Albatross133

Intro

Benidorm. It's like Marmite: you either love it, or you hate it.

     For the first time after fifteen years, here I was back in Benidorm again for two weeks of total disconnection. No TV, no PC, no Internet, well, almost none, thanks to the mobile. After all, one has to keep up with the news, and in view of where I was coming from, that was nothing.

     When I told people that I was going, they warned me about Benidorm. Little did they know that Benidorm and I go back quite a way and that I was going there for precisely the very reasons they were warning me about: the noise, the beach and the heat. But Benidorm is something else as well to me, but that's another story, and this time round the situation was different.

     Legend has it that Benidorm used to be the preferred destination of Britain's landladies, or at least it was in this sixties and according to my mum, herself a landlady at the time. There are, perhaps, fewer British landladies in Benidorm today but oh boy are there Brits in Benidorm.
In a very European Spain where several of its holiday resorts are renowned for being the favourite destinations for a certain class of British tourist Benidorm has acquired a reputation that stands out on its its own. So much so that when I spoke to a work colleague, before leaving, her immediate reaction was "Oh, yeah, right! Benidorm, Brits, booze and beach!"
I tried explaining that I was going down to the family's flat which is nowhere near the English quarter, but somehow it didn't seem seem to convince the colleague much and stepping out of the car that Sunday evening around nine I had to admit that I wasn't too convinced either. I had found a space just in front a hotel terrace where five or six blondish, fortyish and very British ladies were discussing their evening ahead, with some delectation and a lot of verve.

The "Spanish" Beach from the Belvedere

Belvedere and Church from the Pier

     Actually I have to admit that I was apprehending it a bit at first, the heat, the noise and the Brits but after a couple of days adaptation time I saw that it wasn't yet as hot as it can be and that it was turning out to be less noisier at night than I remembered it to be.

     Some context. The flat we were staying at is situated in the centre of the city, near shopping centres and pedestrian zones. It was also just over a market so that from early morning, all through the day and late into the night the noise level from the traffic, the passers-by, not to mention the gypsies who live in the same building, is constantly but moderately loud.
Amazingly, as I incidentally found out, there is a period in the day when, after gypsies, tourists and party-goers are either all asleep or unconscious, Benidorm, and for only a few hours in the early hours of the morning, actually goes quiet! I remembered that the last time I was in Benidorm there was a Dutch Pub or club, or something, that made it impossible to sleep even for a short period of time before early morning the fish market opened its doors. Apparently the mercurialness of the city got the better of that particular enterprise and amazingly and to my enormous relief, nothing had filled the time window and I actually managed to get a few hours of recuperating sleep.

Fish market from the flat

     This time however it was different and although I did take earplugs in anticipation of the noise it was a lot quieter than it used to be... and this was only the first of several changes I was going to notice!

NB. I noticed in the photos I took, and later looked at, a distinct lack of passersby. Well, in a town that has a reputation for never sleeping, the best time to take photos in this place is early morning around 6 am, just after the night clubbers and before the inhabitants start going to work and before the first of the tourists start heading to the beach to grab the best places or have a quiet swim with the fish before the hordes arrive.
I make a reference above to the "Spanish" beach. This is simply because, whereas the 2 big beaches in Benidorm are packed with every possible nationality, the "Spanish" beach seems to be a quiet corner where Spanish families go for a bit of peace and quiet. It might also be because they go there early enough in the morning that by the time the tourists arrive, there's no space available.

Benidorm changing

     During this visit It took a few days, but I noticed that Benidorm was in the process of changing. Perhaps the lapse of time since my last visit simply accentuated the impression, but I have to admit that having just arrived in Benidorm after a ten-hour, 1100-kilometre car trip and after a fifteen-year break since the last visit, the change wasn't immediately perceptible, or maybe I was just too tired after the journey..

     However, like I said, in a very European-orientated Spain, Benidorm is in the process of changing, possibly thanks to subventions from Brussels or possibly because of its own dynamism. In the space of time since my last visit, they've built a new City Hall, and high-rise buildings, mostly hotels, are sprouting out of the slightest spare patch of ground.

Sometimes sacrificing more traditional-styled buildings or landmarks, such as the Old Market...

...but what I regretted the most was the loss of the "New & Used" bookshop, I remembered, at the top near the Belvedere, replaced by a souvenir shop. Business is, after all, business.

     What was apparent this time, more so than during my previous visits to Benidorm in the 80s, was the fact that Benidorm is benefiting from Europe and the city council is making serious efforts to embellish the city's standing. Street cleaning teams repetitively clean the streets of the tonnes of litter the tourists depose, and they are not the type of street cleaner you would suspect. Teams of young female cleaners get the job faster than the tourists can drop it, well, almost, but seriously, I was impressed, and it's a shame that certain other cities I know don't do the same thing.

     Same thing with the traffic wardens – lots of girls, and you wouldn't want to mess with them either. Like I said, Benidorm is tightening up, if that's possible, on how they used to handle traffic congestion and wild parking in Benidorm. They'd have the parking ticket out of their electronic terminal, already transmitting the original ticket to their HQ, and on your car before you could say boo! Then they'll look after any disgruntled motorists with typical Iberian gusto, and that irrespective of the motorists' origins. Shame the French don't act like that, and don't say it's because of the famous French "laissez-faire" attitude because if there's a country that's more "laissez-faire" than the French, then it has to be the Spanish.

     No, the Spanish authorities have realised that they could increase their city budget by making sure that the offending motorists pay their fines and don't think about ripping the ticket up because it's already in their computer databases, and if by mishap you forget to move your car fast enough, five minutes later, there they are towing your car away (don't forget to look for the green slip of paper pasted on the pavement where your car was). They always were hot on towing cars away, but this time they are having to face up to an increase in the volume of traffic in Benidorm.
I remember that the last time I drove to Benidorm, in 1989, I think, I was able to find a free, non-paying parking space within 300 yards of the flat. This time I had a 15-minute walk to get to the car, and as soon as I got to the car, people were there honking and hailing to find out if I was leaving so that they could take the place... Thankfully I don't speak good enough Spanish (!?) to understand what the drivers actually said when they realised that I wasn't leaving, but I'm pretty sure the remarks had something to do with my ancestry..

Benidorm growing

     Isaid that Benidorm is changing. It's also growing, expanding its arms left and right, east and west. Villages like Finestrat, to the west, that twenty years ago were separate communities are being drawn into the Greater Benidorm zone, and hotels are sprouting out of the ground like giant metallic and concrete conifers. If you click on the left-hand side picture just above and then zoom in, you will see what I mean: the Grand Hotel Bali.

     Fortunately you take the bus out of Benidorm; the ticket costs ± 90 ct euro within a distance of ± 20 km, and you go to places like Altea, where you can escape and see something different, something original, that isn't too overrun with too many tourists.

Altea

     Altea is a very special place to me and mine. Let me explain. While a paternal side of a certain branch of the family comes from Benidorm itself the maternal side comes from Altea... no don't ask. If you don't already know then there ain't no way I'm a tellin'.
Anyway. On my first visit to Benidorm all those years ago I was taken, as a matter of course to Altea. I had to go. It was as if to explain the circumstances to me and counterbalance the folly of Benidorm with the placidity of Altea.

     The bus now brings you into Altea after driving through adjoining communities. I don't remember that from the last time I did the trip, but as the buses are now air-conditioned, you can sit back and enjoy the trip. When you finally do get into Altea and into the main thoroughfare, you get off at the bus stop and think, 'Yeah, so what?' So you go and visit the waterfront; I can't call it a beach because the pebbles there make those at Brighton look like the Costa Del Sol.
That's not what Altea's about. the secret is to go in search of the old town, not the old city centre, but the old town perched up on the hill. You will have to go up a couple of hundred steps, at God knows what gradient, to get there, and I do suggest avoiding doing it in the middle of the day; otherwise, by the time you get up there, you will be half dead with thirst. Fortunately, though, once you are up there, there are a couple of very charming arty, jazzy bars to help you quench your thirst. The only problem is that in that heat, +35 Celsius, you sweat it all out in a second and have to go back in to fill up again.

     Once you are up there; the old town is fresh with its narrow streets and whitewashed houses with balconies that have flowers and flags and paintings draped across the streets, and of course, the view is magnificent. I don't mean that "Alpine look of miles" of breathtaking panorama, just a view of the sea scintillating in the heat on one side and the mountains on the other side, again not Alpine mountains, just ±1000-metre ones that are as rich in history as any in Europe.

Terra Mitica - Synkope