Altea had a lot of hype to live up to, one of Tons sources of places to visit in Spain called it the Santorini of Spain, National Geographic called it the most beautiful village in Spain.
The drive down from Valencia was uneventful and we checked into a beach front campground that we thought would be expensive, we were happy to be told it was only €25. A good start for Altea. After settling in we decided to head into the old town but it was further than we thought. We decided to splurge on an Uber, that was also very reasonable.
We were waiting for our Uber in front of a Thai Massage shop. Thai Massage places are very common in Europe, but not as common in Spain as Northern and Central Europe. While we were waiting a lady stuck her head out and asked if I wanted a massage. Ton struck up a conversation with her in Thai and she had a nice chat until the Uber came.
We did a quick walk through town and then headed to a restaurant for lunch. The entrance was off a street and we had to descend to the dining area which turned out to be a beautiful terrace overlooking the town and ocean. We took the menu of the day. We received three appetizers, a giant salad, two nice sausages, and two beef curry empanadas. The appetizers would have been a filling lunch. I ordered salmon and Ton ordered steak. My salmon was the largest piece of fish I have ever been served in a restaurant. It was also perfectly cooked. Tons steak was also good. We weren’t done because our deserts were also huge.
The food was excellent, the service was friendly, and the views were spectacular. After a couple of tough days in Valencia, the Spain we know and love is back.
We headed down towards the ocean with a thought of walking along the beach, but a food coma set in, we decided we would save the beach for later. The Uber driver explained that this part of the “Costa Brava” is the most beautiful because unlike the towns surrounding Altea it has not been overdeveloped with high rise condos and restaurants. We can see some of them off on the horizon north of us, and according to our driver it gets worst south.
Is Altea the Santorini of Spain, truthfully we don’t know because we haven’t been to Santorini. Is it the most beautiful village in Spain, well that is a matter of taste, it is a beautiful town, but Spain is blessed with beautiful towns. To our taste it is not the most beautiful place we have visited in Spain but it would be near the top of a list of beautiful places.
