Page 267 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

V ALENCIA AND MURCIA  265

h Orihuela
Alicante. * 83,400. £ @ n Plaza
Teniente Linares, 965 30 46 45. ( Tue.
_ Moros y Cristianos (10–17 Jul).
∑ orihuelaturistica.es
In the 15th century Orihuela
was prosperous enough for
Fernando and Isabel to stop and
collect men and money on their
way to do battle against the
Moors at Granada. The Gothic
cathedral houses Velázquez’s
The Temptation of St Thomas
Yachts moored in Alicante harbour, beside the Explanada de España Aquinas in its museum. Among
the exhibits in the Museo San
collection of 20th-century art can g Elx Juan de Dios archaeological
be seen at the Museo de Arte Alicante. * 230,000. £ @ n Plaza museum is a processional float
Contemporáneo (MACA). Local Parque 3, 966 65 81 96. ( Mon & Sat. bearing a 17th-century statue
artist Eusebio Sempere (1924–85) _ Misteri d’Elx (14–15 Aug). of a she-devil, La Diablesa.
assembled works by Dalí, Miró, ∑ visitelche.com
Picasso (see pp36–7) and others. E Museo San Juan de Dios
The forest of over 300,000 palm Calle del Hospital. Tel 966 74 31 54.
+ Castillo de Santa Bárbara trees that surrounds Elx (Elche) Open Tue–Sun. 7 8
Playa del Postiguet. Tel 965 92 77 15. on three sides is said to have
Open daily. & (for elevator only). 8 been planted by the Phoenicians
∑ castillodesantabarbara.com around 300 BC. Part of it has
P Ayuntamiento been enclosed as a private
Plaza del Ayuntamiento 1. Tel 965 14 garden called the Huerto del
91 00. Open 9am–2pm Mon–Fri. Cura. Some of the palms –
one with a trunk which has
E Museo de Arte
Contemporáneo (MACA) divided into eight branches
– are dedicated to notable
Plaza de Santa María 3. Tel 965 21
31 56. Open 10am–8pm Tue–Sat, people, like the Empress
10am–2pm Sun. Closed 1 & 6 Jan, Elizabeth of Austria, who
1 May, 25 Dec & local hols. 7 visited here in 1894.
∑ maca-alicante.es The first settlement in the
area, around 5000 BC, was
at La Alcudia, where a 5th-
f Illa de Tabarca century BC Iberian stone bust
of a priestess, La Dama de Elche
Alicante. g from Santa Pola/Alicante.
n Santa Pola, 966 69 22 76. (see p52), was discovered in
1897. The original is in Madrid,
The best point of departure for but there are several replicas La Diablesa, Orihuela
the Illa de Tabarca is Santa Pola. scattered around Elx.
This small, flat island is divided The blue-domed Baroque
into two parts: a stony, treeless church, the Basílica de Santa j Torrevieja
area of level ground known as María, was built in the 17th Alicante. * 91,400. n Paseo
el campo (the countryside), and century to house the Misteri Vista Alegre, 965 70 34 33. ( Fri.
a walled settlement, which d’Elx (see p45). Next to it is La _ Habaneras (22–30 Jul).
is entered through three Calahorra, a Gothic tower, ∑ turismodetorrevieja.com
gateways. The settlement was which is a surviving part of
laid out on a grid plan in the the city’s defences. During the 1980s, Torrevieja
18th century, on the orders A clock on the roof next to grew at a prodigious rate as
of Carlos III, to deter pirates. the town hall has two 16th- thousands of Europeans
Tabarca is a popular place century mechanical figures, purchased homes here. Before
to swim or snorkel and it can which strike the hours on bells. tourism, the town’s source of
get crowded in the summer. income was sea salt. The salt-
Fish and salt have long been Y Huerto del Cura works are the most productive
important to the economy of Porta de la Morera 49. Tel 965 45 19 in Europe and the second most
Santa Pola. A Roman fish salt ing 36. Open daily. & 7 8 ∑ jardin. important in the world.
works has been excavated here, huertodelcura.com The habaneras festival cele-
and outside the town are some P La Calahorra brates Cuban music brought
modern saltpans. Calle Uberna. Open Tue–Sun. back by salt exporters.

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