If you're not the museum or church type or your idea of culture is a raucous party town then head to Spain's Benidorm, just a tad up the coast from Alicant'.

I stayed in Alicant' and took the tiny train from there to Benidorm just because i had heard SO much about it and had to check it out.

Though it was out of high season the town was hopping, mainly with British lager louts who flock here on package flights to Sunny Spain's seaside.

It's actaully a British enclave that i call Blackpool South because of lots of similarities in down-scale clientele whose idea of a holiday is not museums but 1-getting pissed 2-laying in the sun 3-more getting pissed, etc. day and night it seems. (Only in Blackpool you can rarely lay in the often shrouded sun nor swim in the frigid waters.)

Benidorm is, like many Spanish coastal resorts in this area, a blah town of blah flats and literally a pub on every corner it seems. And this to me was the fun of the place - many pubs had outdoor sections with kareoke (sp?), rock bands and Elvis and Elton John impersonators. Yes i saw Elton John live at one place - at least he said he was Elton John and sang Crocodile Rock and all the John hits. As for the crowd, it was definitely a Coronation Street crowd - Battersby-Browns would be right at home here!

One day was enough for me in Benidorm but it will forever linger in my mind --- more than most museums or churches ever will.

In Belgium Benidorm is known as the "typical" place where the retired people go to escape the Belgian winter. Perhaps they replace the party crowds once the temperature gets below 20°C.
One of my relatives owns an appartment in La Manga del Mar Menor. It's full of Belgians there as well, even the supermarket owners are Belgian, but it's quite a bit more upscale. Before low cost airlines to Murcia, you had to fly to Alicante to get there, and these charter planes were always full of those party crowds as well... horror !

The zone where Benidorm is , it's rather curious. The party crowds live in Benidorm, Calpe and surroundings are more upscale and cater for retired people (english for the most part), then it is Alfaz del Pí which is about 15 km from Benidorm that has the biggest number of Norwegians out of Norway (even the First Minister came to celebrate Norway Day there). Most of them are retired too, but their families come to visit so it's more a family location
Many retired spaniards go to Benidorm also, and they live together with the english party crowds..funny thing to see
And then it is Altea, where english and german live together and some restaurants don't have the menu in Spanish...but English, German and French.
Even a big football club of England (sorry, I don't remember right now which one, I think it was Liverpool, but I'm not sure) celebrated a reunion of fans from all over the world in Benidorm some months ago...it was big news at the TV here because they carried the beer from England, there was not enough in Benidorm to cater for such an amount of people

As long as the club wasn't the Tottenham Hotspurs who might take a bite out of the party! Waiting anxiously for Leuverkeusen results! Go Cannibals!

Can I just say that the Tottenham Hotspurs (sic) were chuffin' magnificent last night. I still have a sore throat (not from biting Belgians I shouuld state).

Looking forward to Leverkeusen. They're putting up big screens for ticketless fans (not an issue as I am all ticketed-up).

Is it true that Hotspurs (sic) players and fans will have to wear muzzles during the match? That's what i read in the German press.

We could still take the lot of 'em - muzzled or otherwise.

Anyway, we're not allowed to eat anything that isn't kosher.

Kendrina - an English club?

Wash your mouth out!!!

It was, of course, the Scottish champions, Celtic, who held their European Convention in Benidorm - an event attended by an estimated 30,000 Hoops fans.

Here's a wee taster;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-OsbLvhoB8

Jim

England, Scotland, Wales - what's the difference?

Bob,

I'm assuming that you forgot to put a smiley at the end of your last post?

Jim

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, sorryyyyyyyyyyyyy !! How could I forget it was Celtic ?? !! Of course, it IS NOT an english club, but Scottish !! Definitely..I'm getting older , my memory stinks