Alicante Road Trip

House hunting break

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	10
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

The Plan

Our road trip around Alicante combined a sightseeing expedition with research into areas we’d consider residing in this part of Spain as well as viewing a few different styles of houses. Obviously there was still a sightseeing element as the point was to choose where to live and having a base for day trips was pretty high on our priority list.

The Reality

They say a picture paints a thousand words. So look at this for joyousness:

The temperatures shown are definitely optimistic, I was cold pretty much the entire time as the houses just weren’t built for heat retention as the idea is usually heat dissipation! We were able to do the odd bit of sightseeing but it wasn’t that appealing in driving rain so we spent more time in the hotel than we’d have liked although we did drive round some residential areas to see what the Urbanisations were like.

Urbanisations

Most areas on the Costas where you’re likely to buy a house are urbanisations. These seem to be like a British housing estate with the communal areas, roads, pool etc being owned by the community rather than the local council. This means that as an owner you pay for the upkeep of these facilities but also have exclusive use of them although I’m not sure how that is enforced. One that we looked at had a huge problem with fees as a good proportion of the properties were bank owned and they didn’t pay the community charges meaning the extra had to be raised from law abiding residents.

The benefit from our viewpoint of urbanisation properties is that they are generally newer and aimed at foreign buyers so they have features and amenities that we’d expect such as garages, AC, heating of some kind, security grilles and fibre internet. Unless you have way more than our budget the properties usually only have small gardens and a very small footprint, tending to be built high rather than spread out. We were also amazed at the lack of solar power with very few properties having this installed.

Like housing estates in the UK, some urbanisations can be pretty soulless with row after row of identikit houses of which a large number are holiday homes that are empty a good part of the year. Others have a good mix of International residents and a thriving expat community so research is crucial.

Arriving in Spain

This Alicante road trip doesn’t really count as a holiday as it was more of a fact finding trip and like any MP or councillor can tell you, these are hard work and therefore should be taxpayer funded! This trip was to explore the area inland of Alicante where Mum and Steve live as well as the coast south to Cartagena so we could decide if we wanted to buy a home there too.

For the first time for ages we were actually flying from Bristol so we were able to spend a night in a dog free house before getting up at 4AM to get to the airport. The flight was almost full and not helped by 2 passengers deciding they didn’t want to go so there was a 40 minute delay while their luggage was removed. For entertainment there was a large group of Welsh guys (around our age!) who were drunk before they got on and carried on that process during the flight. The stewardess was excellent and managed them very well whilst keeping them from pissing the rest of us off too much.

After landing we quickly got through passport control and eventually collected our hire car. This was a decent sized SUV that only had a 1.2 engine, how technology moves on! The Spanish roads are fantastic compared to the pot holed, speed restricted and road work blocked rubbish we endure in the UK. We drove to Mum’s which was about 45 minutes towards the mountains in steadily worsening weather and by the time we got there it was both hammering down and also damned cold!

The house was currently being refurbished but they’d worked hard to make it presentable by the time we arrived and in another month it’ll be excellent with modern insulation, solar power and proper heating. We had a quick interior tour and then had lunch as we hadn’t eaten all day. After lunch it was a toss up between an afternoon nap and a visit to a nearby town and the visit won.

Sax town and castle

The town of Sax is about 20 minutes drive away and the house that we’d looked at was on the hill just below the castle battlements. The town was not a tourist town at all but had a good mix of cafes and plenty of nature walks nearby. We parked up and walked up to the castle through a park as there was a gap in the rain but it had started again before we got to a cafe. The cafe had nice coffee but it was damned noisy inside so we soon left to head home. Despite the castle the town seemed quite modern and, on our brief drive through, lacked the town squares surrounded by trees and cafes that give Spain its ambience.

We drove through various other local towns that Steve pointed out but again, the areas didn’t seem to have many historic places though and the towns all appeared to be eighteenth or nineteenth century but at least that meant they had wider streets! That was really it for the day as we were shattered. We had dinner and were in bed before 9!

Elche – park, palace and dam

Despite the cold, or perhaps because of it as I was buried under a quilt and 3 blankets, I slept like the proverbial log and didn’t wake until gone 6. I spent a fun filled hour catching up on work before the others woke up and we had an extended breakfast. I think Mum’s plan is to keep us in Spain by feeding us so much we can’t fit through the door to leave! The weather was cold and wet again but it looked to be better towards the coast.

I drove to Elche which gave Steve a chance to navigate me through areas he thought could be of interest and also look around a bit himself. We parked in Elche in a lot better weather although we still needed hats and coats! The city is about 20 minutes from the coast and maybe 30 from Mum so a good location but there were no houses available in our price range!

Elche is famous for its palm plantations, over two hundred thousand trees in the central park that follows the line of the river through the centre of the town. It seems to be free to enter but there weren’t really any signs so we just ambled and found several fountains and some beautiful avenues in a lovely and litter free environment. It was quite busy as it was a Sunday but very nice to just wander around. Looking at other pictures though we seem to have missed a lot of areas although I’d thought we’d seen most of it. This demonstrates the value of prior research! My ulterior motive though was to see the medieval palace that was next to the park.

The palace is built around a 10th century Arab core and more of a castle really. It is accessed through the MAHE archeological museum. This gives an excellent history of the area from prehistoric times, through Iberian, Punic, Roman, Visigothic, Arab and eventually Spanish periods. Some of the artifacts were impressive, particularly the Lady of Elche, an Iberian carving unlike any other style we’d seen and dated to maybe 400BC.

The castle had the original Arabic gateway and gun ports in the wall so that covers about 500 years in one building. We walked along the walls and also saw a carved Christian cross, along with lots of other visitors. As it was a Sunday, entrance was free and there were plenty of kids activities too so it was great to see people getting involved.

We left the palace and walked across the road to the Basilica of Santa Maria, a modern seventeenth century building. Mum and Steve had already visited and Deb didn’t like the staircase so they left and went off for coffee. I opted for the €2 ticket to climb the bell tower. That was quite a fun choice – there were about 170 steps and the last 30 or so were very narrow so my shoulders brushed each side of the stairwell! The views were impressive and you could walk onto part of the roof too. It did give an idea of the size of the palm tree oasis as well as view of the suspension bridge. On the plus side, I was certainly warmer after the climb!

I met up with everyone after doing a circuit of the church to look at the exterior and we then went off for lunch. We sat in a little square, chatted to the waitress, who was from Columbia and ordered a huge tapas selection. It was nice to sit in the sunshine and experience what proper Spanish life is like, an unhurried meal in the warm. Steve over indulged in the wine so when we eventually got to our next stop, Elche dam, he stayed in the car for a snooze!

The dam was one of those ‘experiences‘. We weren’t really sure how to get there and Google took us to a large car park in the park area but from there we had no idea where to go. We followed one of the many paths that radiated out but there was a ridiculous amount of litter and vandalism – smashed windscreens, fly tipping etc, that we really weren’t sure if we wanted to continue. We eventually got to a section where we could see the dam but between us and there was no path, just scrubland broken up by steep rain gullies.

Mum and Deb stayed there and watched as I slid down one side of each gully and scrambled up to the next until I disappeared from view. I eventually found a track which led to the base of the dam but it wasn’t a pleasant area and it was really strange as we’d seen the walk on several sites so I was expecting it to be both busier and better cared for. It was impressive when I got there but I then had the walk back so was actually in just a tshirt (and trousers obviously, the gorse would have left me plenty of reminders otherwise!) by the time I reached the others and we walked back to the car.

Steve was awake by the time we arrived and we drove back to Pinoso, leaving the blue skies behind and heading towards the dark clouds hanging over the town. It was bloody freezing by the time we got there so Steve got the fire going and I sorted the photos while Mum prepared dinner. That helped warm us all up!

House hunting

The Monday was due to be raining all day so we booked some house viewings to get some ideas of what we could get for different amounts. We’re still undecided about whether to move over as a permanent residence or whether to buy a holiday home for six months of the year so we looked at a range of properties. The first thing that struck us was just how much more you get in Spain for your money! The properties were between €80k and €140k, so about the same cost as a garage in the UK and we saw two 3 bed houses and a 3 bed penthouse flat.

The town itself isn’t an architectural gem, there are no amazing historical buildings or a classic medieval town centre. The countryside is largely brown at the moment and the constant rain during our visit didn’t improve the appeal! On the plus side though, the coast is 45 minutes away, Mum obviously lives in the town and there are plenty of places to visit within an hours drive. The theory is that it isn’t as hot or mosquito ridden as the coast of Spain in the summer.

Each house had potential and positive points and the first one certainly caught our eye even though it was €50k cheaper than the flat. We then looked through their listings and found another at the top end of our budget but further up the road from Mum’s so we booked a viewing for Tuesday.

We ended the day with dinner out at one of the restaurants in town and I ate far too much including baileys cheesecake, delicious. An interesting day with plenty to think about.

Villena Castle and town

The forecast for Tuesday was apparently dry so we had arranged to visit a couple of nearby towns that, by a strange twist of fate, were both built around medieval castles. Originally the plan was to look at the local towns as options to buy somewhere but I didn’t see the point in that and we’d decided we’d either live in the same town as Mum or get somewhere on the coast.

The forecast lied and we headed off in heavy rain towards the town which was far more built up than we expected. There was actually a very pretty medieval core but this was swamped by tacky high rise flats surrounding it which was a surprise. We ignored the sat navs attempt to direct us through winding and narrow city streets and followed the glimpses of the castle keep until we parked a few minutes walk away.

The castle at Villena looked huge and had been fully restored so was excellent to walk around and also weatherproof! There was an excellent route to follow that took you around the curtain walls and then the inner bailey and keep, all with lots of information boards. The keep interior was quite excellent, the lower two levels were Moorish and then the two levels above were built after the Spanish conquest. There was some excellent art (I hesitate to call it graffiti!) done by captured Italian sailors on one of the walls.

The roof gave some impressive views, even if it did mean getting close to the edge and looking at the 30m drop! We then followed the route along the curtain wall again before going to the exit. From the roof we had looked over the medieval town and its two churches so we walked down the steps, past a couple of parks and into the town square. Deb found a tapas bar, El Arrabal, where we had a great lunch before walking back to the car. Obviously while we were inside the sun came out!

Biar Castle

We then drove the short distance to the town of Biar. I wasn’t actually going to go there but there was no point in getting back to Mum’s early as the builders were in working so we’d just be in the way. The town looked far more unspoiled than Villenya and appeared more like an Italian hill town with a cluster of old buildings and a castle on the summit.

The drive to the car park was ….. interesting. My vehicle was far too big and the only consolation was that the drive back down afterwards was even worse and required lots of reversing and multi point turns! The views from Biar were beautiful and it was a short walk up to the castle. Which was lucky as it was closed for siesta until 16:15! As we got there at 14:00 we didn’t want to wait that long and had a house viewing at 16:00 anyway.

We left the town eventually and drove through more heavy rain back to Mum’s. We just had time for a quick coffee before walking to the final viewing of this visit. That house was impressive! There were great views, it was a good size and had been largely restored so certainly one to think about. We walked back in more rain and the builders said they’d be a couple more hours so we drove into town for dinner.

The drive was literally through floodwater as the rain was torrential by now which would have been laughable if we weren’t stuck in it! We parked up, splashed through the torrents and had dinner and two desserts, purely for the extra fuel they provided! The builders had gone and there were actually working electrics in the house so that was an improvement!

The next day we woke up to …rain. Grey clouds obscuring the hills and a cold wind kinda set the scene for the rest of the day. I had an appointment at Currencies 4 You in town to open a currency transfer account and a bank account as well as a discussion about residency visas. That all took a surprising (to me) amount of time and it was gone midday before we’d finished. Mum had done some shopping so Steve dropped Deb with us for lunch and he took the shopping back.

We had a fantastic tapas at Estem Aci and watched the cars navigate the flooding outside while we ate a variety of weird stuff. I actually ate far too much and could have done with a siesta but we had to walk back, grab our stuff and leave for the coast.

San Pedro del Pinatar

The idea was that we’d see the properties in the interior, far more Spanish areas for a few days and then head to the coast and spend a few days there looking at the more purpose built touristy places. The drive was on some quite silly roads and there was lots of flooding in places. As we got nearer the coast the traffic built up as did the wind. I’d had great plans of walking along the sand dunes, prom and salt lakes to see a very different side of the area but I’m not sure that’ll happen this time!

We arrived in San Pedro del Pinatar and checked in to our hotel. We had a lovely apartment with views over the Mar Menor and the salt lakes and I did some research on where we could go while Deb went out to get some coffees and then came back with a litre of wine for €0.99!

The rain had stopped so we went out for a walk and despite the flooding, it really was pretty. A long promenade lined with palm trees and plenty of places to eat or drink. The salt lakes were pink and blue, obviously dulled down due to the muddy light. It was so quiet though, most of the houses were locked up and there were very few people around, most of the restaurants empty other than staff.

We had a lovely tapas meal and I had a great dessert and then slept through until almost 8, most unusual! After a wake up coffee we went for a bracing walk along the promenade that ran parallel to the salt lakes and mud baths. Sounds idyllic doesn’t it?! In the sun it probably would have been lovely and it was a nice walk in (very) fresh air but the low cloud and wind meant visibility was limited and it wasn’t exactly a holiday stroll. The windsurfer that was going up and down the coast next to us was in his element though! The weird thing was the water was barely waist deep as it’s a man made lake.

We walked about 3km and that built up our appetite for breakfast which was lucky as it was a superb spread and we were able to sit inside and watch the palms buffeted by the wind. There wasn’t much to see in the town and we’d decided there was no way we’d live there so we packed up and drove to Cartagena.

Cartagena

I’d been there before and it’s a lovely city with loads of history. Learning from my previous experience, we skirted the edge of the city to park underground by the port rather than attempt to drive through the centre.

Cartagena Roman Theatre

Our first stop was the Roman theatre that was excavated a few years ago after being completely buried for 1500 years as the city grew and contracted around it. There is a small museum attached that tells the story of the area and the excavations as well as displaying some of the finds. The theatre is large but not as well preserved as others we’d seen, I guess the being buried part explains that.

We walked through some of the small streets nearby before rejoining the main shopping streets. There was lots of beautiful architecture and street art (some vandalised by tagging which should resulty in mandatory flogging). The houses were largely turn of the 19th century and some great art deco touches as well as the traditional covered balconies.

We had a delicious lunch on the main street before a quick walk around the port to gape in awe at the huge Tui cruise ship docked there. Mein Schiff 5 dwarfed the nearby super yachts and apparently is 300m long with a crew and passanger capacity of over 3500! We continued on to the Museum of Underwater Archeology, Deb’s choice, not mine!

The port area has been in use for thousands of years and some of the wrecks they had discovered were impressive, particularly the Phoenician and Roman vessels. There were displays on how archeology had changed over the century and how wrecks or remains are now protected. The items retrieved from the treasure ships from the New World were quite amazing, the piles of silver pieces of eight and gold doubloons were very well preserved.

After a bit of education we walked back to the car, taking in the sight of the two large forts that dominated the entrance to the harbour, something for another day. We drove through Cartagena and then on to La Manga, the artificial spit of land between the Med and the Mar Menor. The place has to win the award for the most souless destination ever as it was just mile upon mile of concrete hotels or holiday homes with almost nothing green in sight.

La Manga

We checked in to our hotel and we were on the 8th floor which would have been lovely for views on a nice day but in a gale wasn’t exactly restful. We dumped our stuff and then went out to see if there were any attractions nearby. We drove right to the end of the area and parked up and walked along the beach. There were lots of dead jellyfish and a small group of flamingos bobbing their heads for food and probably wondering why on earth they’d left Africa!

We drove back the way we came, there’s really only one spine road anyway, looking for a dinner location but the place was deader than a trans activists sense of morality and almost everything was closed. We eventually found an open restaurant, almost on the mainland and had an absolutely superb meal that was well cooked, generous portions and ridiculously good value.

It was dark by now so we drove back to the hotel, piled blankets against the windows and balcony doors to reduce the draught and wondered how much wine we’d need to be unconscious enough to sleep! The night was restless and we were then woken by the bin lorry collecting at 6AM which was quite hilarious. We were up early and down for breakfast at 8.30, as soon as it opened. Breakfast was surprisingly good for €5! We then packed up and headed off to Guardamar Del Segura, another option for a house so I thought we could look at the historic areas.

Guardamar Del Segura

The rain was horrendous with lots of flooding and when we eventually got to the castle after navigating the maze of one way streets I’d really lost interest. The castle was just ramparts now, nothing else left of it so that was pretty dull and all we could see looking over the town were ugly blocks of 1960’s flats so that wasn’t exactly selling itself.

Torriviejca

We left and drove to Torriviejca, to our hotel. This was a little basic but was right on the seafront so under other circumstances it would have been delightful. Torri was another place on the list for a potential house so we drove to the salt lakes after dropping our stuff in the room. These were probably nice in the sunshine but the path was a morass so we skipped that.

The submarine I wanted to visit was closed so we just walked along the prom which was actually lovely. There were lots of restaurants and it wasn’t too busy so it really was a pleasant walk. We had a nice lunch and came back to the hotel so Deb could have a sleep. Dinner was a low key affair before getting sorted for the flight the next morning.

Conclusions

Overall a not very successful break. It was obviously great to see Mum and Steve and their place but we’re no closer to choosing somewhere or even a location that we like. I guess we need more trips to do further research!