Alicante, Spain - the worst of both worlds

Alicante is on the Costa Blanca (White Coast) which, like the Costa del Sol, is a mecca for sun-worshipers. Prior to 2008 it was one of the fastest growing cities in Spain, having on and off growth spurts since the 1960s with northern Europeans, especially the British, descending like locusts for low cost vacations and second homes. Horror stories abounded through the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond, of unfinished hotels, poor workmanship, no redress, wrecked vacations, lost retirement funds and so on as the somewhat maverick local authorities sought to maximize their golden eggs. In exchange, the British brought beer binges, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, football hooliganism, fish and chips and sundry other less than welcome national traits along with their much welcomed money.
 In former visits to Spain we had avoided Alicante, Benidorm and similarly blighted areas and concentrated instead on some of the national historical treasure troves such as Segovia, Toledo and Salamanca. This time around we determined to meet the beast head on. Fortunately, time was short and we did not get out of town to see the British refugee camps and just took a brief walk around a couple of the city highlights. Not too bad...
More to see here.