GlynManchester Terminal 3 late on a Friday night is not where a holiday begins. It is where a holiday waits to be allowed to begin.
We got there early, which was a mistake, because T3 rewards nobody for punctuality. There are a couple of small WH Smiths, a KFC, a bar or two, and then a great deal of nothing. Our flight was delayed thirty minutes. On paper, half an hour. In T3, with every shop already browsed twice, it felt considerably longer.
We chose that flight on purpose. I work full time and the trip could not start until I finished on the Friday, so the late departure was the only one in reach. The trade is that you land in the small hours and wake up in Benidorm on the Saturday with a whole day in hand, rather than spending it in an airport. I would make the same trade again. I would simply arrive at the terminal later.
At Alicante we had a Hoppa transfer, booked in advance, at about €16 each for the return journey. Forty-five minutes’ wait at the airport, and then we were off. We reached Benidorm at about half past two in the morning. Late, but we knew it would be, and that was the price of the extra day.
Five nights in the Old Town
We split the nine nights, and the reasons, with every figure, are here. The short version: five cheaper nights in an apartment paid for four good ones in a hotel.
The apartment was Emily Suites, in the Old Town back streets. Newly refurbished, about twelve rooms over three floors, a door code instead of a key, and a launderette and sun terrace on the top floor. The back streets mean views are non-existent, and I missed having an oven. But it solved the thing I dislike most about apartments. You hang a tag on the door, and the cleaners come in, tidy round and change the towels. For a man who likes three showers a day, that is not a small thing. The full Emily Suites review is here.
Four nights at the H10
Then across to the H10 Porto Poniente for the last four nights, half board. I wrote this hotel up at length in May, and that review still stands. I love the place and I cannot say a bad thing about it, which from someone as fussy about hotels as I am is not said lightly.
Where we ate
We went back to La Tapita, naturally. But the two finds of the trip were new to us.
La Juana is a little bar on Calle del Rosario, just off the walking street, and it cooks the food of Soria, in the north of Spain. The thing to order is torrezno, pork belly fried until the skin shatters. We had the almitas, crispy strips like the best streaky bacon you have ever eaten, at €10, and went back for the torrezno itself at €7. With our drinks the waiter brought out a plate of cut meats, free and unasked. The full La Juana review is here.
Los Mancheguitos was an accident. We were walking to La Mina on Rincón de Ruzafa and stopped at a bar on the same square instead. Nearly everyone there was Spanish. I had some of the best octopus I have eaten in a while, boiled and served on bread with garlic oil, and the offers board will do a bottle of house wine and six tapas for €12. We went back more than once. The full Los Mancheguitos review is here.
The way home
The return transfer was the one part of the trip that tested my patience. Getting the pick-up details out of Hoppa proved a challenge. I tried their WhatsApp numbers and the UK number, and none of them worked. In the end an automated email arrived with the details, and all was well. If you book with them, watch your inbox, junk folder included, in the days before you fly home, and do not count on getting anyone on the phone.
Then the flight home was delayed by an hour and a half, because the police had to escort someone off the incoming plane. There are worse reasons to be late, but it is a long time at Alicante airport.
So we tried the Wetherspoons. To be fair to it, there is a smoking room, and it is free to use, unlike the Terrace, where you have to buy something. The drinks were reasonably priced. We did not try the food, having picked up some cobs (bread rolls, for anyone south of Birmingham) at Granier in Benidorm before we left.
The receipts, every one of them, are coming in a separate post: what we actually spent once we were there. Newsletter readers see it first.
