Day 54 | Exploring Alicante, Spain 🇪🇸 | Santa Bárbara Castle, Old Town & Markets | MSC Meraviglia

🇪🇸 *DAY 54 | EXPLORING ALICANTE, SPAIN – SANTA BÁRBARA CASTLE, BARRIO DE SANTA CRUZ & CENTRAL MARKET! 🚢* Welcome back to *Karl & Anna's Travel Diaries!* ❤️ It's Day 54 of our 5-month travel adventure, and today we're arriving in **Alicante, Spain**, our first port of call aboard the MSC Meraviglia on our 22-night transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to Miami! 🚢🌍 After a rather long embarkation day in Barcelona, we were looking forward to getting off the ship and exploring somewhere new. We decided to skip the organised cruise excursions and explore Alicante independently on foot, and what a lovely day it turned out to be! 📍 *SANTA BÁRBARA CASTLE 🏰* Our first stop was the impressive Castillo de Santa Bárbara, sitting high above Alicante on Mount Benacantil. The views across the city, marina and Mediterranean coastline were fantastic, and it was a great place to start our day. 📍 *BARRIO DE SANTA CRUZ 🌸* Next, we made our way through Alicante's beautiful historic neighbourhood, Barrio de Santa Cruz. With its narrow streets, colourful flowerpots, traditional whitewashed houses and steep little stairways, this was a lovely part of the city to explore. 📍 *MERCADO CENTRAL DE ALICANTE 🍇🍓* This was one of our favourite stops of the day! We love visiting local markets when we're travelling, and Alicante's Central Market certainly didn't disappoint. There was so much fresh produce to look around, and we ended up buying some dragon fruit, grapes and strawberries to enjoy along the way. Sometimes it's the simple things, like wandering around a local market, that make visiting somewhere new so enjoyable! 📍 *EXPLANADA DE ESPAÑA 🌴* We also walked along Alicante's famous palm-lined promenade, known for its beautiful wave-patterned mosaic pavement. It's a lovely place to wander, enjoy the atmosphere and take in a little more of the city before returning to the ship. 🚶 *EXPLORING ALICANTE ON FOOT* We certainly got plenty of steps in today! One thing we're enjoying about cruising is being able to visit different destinations while exploring independently, rather than booking expensive excursions at every port. Alicante was perfect for that. There's plenty to see within walking distance, and we managed to enjoy the castle, old town, market and waterfront all in one day. After a full day exploring, we headed back aboard MSC Meraviglia to relax and enjoy the rest of our evening. 🚢❤️ *WOULD WE RECOMMEND ALICANTE? 🇪🇸* Absolutely! It's a lovely Spanish city with plenty of history, beautiful streets, great food markets and some wonderful views. And you certainly don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy it! 💬 *HAVE YOU VISITED ALICANTE?* 🇪🇸 Have you explored Santa Bárbara Castle or Barrio de Santa Cruz? 🚢 Have you visited Alicante as a cruise port? 🍇 Do you enjoy exploring local food markets when travelling? Let us know in the comments! We'd love to hear your experiences and recommendations. ❤️ *Follow Karl & Anna's Travel Diaries* as we continue our five-month adventure through Europe, across the Atlantic to America and the Caribbean. We're sharing our experiences of independent travel, cruise holidays, sightseeing and discovering new destinations along the way. 👍 If you enjoyed the video, please give it a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to follow the rest of our journey! *Coming next: Gibraltar! 🇬🇮🚢* Thanks for watching! #Alicante #AlicanteSpain #SantaBarbaraCastle #BarrioDeSantaCruz #MercadoCentralAlicante #ExplanadaDeEspana #MSCMeraviglia #MSCCruises #MediterraneanCruise #CruiseVlog #SpainTravel #KarlAndAnnaDailyTravels