Another city, another admission exam and another Wednesday walk! 😀
This is the place we have been today, for the same reason we walked in a park in Valencia last week. Waiting for our son while he was doing the theory part of the admission exam for the music conservatory early in the morning, my husband and I could use that time to see around. I had to be back for the interpretation part, which started at 10 am... the morning clouds were still stronger than the sun in some moments... as if they represented the struggles of the students fighting with the questions in the test. My son said it was harder than the exam in Valencia 😬 (we still don't know the results, and will get them just in two or three days for both conservatories).
Better focus on the walk and the map where we started this little stroll.
To be honest, we didn't walk all these paths, just around the fortress of San Fernando and through a tiny part of a park. With more time and another occasion which would be less stressful, we could explore a bit more of this part of the city of Alicante.
Around the fortress
It was not so spectacular to see the curtain walls of the fortress and the moat. It had a poor appearance with a beaten path in the middle of dry grass and even trash (beer and soft drinks cans, papers, and some plastic bags...). Also, there were some graffiti on the walls. Sometimes I like to see nice graffiti but definitely not on the walls of a fortress!!
This complex was built at the beginning of the 19th century, as a defence fortress during the Peninsular War. Its rooms had to be used for the troops but also as a prison.
I can't go back in time to see what it looked like two centuries ago... but I didn't like to see it in this abandoned state as it is nowadays. Well, it is not damaged or ruined, but it is not cleaned as it should be.
The entrance
There are three entrances to the fortress. We started with this gate and after we looked around I also checked the other gate - with the lions (first photo).
Walking into the fortress
For us, it was easy to access the fortress. Obviously, as we were not enemies; we also had this wooden ramp leading to the middle of the military complex.
Here, we are getting closer the another gate which would go through the curtain wall.
The hole in the wall became a little tunnel, but once again I could see the sad condition of this fortress. Graffiti on the walls.
Inside the fortress
"Inside" here means just the platforms of the fortress as we had no access to the rooms in the walls. They were all closed, even the main one which probably could be a kind of museum. Maybe we were there too early (or they don't open at all anymore).
As the fortress is on the top of a hill, it is perfect to place the antennas that the city uses. That is good, however, I see again a lot of weed - a shame to see this place in this condition.
Stairs leading to a closed gate...
The views
At least the views from this place were cool. From a different altitude and spot (there were different levels and platforms in this fortress) we can see the sea, the city and the other castle (Santa Barbara) from a slightly different angle.
The park
When we left behind the fortress we still had a bit of time to try to find a coffee shop and cross this park. A graffiti wall is ok in that place, I think.
Unfortunately, the only bar that we found near this place was closed so I decided to go back to the place where my son had the exam.
The music conservatory
The building that hosts the Music and Dance Conservatory of Alicante was an orphanage in the past, (as far as I have been told). It is very close to the fortress and the views from there are similar to those I have already shown. Not a bad place for such an institution, though it would also need some improvements in aesthetics.
