Arriving to a rather hazy and humid Alicante, we head out down the pier as soon as we dock to pick up our car at the Melia and head north to explore the coast and then later the mountains. At least that was our game plan.  Ha! 

The car was easy enough, a quick walk, documents signed, we’re out of the city area in no time.  The drive North was easy as well, nice expressway roads, no worries.  We had actually planned to go to a chocolate factory for a tour, but we were way too early for that, so, in looking at the maps, we found what looked like a cool park to go hike on a promontory with gorgeous seaside views from the cliffs. OMG!  Epic FAIL!  The so called “park” was located next to a city called Benidorm, which looked like Dubai!  And a really ugly Dubai at that! 

Eek!  Turns out it’s a British holiday destination with hundreds of these crazy ugly skyscrapers and filled with British pubs, and oh, just ick!!!  We had to drive through the middle of the town to get up to the park but then made a wrong turn and never found the damn park and then decided we didn’t care and got the hell out of there. Yikes!

Our next destination was Castell de Guadelest, an old old walled fortress city in the mountains.  The drive was absolutely gorgeous – making us breathe huge sighs of relief to be leaving the ugly Spanish Dubai behind us and venturing out in the beautiful wilderness.

The town itself was also wonderful.  Stunning views of the Castell and the surrounding mountain range presented themselves as we climbed up through the lower town and into the fortress passing through the Portal do Sant Josep, the entrance tunneled into the rock beneath what they refer to as the “villa.” 

Once again, we were too early to tour the Casa Orduna, the house of the Basque family who ruled over the area beginning in the 16^th Century.  But the rest of the villa was open for business, and we took full advantage of our time, first visiting the Church of El Castell – more than 300 years old with a very different style of altar and side chapels – and access to the Casa Orduna somewhere (mentioned on the informational placards).  Outside, we wandered through the villa square and out along the walls of the fortress for gorgeous views across the hills and down to the Guadalest reservoir.

Up here in the mountains, it is a beautiful day, as you can see from the photos, making our explorations of the villa enjoyable and beautiful.  We spent an hour just wandering around from the main plaza, up the stairs along the walls and out to the end where we had views of the Penya el Castellet, a small castle set upon rocks that was originally Muslim and part of the original defenses of Guadalest.  Just incredible.

At the appointed opening time, we head back down to the Casa Orduna to begin our tour of the old family home complete with old pictures of the family, a library with books from the 1500s, all their furniture.

We also found the chapel – which is where the family had access to the church next door through a window cut into the stone walls!  You can look right down onto the nave from here.  (you can see the window from the Church nave here – we went back after we were done touring the house and l’Alcocalba to take it as reference!) Also, a special little loft/attic type room off to side held the Orduna family tree, which was really cool – particularly the painting depiction of the actual tree along with scenes from the area.

From these rooms, we head back outside to enter into the Castell de l’Alcocalba, a series of stepped enclosures rising high above the rest of the villa.  Here is the Watch Tower, the chapel and cemetery as well as more spectacular views across the area. Just stupendous.

A totally fabulous visit!  So much to see and the views.  Astonishing. So much better than dumb Benidorm!  And we weren’t finished yet either – we still had the Museu Etonologia – a typical 18^th Century house – to explore.  A very sweet little house where you could explore the pantry, stable room, bedroom and see how the residents lived and how they processed olive oil and wine at the time.  No photos allowed, but trust us – if you are ever in Guadalest, go there. Well worth the visit!

Getting on toward lunch time (a little early, but still), we exited the villa and made our way down to the “supporting” village, finding Restaurant L’Hort, perched on the edge of the mountainside, where, because we were early, we got prime seats, underneath the awning overlooking the valley below. Perfection! Wine, beer, perfectly grilled Sepia (cuttlefish) and wonderful Jamon Croquetas (not to mention the sweet little sparrow who came to visit) competed with the view for our attention. But we somehow managed.

The drive back down to the shore was just as lovely as driving up – long views out into the valley and across the mountain range.  We found a Lidl on the way back, stopping off for snacks and beer and wine (of course!), then, retraced our steps past the ugly Dubai/Benidorm to successfully and easily make our way back to the Melia to turn in our car!      

What an excellent day!  How could it get any better?  By going to the Destination Celebration that’s how!  We sailed too early to have local entertainment, but the Spanish guitarist from the band played and they had the best spread of Spanish meats, cheeses and croquettas. Dinner!!!  Albeit an early dinner, but still.

Our evening ending on the balcony, reading and hanging out with Octopus Albarino for me – purchased specifically because of Ed and his love of all things polpo – and Coors light (ok, no shaming here – it’s included in the package!) for Ed.  Perfect way to end an absolutely perfect day.