Full transcript
0:00this beautiful Spanish city right on the
0:02med has long been off so many people's
0:04Radars it's always sat in the shadow of
0:07more famous Mediterranean cities
0:09Barcelona Valencia Malaga and confession
0:13alikante has never really been on my
0:16bucket list but clearly I was wrong wow
0:19that is so good just the way that the
0:21sea is like glistening in the light we
0:24just walked around the corner and
0:25there's this like ah this massive church
0:28today I'm meeting with Aliante tour
0:30guides Rebecca and Alberto from alioli
0:32tours hey Rebecca how are you and
0:35they're going to show me the best of
0:37their City the sites the beaches the
0:39famous sanan Beach and importantly the
0:42food I've never seen this before and we
0:44start with the food at the city's
0:46Majestic Market wow I mean it's
0:49beautiful Rebecca and this just shows
0:51how off my radar alikante is that I've
0:53never even seen an image of this market
0:55and it's gorgeous we just celebrated the
0:57100th anniversary it is the one of the
0:59biggest indoor markets in Spain Rebecca
1:02along with husband Alberto who will meet
1:04later run alioli tours they offer food
1:07and cultural tours in the city and day
1:10trips around the region I'll link their
1:12details below but enough talk let's eat
1:15we kick off at a market stall selling
1:17fresh bread and delicious baked goods so
1:21here we have local pastries I
1:30and you see how you
1:32know a lot ofing
1:56there next up the fishmongers
1:59wow okay I've never seen are these
2:02smoked these are beautiful you see these
2:04up here
2:05John Bonito de L this whole stand is
2:09focused on salones which are salted and
2:11dried fish okay so if you think of back
2:14hundreds and hundreds of years ago and
2:16there wasn't electricity how did we
2:17preserve food this way right this is
2:21Bonito okay it's been salted and dried
2:25of course and you can see they've opened
2:27it up and then they salt and dry and
2:29I'll show you another another one here
2:30these are moama which is the loin of a
2:33tuna yeah okay this we we call the
2:37Hamond delar the ham of the sea the
2:39variety of Spain it's like I've been
2:42here 12 years my job guys is to talk
2:43about this stuff and I come to a new
2:46region and I see stuff for the first
2:48time and I get really excited and it
2:49just shows how much more well how much
2:51there is to explore and understand in
2:52this country Alik is known as Europe's
2:55Market Garden and the Region's gorgeous
2:57array of fruits and vegetables are on
2:59dis display here including crops I've
3:02never seen
3:14before super crunchy I mean I've never
3:17seen I've never seen this before what's
3:20it called again never seen it no I mean
3:21maybe I'm an idiot because no but that
3:24goes to show also James Liv in Madrid
3:26I'm in alante and we can eat different
3:29things you things you've never even seen
3:31this is grown in aland so we're just
3:32walking through and I mean look at these
3:34stalls with these grapes hanging and
3:36this one over here the floral display
3:39above much better than shopping at
3:42mercadona much better much better wow
3:46all right I know we're going to a bar
3:47next so should grab some food let's go
3:50every Market in Spain has a bar or two
3:53or five and so we head to baral where
3:56Jorge serves up gome Tapas prepared with
3:59market fresh prodad
4:02juice this looks amazing so what have we
4:05got Rebecca here you have kind of like a
4:08a pastry here well it's it's crunchy
4:11then you have a Mia butter yeah butter
4:15and
4:19chovy oh my God that is decadent they're
4:24very decent I've never had butter with
4:26an Anie
4:28before and next up a salad that's simply
4:31tomatoes with slivers of The Salted and
4:33dried fish we saw earlier this dish is
4:36an Alicante classic and I've never tried
4:40[Music]
4:47it
4:52okay everything with head here the
4:54cooking has just been the combination
4:56the selection of the ingredients and the
4:58combination you know good oil a little
5:00bit of salt and finally some deep fried
5:02pork belly this I have tried before and
5:05it's addictive this one's a little less
5:07healthy but everything moderation
5:11right
5:13wow has such a beautiful textural
5:16difference between this this crunchy
5:18outside it's like pork grind and they're
5:20just juicy you can see how juicy the the
5:22middle is and it doesn't taste too
5:24overwhelming or oily right
5:40next we jump into a taxi and head up the
5:43hill to explore the historic and
5:44beautiful Santa gruth neighborhood which
5:47dates back to the 8th century and sits
5:49in the shadow of the city's sprawling
5:519th century Castle just make sure I get
5:53run over by this guy right so obviously
5:56like in July August gets pretty hot like
5:59what like in summer is it bearable and
6:00what it's like in Winter it does get
6:02cold in Winter I mean depending on where
6:04you're from July and August get very
6:06very hot um we're talking about about
6:0935° C and what makes it feel so hot as
6:13the humidity but today in late April
6:15it's a comfortable 18° C or 66 F just
6:20got a glimpse here of this Santa Cru
6:22neighborhood you know alante is like
6:23this color the sand the the yellow sand
6:26the blue sky but then we see all this
6:28white and and blue blue it's beautiful
6:30so this is very typical of um the bario
6:34Santa Cruz or the blue that royal blue
6:37color this an intense blue nowadays
6:40there's only about 2,000 people that
6:41live up in this area as you can see
6:43already there's a lot of stairs there's
6:46nowhere to park your car so it's not
6:48easy to live here so you know although
6:50there are tourist departments re was
6:52just saying and we're seeing there are
6:53still locals here you know there's
6:54people with their dog you know coming
6:57out and doing the washing in the morning
6:59and things like that so you know some
7:02people have obviously decided that this
7:03is still a lifestyle worth living we
7:06delve deeper into the newer though still
7:08historic part of bario Santa Cru yeah
7:11it's still Elario is still the old town
7:15okay but we're not going to be walking
7:16up and downstairs which
7:21okay look at this up here they always
7:24seem to put the uh the palm tree in the
7:26perfect spot as you come around the
7:28corner and there's a beautiful Church
7:29church and a palm tree in front of it so
7:31we're moving now into the the older part
7:34the less old part but these buildings
7:35are are beautiful just look at this up
7:38here we just walked around the corner
7:40and there's this like ah this massive
7:42church and I see this this text this
7:44sundal so what is this building this is
7:47the K Cathedral San Nicholas the alant
7:50so this is our main Church in alante
7:52city and as well as the Su dial there's
7:54these fascinating letters painted on the
7:56facade they're 200 to 300 years old and
8:00often commemorate a religious event or
8:02an important theological discussion that
8:04took place here I kind of love the fact
8:06that there's no windows in it it's just
8:08there's something kind of desert-like
8:09about it like you would come across this
8:11temple in the desert the historic Center
8:13is a wash with Gorgeous old apartment
8:15buildings and wide plas dotted with
8:18restaurant Terraces for long lunches in
8:20the Sun and everywhere the city is
8:23punctuated by these towering palm trees
8:26we work our way down to the Waterfront
8:28where locals are wanding ing along the
8:30Palm lined espanada des and I realized
8:33that I may be developing a bit of a
8:35crush on
8:40alante but enough sentimentality it's
8:43time for more food Aon and Sylvia
8:45welcome us into Cento a tiny tapa Spa
8:48just off the main drag now this is a and
8:51we're here to try a dish that won best
8:53tapa in alante a few years back
8:57[Music]
9:07walnuts the
9:09beefin ton I heard him saying normally
9:12this would say James and yolly but yol's
9:14not on this trip I got John with me this
9:16time so all
9:19right I've never had ham with my name on
9:21it before but I'll save something for
9:24you John that's so good that's so good
9:26but what I'm really excited about
9:29is one of these for you Rebecca or not
9:31or is it for John
9:33[Music]
9:37John's that is
9:40indecent intense sweetness from the ton
9:42but then the juiciness of the meat D we
9:44winner John you want to have a
9:47[Music]
9:49bite yeah yeah yeah John's Basque so he
9:52knows his food so you know never tried
9:54something like this before very nice
9:59see see Rebecca has to head off to give
10:01a tour and so she hands us off to her
10:04husband and fellow tour guide Alberto
10:07how are you okay I feel like I'm being
10:09kidnapped thrown into a van we're
10:11kidnapping come on he's going to take us
10:12up the coast to check out alicante's
10:14beaches and enjoy an Epic Local dish
10:17that is not a p already I feel like the
10:20city's changed a little bit right you
10:21got the seab breeze uh you know it's
10:24much more open the smell of the water
10:26right Dad if you born here you're used
10:28to this is the Beach a big part of the
10:30culture like people go to the beach just
10:32me I grew up in the city center yeah and
10:35if it was no shopping the other thing
10:36you could do going to the beach going to
10:38the beach so it really is part of the
10:40culture of the city we check out the
10:41golden sand beaches that are right on
10:43alicante's doorstep first the city beach
10:47the bustling
10:48play then only a few more minutes up the
10:51coast by car or a brief tram ride we
10:54visit the play de la ALU fera and it's
10:56this gorgeous beach with kids playing
10:58we're in April there's people swimming
11:00Alberto takes us further north to one of
11:02the many little deserted kalas or Coes
11:05that dot the coastline there's no one
11:07here that's it and and even in summer
11:09Like You Come In Summer and you can be
11:11here by yourself and the water is so
11:13clear the water is super cleared over
11:16here you can swim you can take your
11:18kayak your paddle Bo anything you got a
11:20nice access to here then it's back in
11:22the van to keep heading north to a
11:24lookout where we can see one of the
11:26famous and longest beaches of the region
11:29here we have the famous San Juan beacha
11:33sanan no in summer all the vibe in the
11:36city will move to this place it's a huge
11:39beach I think you said earlier like 6 km
11:426 km and it's a it's a beautiful kind of
11:44curving Beach and so this is another
11:46area you can get on the tram
11:48right the TR is 15 minutes you got the
11:51the tra that is that is a two lines that
11:54he comes here and he pass each 10
11:55minutes you got the tra coming to this
11:57way but we're not here to hit the beach
11:59we're heading to player San Juan to eat
12:02but before we do I have to point out the
12:04tram system here is fantastic it runs
12:06all the way from alikante City North to
12:09Denia passing through famous towns like
12:11Benidorm calpe and altea and making the
12:14whole Coast extremely accessible if you
12:16don't own a car so right along the 6 km
12:19Beach Alberto was saying there's six
12:21stops of the TR six stops on the way
12:23from the city all the way up
12:24here and that goes all the way to the
12:28town of el campeo that will be the next
12:29town after here so Alberto was saying
12:31there there's no there's one hotel along
12:33this whole 6 km Beach right there's just
12:36one and a little hostel that's all and
12:38so this is why it doesn't get
12:40overwhelmed I mean it's busy in summer
12:42right but but is it more locals that are
12:44coming here as you're saying it's local
12:46you can see right now probably most of
12:48the people are from here and after
12:50there's no hotels uh there's not so much
12:53accommodation for people visiting so it
12:56stays like without not too many people
12:58Alberto leads us into Casa Domingo a
13:01classic Chingo or beach restaurant
13:03that's famous for its local rice
13:08dishes first Alberto shows me the proper
13:11way to eat in saladia rousa Spain's most
13:14famous potato salad show me how you do
13:16it when big table what we do is we do
13:19like this big piece of it you put this
13:23over here and then you eat
13:25[Music]
13:26it I don't use youra but uh
13:30M go
13:34ahead my that it's pretty
13:37good I have one phobia in my
13:41life and that is the fear of people
13:44talking with their mouth with talking
13:46while they're eating in saladia and
13:48seeing it inside their mouth and here we
13:50got the potatoes with alioli it sounds
13:52very stupid because it's very simple but
13:56it's fantastic first of all this is real
13:58alioli yeah so that means garlic olive
14:01oil few Dr few drops of of of of lemon
14:05that you want to help to IM together and
14:06don't break it apart and like everything
14:08in life love time and passion you start
14:11with the mortar and you start growing
14:13growing I do love real homemade alioli
14:16not the not the mayonnaise stuff you get
14:18I hate that stuff this is the real deal
14:20a good
14:21one oh yeah the strong garlic the garlic
14:25is so intense in that Vick's Vapor Rub
14:28right cantino style that will help you
14:31my Sines are clear the clams in there
14:34with all this beautiful
14:36juice wow
14:40okay oo I didn't expect that that is wow
14:45that is so good it's the flavor of the
14:47sea
14:48right yeah but also the bay leaf the the
14:50Lael you can really taste that the onion
14:52a little bit sweeter yeah there's a
14:53herbal there exactly the sweet onion and
14:56with this sauce the one thing you've got
14:57to do right is get the bread in there
14:59can you see that John the sauce is
15:04amazing I lost some
15:07bread it so good I did not I did not
15:10expect that and now for the main
15:13event I have a question we're in
15:15alikante we're not in Valencia is this a
15:18paa that's not a paa guys that's not a
15:20paa here in alikante with rice rice ar
15:23ar so if you are in a restaurant later
15:26on and you see the word somewhere in Al
15:29run out of there as soon as as you can
15:31we're going to have the clams we're
15:32going to have the red bronze already
15:34peeled we're going to have the muscles
15:36and the fish is a monk fish am I going
15:39in first yeah okay wow you want to get
15:42in there look John you can see there
15:45like a crust on top but you see how the
15:47grain is loose between
15:50[Music]
15:55wow really intense intense flavor I can
15:59see alente a little bit rice is a little
16:02alente yeah perfectly cooked you can do
16:05like this you do like a few points
16:06around way you get it and no matter
16:09where you get you always can go into the
16:11alol okay and grab it there you know so
16:14many people often when they think of
16:16rice dishes in Spain I keep wanting to
16:18say p it's a dirty word here you know
16:22they think of the stuff on top the
16:23protein but really the focus is the rice
16:26you know it's the flavor cuz that's what
16:27sucks up all the flavor flavor from the
16:29broth and one of the KE how thin the
16:31rice on the ban it's like one layer you
16:34know maybe two
16:36or with that little
16:39[Music]
16:45crust so John the camera guy lives in
16:48Valencia uh so let's see what he
16:53thinks oh wow I can see that this is
16:57really something
17:00[Music]
17:07it's absolutely amazing yeah right
17:09really really really good our Bell's
17:12full of rice we hid to our last stop the
17:15Magnificent 9th century Santa Barbara
17:18Castle that sits perched to balante here
17:21is the main main Fortress of of Alicante
17:24one of the biggest Fortress in cities in
17:26Spain we say goodbye to Alberto and head
17:28into the CLE make sure you check out
17:30Ali's tours around the city and the
17:32region I'll drop their link down below
17:34the last act we got to work off that P
17:37oh my God I expected a simple Castle but
17:40what we discover is a sprawling Maze of
17:43medieval buildings and Towers it was
17:45built by the Moors in the 9th century
17:47but the site is much older with Bronze
17:50Age and Roman archaeological artifacts
17:52having been found on the mountain slopes
17:56wow it just keeps going on and on it's
17:58huge there's like restaurants and bars
18:00and cafeterias this castle like alikante
18:04has totally defied my expectations I
18:07came here expecting a lowkey city on the
18:10med but I've discovered a city that's
18:12vibrant beautiful delicious and
18:16wonderfully welcoming and I can't wait
18:18to come back if you're also curious to
18:20know what alikante you know the province
18:22this area was like in the winter we made
18:24a video which you can watch up here uh
18:27where we went to Ala at town just a
18:29little bit to the north uh in the winter
18:31and tell you what the Sun was shining so
18:32we'll see you over there in a minute
18:34ciao