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Amanda Roberts - "I love Spain.  I bought, renovated and sold a house in Valencia, which I still miss. I sadly had to come back to the UK due to family illness. I lived on and off in Valencia for 8 years and hope to one day live in Spain again. I am working on a book about my experiences"

    
                               
Tell most people that you are going on holiday to Benidorm and the chances are they will think you are either mad, lacking in imagination, or both.  Due to a vague impression compounded by the T.V. programme of the same name the town many people assume it is an ugly sprawl of towering hotels filled with drunken louts, badly-dressed loud women, crudity and a total lack of Spanish culture.  When questioned, the same people will admit that they have never actually been there!  Although  one can find all the above, there is much more to the real Benidorm for those who bother to look.

Take a stroll into the old town, with its beautiful blue-domed church and pier built into the rocks with its' white balustrades.  Enjoy a bottle of crisp white wine while the turquoise sea sparkles beneath you. The wine will cost you five Euros and a three course menu del dia ( for example, 
bread, soup, fresh fish with potatoes and salad, a fruit flan with ice cream followed by coffee) for eight Euros. Of course you have to go to the restaurant that won't charge you twice this, but after a little stroll around and a perusal you will find the right place! (I won't name it because it is my favourite!) If you don't fancy eating till you are beyond full then head away from the church to the winding streets behind it where you will find a myriad of tapas bars. The main inner sanctum is called the Cavas Aragossa. Have a cervesa (beer) or vino tinto (red wine) or vino blanco (white) with the typical snacks, which can be anything from crab and salmon with cream cheese on a slice of bread, a little dish of gambas (prawns) cooked in olive oil and garlic or a little portion of the famous paella. There are many choices. Have a chat with the friendly Spanish sitting next to you or standing up at the bar then move on to another, a great way to spend an afternoon or evening.  Again, prices vary but part of the fun is finding a gem, which I did on my last visit when I found a tapas bar  away tucked a little way back from the main ones where I enjoyed the above for two Euros for drink and a choice of tapas ( all right the name begins with an 'R') . Beware that when you return to the UK you will feel royally ripped off almost any time you go out!

Take a left turn towards Poniente beach, where you will see a lovely green area known as Dove Park where the birds swoop around the fountain and where any morning around eleven you will see the Spanish converging to sing beautifully for their pleasure and whoever wishes to stop and listen.  On Sundays you might catch the Argentinian couple who tango bewitchingly to the music coming from a fuzzy tape recorder.  Have a coffee at the Hotel Tanit where few British people go, and watch the cosmopolitan world go by.  Then stroll along the soft sand and watch the waves rolling in, the children  playing, the old men and women sitting and chatting and the young men and women playing beach volleyball. From the pretty port area you can take a boat trip up the coast to Calpe and its wonderful seafood restaurants. The trip takes an hour there and back with three hours in Calpe for 21 Euros.

The Levante beach which lies to the right of the old town is where you notice the British vibe growing as you walk along.  Here you will find rock bars, the Daytona and the Hard Rock Cafe, which have live music from the afternoon way into the small hours and the inevitable stag and hen party groups living it up.  As it progresses it becomes more raucous and less 'Spanish'. Further still and you will find comedy clubs and more 'adult' entertainment. You would have to be a humourless snob not to just 'go with the flow'.

Yes, the high rise hotels do dominate the skyline, yes you might have your senses offended. But the Spanish side is truly Spanish and if you go with an open mind Benidorm really does have 'something for everyone'. Give it a go, you will be pleasantly surprised.  And as your plane lifts up from the recently rebuilt Alicante airport you may well be dreaming of the day you can return.