Oh, Benidorm...

8 Oct 2011

Benidorm is a city located just about an hour (by TRAM) north of Alicante. This city has gotten a (admittedly well-deserved) bad reputation as being a British tourist town.

Nevertheless, we decided to check out Benidorm today to do some sightseeing and some shopping. We started out our day trip by visiting the commercial center of the city. The other girls found some cute outfits to buy. I had less luck, but it wasn't for lack of trying! I found a cute dress at one store, but it was a little tight in the shoulders and another size didn't fit quite right.

Eventually, we stopped for lunch at a Galician restaurant--which had phenomenal food. Then, we started the sightseeing part of our trip by walking down to the beach.   

There was a really neat bridge that had locks on it. Apparently, people buy these locks, write their names on them and put them on this bridge as a sign of their love.

Eventually, we ran into the British part of town--which was full of bars and cabarets. We could see bars full of people singing along with tribute bands to different English artists. This part of town left me feeling sad and a little disturbed. It seems a shame to me that these British people (admittedly not all British people) come to Spain, and then spend all of their time in a British barrio. Part of the point of traveling is to experience new things and learn about different cultures. How can you do that if you basically haven't left?