I wish I was here... Benidorm - Spain
Benidorm in Spain is a favourite place for the British people, and for me to visit and it's sometimes described as Blackpool in Spain.. but is it really, would you describe it this way, do you see the resemblances, I'm not sure I do.
Apart from Benidorm being at the seaside like Blackpool, is there really the comparisons there to each other. Whether it's a comparison from years ago or from more recent visits, to be honest, I really struggle to see it.
I don't know about you but I also need a lot more travel accessories for Spain than usually take with me to Blackpool.... Travel Plugs, Sunscreen, Flipflops, Beach Towels....
Apart from Benidorm being at the seaside like Blackpool, is there really the comparisons there to each other. Whether it's a comparison from years ago or from more recent visits, to be honest, I really struggle to see it.
I don't know about you but I also need a lot more travel accessories for Spain than usually take with me to Blackpool.... Travel Plugs, Sunscreen, Flipflops, Beach Towels....
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I first visited Benidorm, I think in 1989, with a friend from work for a week in the Spanish sun.
It was probably my 1st time away without my parents or family and definitely my 1st time abroad.
It was in February but it was hot, even the Spanish thought it was quite hot for the time of year, shorts and t-shirt weather every day, I loved it !
It was a popular tourist destination back then but not like it is now, and when I first went it was out of season too so pretty quite on the whole.
Siestas were still a big thing with most places closing in the afternoon, but then when the evening came, the place came alive and vibrant again.
It was probably my 1st time away without my parents or family and definitely my 1st time abroad.
It was in February but it was hot, even the Spanish thought it was quite hot for the time of year, shorts and t-shirt weather every day, I loved it !
It was a popular tourist destination back then but not like it is now, and when I first went it was out of season too so pretty quite on the whole.
Siestas were still a big thing with most places closing in the afternoon, but then when the evening came, the place came alive and vibrant again.
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Our daytimes were spent mainly on the beach, around the pool and a few visits to the shops, and in keeping with the Spanish afternoon siesta tradition there was a snooze mid afternoon. Back in 1989 it was more Spanish speaking, there was nowhere near the same amount of English spoken by the local people then, that you'll find nowadays.
Back then there also wasn't as many rules and regulation or maybe they were just different because then you could hire what was called a "Moped/Scooter" to ride around on with just your passport.
I was expecting a twist and go slow bike to potter around on for a few hours but it was more like a 125 motocross bike without limitation and with gears to deal.
I'd never ridden a motorbike before with gears, I did drive but I had no clue how to get each gear on a motorbike.
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It was an interesting experience. No helmets required, or offered to us to use, First time (on the wrong side of the) Riding in a foreign country and on a motorbike with no previous experience.
I remember my friend and I both ended up pulling a little wheelie setting off for the first time, after stalling it a couple of times trying to find 1st gear.
In the UK I passed my driving test being taught to stop at a red traffic lights but there was a little confusion over stopping at red traffic lights as we were being passed by a number of cars every time we stopped leaving us both wondering if red actually meant stop or not.
Not forgetting to mention the braking hard coming up to a stop at a junction, only it was on gravel and the inevitable wheel locking up and sliding happened but I managed to stay upright.
Then there was the... I stopped and my mate didn't... incident, so we ended colliding resulting in a cracked panel on one of the bikes that we had to pay for when we returned them. Luckily it wasn't too many Pesetas out of our spending money.
I can't imagine what it must of been like in the middle of summer, me and my mate times hundreds each day...
Evenings, well the first evening we were there we ventured into the old town area as it was nearby our hotel for a few alcoholic drinks like you do. Well we didn't get very far before a few of the local lads let us know we were in the wrong part of town even without us speaking any Spanish and them not speaking any English, we didn't need to learn to speak Spanish to understand we weren't welcome around there but we soon figured out where the bars were for the visitors like us.
Haha, Those were the days...
I remember my friend and I both ended up pulling a little wheelie setting off for the first time, after stalling it a couple of times trying to find 1st gear.
In the UK I passed my driving test being taught to stop at a red traffic lights but there was a little confusion over stopping at red traffic lights as we were being passed by a number of cars every time we stopped leaving us both wondering if red actually meant stop or not.
Not forgetting to mention the braking hard coming up to a stop at a junction, only it was on gravel and the inevitable wheel locking up and sliding happened but I managed to stay upright.
Then there was the... I stopped and my mate didn't... incident, so we ended colliding resulting in a cracked panel on one of the bikes that we had to pay for when we returned them. Luckily it wasn't too many Pesetas out of our spending money.
I can't imagine what it must of been like in the middle of summer, me and my mate times hundreds each day...
Evenings, well the first evening we were there we ventured into the old town area as it was nearby our hotel for a few alcoholic drinks like you do. Well we didn't get very far before a few of the local lads let us know we were in the wrong part of town even without us speaking any Spanish and them not speaking any English, we didn't need to learn to speak Spanish to understand we weren't welcome around there but we soon figured out where the bars were for the visitors like us.
Haha, Those were the days...
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Moving onto more recent times... About 29 years later I made my next visit and my third a couple of years later.
Why had I left it so long in between trips not only to Benidorm but to Spain, I have no idea ?
Lots had changed, like you could no longer just hire a moped with your passport and ride around with no helmet anymore, and then there's the obvious improvements that happen to a place like the road along the edge of the beach is now just access rather than an actual busy seafront road full of traffic like it was in 1989 and like Blackpool still is now.
But a lot of Benidorm I do still remembered from my previous visit 29 year earlier, the basic road layouts, where the bars where, the shops and McDonalds was still there in the same place as well as finding my previous hotel :-).
This time it was a lot busier in the daytime with the shops and cafe bars mainly staying open all day long with just a few shop closing in the middle of the day.
There was also lots of Spanish tourist in the town especially on a weekend which was great as it made it feel more like I was in Spain hearing the Spanish language being spoken a lot more.
The Old Town, which is still very popular with the Spanish it seemed, far more so than with the English, on an evening wasn't a hostile place this time.
Why had I left it so long in between trips not only to Benidorm but to Spain, I have no idea ?
Lots had changed, like you could no longer just hire a moped with your passport and ride around with no helmet anymore, and then there's the obvious improvements that happen to a place like the road along the edge of the beach is now just access rather than an actual busy seafront road full of traffic like it was in 1989 and like Blackpool still is now.
But a lot of Benidorm I do still remembered from my previous visit 29 year earlier, the basic road layouts, where the bars where, the shops and McDonalds was still there in the same place as well as finding my previous hotel :-).
This time it was a lot busier in the daytime with the shops and cafe bars mainly staying open all day long with just a few shop closing in the middle of the day.
There was also lots of Spanish tourist in the town especially on a weekend which was great as it made it feel more like I was in Spain hearing the Spanish language being spoken a lot more.
The Old Town, which is still very popular with the Spanish it seemed, far more so than with the English, on an evening wasn't a hostile place this time.
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Benidorm is spread out over a large area and it needs to be to go from the mainly local population and a few tourists in the quiet season of around 72,000, going up to around 400,000 in the peak summer months.
There's pretty good local and fairly cheap bus network although we found it a little confusing trying to figure out what bus went where and where from.
The buses were also very good value to jump on to visit other local places like L'Albir which is another beautiful beach town further north although a lot smaller and quieter than Benidorm.
I consulted the almighty google for a bus stop to return from our trip to L'Albir. It pointed up to a corner on a junction but with no sign there it didn't seem correct. After a few moments looking around there was a group of 3 or 4 people stood nearby so we walked to the same spot and with my limited Spanish I managed to get confirmation that this was the bus stop, No Bus Stop sign to be found, but obviously the locals knew so why bother with a sign eh !
There's also a great tram you can catch at the top of Benidorm town that basically runs parallel with the coastline down to Alicante and up to Denia and stops at many places along the way.
We took the very cheap, FGV Tram to Villajoya which is another quite more traditional tourist town on the coast a few miles down from Benidorm and has it's own unique old town area to visit with different coloured old style houses. Great for a wander for a couple of hours out of Benidorm to see a more traditional Spanish town.
There's pretty good local and fairly cheap bus network although we found it a little confusing trying to figure out what bus went where and where from.
The buses were also very good value to jump on to visit other local places like L'Albir which is another beautiful beach town further north although a lot smaller and quieter than Benidorm.
I consulted the almighty google for a bus stop to return from our trip to L'Albir. It pointed up to a corner on a junction but with no sign there it didn't seem correct. After a few moments looking around there was a group of 3 or 4 people stood nearby so we walked to the same spot and with my limited Spanish I managed to get confirmation that this was the bus stop, No Bus Stop sign to be found, but obviously the locals knew so why bother with a sign eh !
There's also a great tram you can catch at the top of Benidorm town that basically runs parallel with the coastline down to Alicante and up to Denia and stops at many places along the way.
We took the very cheap, FGV Tram to Villajoya which is another quite more traditional tourist town on the coast a few miles down from Benidorm and has it's own unique old town area to visit with different coloured old style houses. Great for a wander for a couple of hours out of Benidorm to see a more traditional Spanish town.
Keep going... There's just a bit more....
At the end of my week there on my 2nd ever visit, waiting for the coach transfer back to the airport as you do, the driver arrived a bit late looking a bit stressed and rushing us onto the coach and he was away to the next pick up.
Only to find the road was closed a little further along the way. The Driver now having discussions with the police wanting to get to his next pick up a little way along the road which he's not allowed to do, It was only a short walk away from here, But...
Now the diversion of a lifetime begins.... To go from one side of Old Town to the other he has to drive completely in the wrong direction for miles to get onto the motorway to drive back again and get off at another exit the other side of town.
We finally arrive at the next collection point about 45 minutes later after what should of been about a 5 minute drive ( I could of walked there in 10 mins from my hotel).
After again rushing everyone onto the coach, he sets off but again another road closure, he starts twisting and turn the coach all over the place down some little narrow road trying to get us out of Benidorm back to the motorway again but it needed some fancy driving, some 7 point turns around bends he shouldn't be attempting and up mountain type climbs on little back roads not designed for a coach.
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Finally we are free from the centre of Benidorm but now we have a long delay on the edge of the town in sight of the motorway. We've stopped with a random goat stood at the edge of the road at the side of use, we're in the middle of nowhere, just some baron land, and this goat is looking at us all as we are sat sweltering on the coach. After a while, the Benny Hill clip starts, the driver got off the coach and walked away looking extremely stressed, had he just had enough and left us, who knew.
Then half a dozen guys jump off the coach and run across to have a pee against 2 random big boulders on the land at the side of us in full view of everyone on the coach and the rest of the traffic.
The driver now comes running back as the traffic started to move again but now there's half a dozen guys trying to empty last nights beer from their bladders quick before the coach leaves them.
We eventually got to the airport and still had time for our flight but those heading to Newcastle nearly missed theirs :-)
It turns out that our departure day was the day of the Benidorm Half Marathon Run and nobody had thought about how the coaches were going to get around the town to get people back to the airport in time.
Just shows that it doesn't matter where in the world you are there always that someone who messes up. Haha.
Then half a dozen guys jump off the coach and run across to have a pee against 2 random big boulders on the land at the side of us in full view of everyone on the coach and the rest of the traffic.
The driver now comes running back as the traffic started to move again but now there's half a dozen guys trying to empty last nights beer from their bladders quick before the coach leaves them.
We eventually got to the airport and still had time for our flight but those heading to Newcastle nearly missed theirs :-)
It turns out that our departure day was the day of the Benidorm Half Marathon Run and nobody had thought about how the coaches were going to get around the town to get people back to the airport in time.
Just shows that it doesn't matter where in the world you are there always that someone who messes up. Haha.
Want to see more photos of Benidorm ? - keep scrolling...
More Benidorm Photos...
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