the fabulous Christmas street lights of Alicante

a couple of years ago we travelled to Alicante on the Mediterranean coast of Spain for a week around Christmas to get away from the dark and cold Norwegian winter. Christmas there had nothing to do with snow and cold and we didn't meet Santa Claus in every shop and on every second street corner. But there were Christmas trees, decorations and nativity scenes all around the city. the most striking of all was that every single street in the center of the city had it's own unique design of light decorations. there's lot's more to Alicante than Christmas decorations and i have posted about this trip earlier. but these lights were so special i wanted to make a post featuring them and thought it best to wait until Christmas to do so

Bon Nadal is Catalan for Merry Christmas. Catalan is the language of parts of Spain, but it is also spoken in parts of France and Italy and is the official language of the tiny nation of Andorra. Alicante is not in Catalonia but rather in the part of the Valencian community, that speak Valencian which is a dialect of Catalan. it's all very confusing to an outsider but the point of me mentioning all this is that the region has a long and complicated history. of course Spanish is also spoken in Alicante so we were just as likely to see Feliz Navidad as Bon Nadal

we arrived at our hotel in the afternoon, showered and rested for a while before starting to explore the city. the sun had already set by the time we hit the street. it was a sight to behold, the trumpeting angels on high, the brilliant afterglow of the sunset and the traffic. we just stood in awe and took in the scene. i ventured out in the zebra crossing when the traffic stopped at the redlight and just gazed in admiration until the light changed and i scurried across the wide avenue. of course i managed to get in a photo or two as well

it didn't take us long to observe that each street, even the smaller side streets had their own distinct patterns of lights strung across the entire length of the street.

we found ourselves randomly walking the streets with no particular goal in mind other than eventually finding a restaurant to get some nice dinner. we knew about paella but had never eaten a properly prepared one and now we had the chance

it didn't take long before we started navigating by the design of the Christmas lights. here we had come back to the avenue with the heralding angels, only this was in the older part of the city with far less traffic.

we were just wandering around getting a feel for the place, no google maps, no travel guide, no lonely planet type book or internet site and each time we came to the pairs of angels we knew exactly how to get back to the hotel. without the guardians above we wouldn't have had a clue.

there were only a few references to wintry scenes and modern international commercial Christmas symbols and music. that fact made the experience feel more genuine. though the city relies heavily on tourism, it has managed to maintain and project it's tradition and culture. i am sure there are shopping malls in the city but we never went in any. instead we visited many squares with vibrant markets and an amazing variety of Christmas scenes. i will make a separate post about some of those.

even the narrow one lane streets have their own pattern

Calle de Las Setas, the mushroom street is for pedestrians only. we had not heard of this street before but stumbled upon it during our wanderings the second day. we were so fascinated by the mushroom sculptures that we never noticed any Christmas lights above.
when we returned there Christmas night of course it too was lit up.

the main season for tourism in Alicante is the summer, with the beach and all. i am sure it would be a great summer holiday destination but Christmas in Alicante was an experience we will remember for life.

Bon Nadal
Merry Christmas