Elche!

So after talking to one of my Lithuanian friends, I was convinced that I needed to visit Elche. She told me about the beautiful parks, museums, the basilica, and of course, every girl's favorite - shopping. It is a short distance from Alicante, only about 30 minutes on the RENFE (the train that runs through Spain) and a 4euro round trip fee.

I heard from her that going in a group would be a way to save money by getting a group pass. As traveling does get expensive, especially in Europe, I thought why not invite all my friends from Alicante and take a day trip to Elche. Sure, sounds like a great idea at start, but in reality, it was a lot more responsibility than I had originally considered it to be.

Knowing me, I invited a ton of my friends and being the overly friendly person that I am that number happened to be in the 40s. I asked over 40 people expecting many to reject the idea because of prior plans or disinterest. What I didn't expect to happen was over 25 people showing up on Saturday morning (who gets up before 12?) at the train station (our meet-up spot) with the assumption that I would be the leader/guide.

Once over 25 people showed up, many of them bringing friends as well, I decided to haggle my way into getting a group pass. Of course it is possible online to get a group pass but they do not tell you on the RENFE website that it is ONLY available online. So my haggling only got so far with the stubborn receptionist especially since my Spanish isn't on a haggling level.

Anyway, we still only paid 4 euros roundtrip and the train ride ended up being very comfortable and enjoyable since we took up two train cars and a half. As leader, I was assumed to have known where I was going and how to get there. Of course that was not the case! It ended up working out as we followed the map  to the tourist center and thereby I distributed around 25 or 30 maps (which is a lot more difficult than it looks).

Upon getting the maps, different groups developed and different people wanted to see different things. However, the largest group (myself included) decided to do the historic trail and see all the old buildings, basilica and the palm tree garden. It was a great walk through the beautiful city (in 70 degree weather because it was exceptionally hot that day). We had fun exploring and getting lost. For lunch we bought food at a supermarket and ate outdoors in a park near beautiful fountains.

Lunch made everyone a little tired so we headed back to city center and got some coffee in Cafe Paris. The capuccinos, Irish Coffees and other flavorful drinks were so beautifully created. It is an art of its own. After coffee we saw the Parque Municipal in the city center and then headed back to the train station where we met up with the rest of our 30 person group. Although a little stressful at first, I thought it was a GREAT experience! I would love to do it again and now I have earned myself the reputation for planning events and such.