On Saturday Dolo, one of her
friends, and I went to Castillo Santa Bárbara (Saint Barbara Castle) located near the center of Alicante on Monte (Mount) Benacantil. It was built by
Muslims during the 9th century when they had control over most of
Spain, and their greatest influence was in Southern Spain. It was captured by
the Spanish in the 1200, first by a kingdom in Central Spain known as Castilla
(Spain used to be made up of different kingdoms, and Spain as we know it today
was not unified until the 1500s) and they named it after Saint Barbara, and it
was captured from Castilla by a North-East kingdom of Spain known as Aragón.
It offers an amazing view of
Alicante, the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains surrounding Alicante. The
sentry boxes reminded me a lot of the ones in the castles built by the Spanish
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, so I enjoyed that bit of nostalgia. On the way down we were able to walk along the castle wall, which I thought was super awesome!
 |
| Castillo Santa Bárbara |
 |
| The view of the center of the city and the Port of Alicante |
 |
| Sentry Box |
 |
| Alicante with the mountains in the background |
 |
| Me & a sentry box with Alicante & the Mediterranean in the background |
 |
| Walking along the castle wall |
 |
| The view of the castle from the wall |
On Sunday, Dolo took me to the
town where she grew up, Pinoso, which is about 40 minutes west of Alicante. On
the Sunday closest to February 12th, the town celebrates its
independence from another city about 10 miles away (which happened on February
12th of 1826); the festival is called el Día del Villazgo (Village
Day) and commemorates not only its independence, but also its heritage. A lot
of people were dressed in the traditional clothing of the town and a lot of
artisans set up stands along with the local restaurants serving the traditional
food such as paella, which is rice, vegetables and some type of meat and fasegures
(the valenciano named; called pelotas in Spanish) which is more or less
meatball soup; both dishes were extremely delicious!
 |
| Pinoso's City Hall with giant dolls dressed in traditional clothing |
 |
| People dancing in traditional clothing |
 |
| Clock tower in Pinoso |
