Alicante, Spain: Santa Bárbara Castle, Tabarca Island Marine Reserve, and the Esplanade

Castillo de Santa Bárbara, on the Benacantil rock rising 166 metres directly above the city and harbor, is the largest medieval fortress on the Spanish Mediterranean coast — a structure with layers of construction from the 9th-century Moorish foundation through the 16th-century Spanish expansion to the Civil War fortifications of the 1930s. The fastest access is by a lift (elevator) cut through the rock from a tunnel entrance on the beach side; the slow access is by the walking path from the Parque de Gómez. The views from the upper ramparts cover the harbor, the waterfront, the coastal plain to the north, and the Sierra de Alicante to the west. The castle's interior chambers include a small permanent exhibition on its military history, and the upper terrace's panorama is the most useful 20 minutes in the city.

The Explanada de España, running along the waterfront for 500 metres between the port entrance and the city's fishing harbor, is a palm-lined esplanade paved in a wave pattern of 6.6 million mosaic tiles in three colors. The Explanada is the city's social spine — outdoor café tables run its length, the evening paseo (the walk that structures Spanish city life) concentrates here, and the weekend market of local crafts and produce occupies the center. The El Barrio (Santa Cruz) quarter rises behind the Explanada on the slope below the castle — a dense neighborhood of whitewashed houses with painted ceramic tile numbers, bougainvillea-covered walls, and the characteristic smell of olive oil and garlic from the kitchen windows of residential buildings that haven't been converted to tourist use.

Tabarca Island, Spain's smallest inhabited island, is 20 kilometres offshore and accessible by ferry in 45 minutes. The island and the surrounding marine reserve were designated a protected area in 1986; the shallow-water snorkeling over posidonia meadows (sea grass beds that are indicators of Mediterranean water quality and home to commercially important fish species) and the clarity of the water compared to the mainland coast are the primary reasons to make the trip. The island's fortified old quarter — built by Carlos III in the 1770s to protect the island from Barbary pirate raids — has a small church, a grid of lanes, and a collection of simple seafood restaurants. Day-trip visitors dominate the island on call days; the ferry runs every hour in summer.

Arroz a banda is Alicante's most specific contribution to Spanish rice culture — a dish in which fish, shellfish, and their bones are cooked in a rich fish stock, the fish removed and served separately, and then dry-measure rice is cooked in the intensely flavored cooking liquid until it achieves the socarrat (caramelized rice crust) that characterizes properly made Valencian rice. The dish is almost always finished with aioli. Restaurants along the waterfront and in the Santa Cruz neighborhood serve versions of varying quality; the fish market adjacent to the fishing harbor is where the day's catch is sold each morning before going to the restaurants. Turrón — a Spanish nougat made from almonds and honey or sugar — is produced in the nearby town of Jijona (15 kilometres west) and sold throughout the city; the Jijona variety is soft and smooth, the Alicante variety hard and studded with whole almonds.