The city of Alicante, and by extension the province of Alicante, is considered one of the best areas of the country to enjoy a full summer with no time to get bored. Although for many readers, the main tourist center of the province is Benidorm, the capital has a heritage and a commercial offer impossible to match by the other municipalities and that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
The Costa Blanca, which bathes the coasts of the entire province, is one of the best areas to practice sun and beach tourism. The beaches of Alicante extend for 200 kilometers of coastline and the possibilities of enjoying days of pleasant temperatures are very numerous, since the sunny days per year are estimated at more than 300.
In the capital, the city's most famous beaches and coves are Postiguet beach, San Juan, La Albufereta and Cala Cantalar, the latter located in the neighborhood of Cabo de la Huerta, in an enviable natural environment that encourages bathers to practice nudism.
The most representative monuments of Alicante
If we set aside sun and beach tourism and focus on the cultural and architectural attractions of the city, we find ourselves fully Santa Barbara Castle, the main monument of the city.
Raised at the end of the ninth century with the city under Muslim rule, it received the name of Santa Barbara in 1248, after taking the Alicante Christians on the day of the saint in December. The castle is located on the top of Mount Benacantil, at 166 meters of altitude, is one of the greatest medieval fortresses in all of Spain. From the castle you can see The best views of the city.
In the western part of Mount Benacantil you can see the well-known Face of the Moor, a curious capricious formation of the mountain that gives rise to the profile of a face and of which numerous legends are told where they come into play Love, fantasy and misfortune.
On Mount Benacantil, on its slopes, archaeological remains from the Age of Vronce, Iberians and Roman times have been found, although the origin of the castle is Muslim. The Roman influence in the city and the province will be recovered later.
Also on the slopes of Mount Benacantil are located two of the most representative neighborhoods of the city: Santa Cruz and San Roque. They are the most picturesque in Alicante and they are happy to walk through the narrow and steep streets. These neighborhoods receive these names by the hermitages dedicated to the corresponding advocations.
Walking through this part of the city, with the majority of pedestrian streets, allows you to get away for a few minutes from the road traffic and enjoy the true Mediterranean atmosphere. In Alicante, as in other large provincial capitals, the use of private vehicles can be quite stressful, hence choosing Rent a car with driver with mitaxi.net It is a highly recommended option.
With the fall of the afternoon, many Alicante and tourists decide to take a walk around the Esplanade Walk, where every day stalls are put up for sale jewelry, pottery, incense and hippie stalls. The positions open all week except Tuesdays, from 11 to 22.30 hours.
The Paseo de la Esplanada is located next to the marina, it is the most emblematic boulevard in the city, was inaugurated in 1959 and for its construction some six and a half million tiles were used.
The passage of the Romans through Alicante
Now is the time to recover Roman influence in Alicante. In addition to the archaeological sites found on Mount Benacantil, near the capital of Alicante is L'Illeta de Banyets, an archaeological site corresponding to the Bronze Age through which they went through the different civilizations settled on the Mediterranean coast: the Iberians and the Romans.
The Isleta ceased to be an island in 1944, when an isthmus of land was built by means of a blasting which destroyed part of the site. However, until the Middle Ages the site was, as now, a small peninsula.
Although the first occupation dates back to the Neolithic period, the highest level of L'Isleta corresponds to the Roman era of the first and second centuries. This site is located in the municipality of Campello, about 10 kilometers from Alicante.