Another day on our own. A key feature of this city is the old fortress/castle atop a dominating hill overlooking the sea approaches. There apparently is a road that winds part way up on the backside, and a walking path said to be a bit scary for agoraphobics. No cable car. But some enterprising soul drilled a tunnel into the hill, dropped an elevator shaft down from the lower part of the fortress et voile a reasonably accessible way up.

We took a shuttle from the dock into the edge of downtown, walked along a nice beach to the entry to the elevator, got there a little after there opening time of 10:00am. A bit of a wait in line, not too bad. Free entry for those over 65. The ticket guy double checked Meg’s ID, really though she was too young to qualify, but relented and let us in. A long walk through the tunnel to the elevator. Capacity only 8 persons, we only needed to wait for one load ahead of us. And then up for some great views!

Back down via the elevator, then a walk through the older section of the city. And back along the Esplanade which was lined with artisans’ booths, some fine work on display! I overheard another tourist (fellow cruiser?) comment that it was like walking through an art fair back home.

The ship was scheduled for a relatively early departure, we caught about the last shuttle at 3:00, and on our way. Another example of a Spanish coastal town that helps me understand why so many British ex-pats choose to live here. Nice place.

Note the “mosaic” shown in the 4th image here. This is a section of a ten foot by ten foot wall display within the castle/museum. Each element in the display is a pottery shard selected from among thousands of shards from excavations tracing the utilization of the hill fortress back well into early prehistoric times.