North of the port, the tram stops are the map. Poble Espanyol, Amerador, Cala Piteres, Coveta Fumà, Venta Lanuza and Paradís each serve a cluster of urbanisations along the cliffs, and for many homes up there the tram is the obvious way back from Alicante.
It is a good way home, right up to the moment you reach for your keys on the platform and find an empty pocket.
First, the two-minute search
Before ringing anyone:
- Every pocket and every bag, properly, under the street light. Keys hide in jacket linings and the bottom of rucksacks.
- Your phone’s last photos and messages. Did you leave the keys with someone, or in a car?
- Where you last used them. If it was at a bar or a friend’s flat, a phone call may get them back faster than any locksmith.
- A spare key nearby? A neighbour, a family member, a cleaner, the person who manages a let.
If the keys were lost, not left
Keys dropped on the tram, in a taxi or on the street are a security question as well as a practical one. If anything with them shows where you live, such as a fob with the name of the residencial or a bag with post in it, the cylinder should be changed the same night, not the following week.
What to say when you ring
The northern district has eleven urbanisations under one name, and a street name alone can be hard to find at night. What helps most:
- The tram stop you got off at, and which way you walked from it.
- The urbanisation: Coveta Fumà, Cala d’Or, La Merced, Pueblo Acantilado, Venta Lanuza, Alkabir…
- The street and number, or the name of the residencial on the gate.
- Which lock: the gate of the complex, the garden gate or the front door.
- A pin on WhatsApp, if your phone has battery.
How each district is laid out, and what to say from each one, is on the coverage page.
Waiting at the stop
- Keep your phone’s battery for the call back: screen dim, nothing else running.
- Wait somewhere lit, ideally at the stop or by the gate rather than at a dark front door.
- Have something with your address on it in mind: an ID, a padrón certificate, a rental contract on your phone. Nobody’s door is opened without it, and if it is inside, you show it once the door is open, before anyone goes in.
The door itself
If you pulled the door shut without turning the key, it is the easiest kind to open and usually leaves no mark. If it was locked with the key, it takes longer, and the cylinder may need replacing, which is also the answer if the keys are gone for good.
The most common daytime version of this, a door pulled shut on the way out in the morning, is in locked out on the school run to Villa Marco.