are none to pleased to find the high speed trains will not be stopping in the city. Its hoped the faster communication will help improve commerce in the area as well as tourism. For my self i thought the service was excellent as it was. but that's what they call progress I suppose.
Meanwhile back in our little corner we are enjoying the wonderful weather and quite a few home owners are taking advantage of the sunshine to get the painting done, glad to say Joaquin is able to help smarten up a number of neighboring properties, nice to see the sun shinning off the balustrades and glinting on the glossy spiral stairs. Sun bathing is once again on the agenda, hope everyone remembers the sunsceen. slip, slap slop as they say in Oz
*The Guardia Civil is the Spanish gendarmerie: it is a police force that has both military and civilian functions. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal paramilitary police. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the Dutch Royal Marechaussee as it is part of the European Gendarmerie. The Guardia Civil uses as its leading emblem the motto "El honor es mi divisa" (Honour is my emblem) stressing its esprit de corps and pointing out the importance of honour. Their precincts are called "casa cuartel" (army house) and, like other military garrisons in Spain, they appear under the motto "Todo por la patria" (All in the service of the Mother/Fatherland).
The Benidorm Council may have beaches on there minds but the weather lately has us all hunting out our woollies. Spain has had some very very cold weather, we may have escaped the worst here but its still a little on the chilly side. We read that Malaga had the lowest temperatures since 1969 and saw news reports of snow in other parts of the Alicante region. We could see snow over on the mountains on Friday ,thought we were back in Scotland for a minute. Suzi the cat has become a recluse, she hates the cold wet weather and the snow has been falling as rain here as they say. We have been looking at installing solar panels but John is yearning for a wood burning stove after sitting in front of Becs log fire. Trouble is we have no where to put one in our wee flat. You can get some nice little stoves for outside that burn wood, I can see us now out on the Solarium huddled around the stove. You know it would be quite nostalgic, a bit like being back on the picket line, ah happy days. Cheers comrades
These days whenever you fly, you never know if there are flight delays owing to security measures and other problems. I have heard of aircraft being diverted to Alicante from Murcia, because planes are not allowed to land at Murcia after a certain time in Murcia, the passengers were then transported by coach to Murcia. If you are about to meet someone of a flight you can check its status with Flightstats, the statistics are available for any airport.
