Calpe Tourist Information Spain, Costa Blanca

This beautifull Costa Blanca coastal town is known as the "Artists Town". A port and a country town at the same time. An oasis in the most popular tourist region of the Costa Blanca. Calpe is renown for being the town of connoisseurs, the town chosen often as Europes summer retreat. A privileged enclave beside the calm blue waters of the Mediterranean, where outstanding natural beauty, gastronomy, culture, the sea and the mountains are part of the everyday life of its inhabitants all year round. The Old Town is beginning to attract more and more visitors because it is becoming a very interesting part of the town. There are Museums, picturesque little streets and squares and many bars and restaurants, most of them with a lively terrace, an ideal place to spend a pleasant summer evening.
Calpe will surprise you with its daring contrasts, where modern buildings and wide avenues harmonize with an ancient fishing village, where locals are proud of their past, yet welcome tourists and visitors with warm hearted hospitality.

Calpe is a town which is full of history and culture. Its strategic location on the coast has attracted many voyagers and settlers throughout history. Remains of Iberian tribes were discovered around the skirts of the Rock of Ifach. Later, the Romans founded a prosperous colony on the coastal plain whose main activity was commerce in dried, salted fish. During the Medieval period, the farming population was spread out in a number of independent settlements. Christians and Moors lived peacefully for a time, but the local population suffered continual attacks by pirates during the 14th to the 17th centuries. Calpe entered a period of redevelopment during the 18th century, consolidating the town in the 19th century and laying the foundations for its current prosperity as a major attraction for both national and international tourism. In the ancient town center, next to the Moorish quarter (Arrabal) we can see the group of monuments comprising the Torreo de la peça, the Town Walls and the church known as the Iglesia Vieja, the sole surviving example of Mudejar-Gothic architecture in the land of Valencia. Further more there is the Moli Tower and the remains of an ancient Roman which have recently been found, once forming part of the fish factory known as the Queen's Bath (Banys de la Reina).
Discover the Costa Blanca at all times of day, beside the sea or inland, enjoy its beaches and mountains, discover its festivals, art and traditions, get to know the cuisine. You can also play golf or sail along the coast to enjoy the last rays of sun. Visit other towns like Benidorm (aqualandia, marine and exotic animal park, great disco's like Penelope, E5, Joker and night clubs, entertainment Benidorm Palace), Alicante(shopping, airport), Elche(gardens), Valencia, Murcia and Madrid.

The municipal district extends along the gently curving bay whose northern edge is marked by the impressive Rock of Ifach, an unmistakable sight on the Costa Blanca. The rock has been turned into Nature Park in 1987 and provides shelter for a variety of plants, such as the rockrose, tree germander and the Ifach mushroom. This immense rock, towering to 332 m. just out into the sea to the punto de Carallot. The Ifach rocky outcrop divides the Calpe coast, which is made up of beaches, inlets and cliffs, into two wide, very sheltered bays, with facilities to ensure the safety and well-being of swimmers and at the same time provide them with a wide range of leisure activities and entertainment's.
The nearby sea and the exceptional climate entice you to take part in various sports whatever the time of year: scube diving, sailing, line and underwater fishing, windsurfing, paragliding and parapenting, climbing mountains. Further more there are jeep adventures, several safariparks, beautiful caves and many more other places of interests. Visit other worth seeing places like Guadelest, this is the most visited village on the Costa Blanca. It was built on a mountain peak more than 700 m. high during the Moorish invasion in the thirteenth century. Don't forget your camera. Further more there is the region Marina Alta, Marina Baja, lovely villages like Altea, Denia, Javea, Finestrat, Jalon (valley of wine) and of course Aitana, the highest point of the Costa Blanca. The city Elche is world famous for their palmers and tropical plants in the magnificent gardens of Elche.

Calpe Spain, Costa Blanca

Old Town Calpe, Spain

Description of a tourist route

The Old Town is beginning to attract more and more visitors because it is becoming a very interesting part of the town. There are Museums, picturesque little streets and squares and many bars and restaurants, most of them with a lively terrace, an ideal place to spend a pleasant summer evening.
Calpe will surprise you with its daring contrasts, where modern buildings and wide avenues harmonize with an ancient fishing village, where locals are proud of their past, yet welcome tourists and visitors with warm hearted hospitality.

The Forat de la Mar gateway can be found in the Plaza de la Constitución and through it we reach Dos de Mayo street which takes us up a gentle hill to Plaza Miguel Roselló. It is here that we see what is known as Torreón de la Peça reinforced by Calpe's ancielt walls. To the right and left you can admire Pierre Le Fleur's work in two of the murals which decorate the façades of the old town which we can observe throughout the walk.
El Torreón de la Peça, is a defence tower in which would have been sited "La Peça", a piece of artillery which defended de Christian town from the XV century onwards -hence its name. The sections of the tower are separated by stone mouldings that blend into the city walls. In 1947, in the front wall of the Torreón a few metres of ground the shield of Calpe was uncovered, sculptured on a rough rectangular stone which is preserved in the provincial museum of Alicante.

Out of the four cannons which were extracted from the port of Calpe, two of them can now be found next to Torreón de la Peça. They are Swedish made and date back to the XVIII century.

In 1951 part of the wall near the north face of El Terreón was knocked down, here there is now an arch linking the Torreón square and La Villa square. In the summer, these squares are the scene of various cultural activities; theatre, dances, concerts and other events that liven up the evenings in the old town.

Passing under the arch, we will find on our left the Museum of Collections. It was inaugurated in September 1997 to house the private collections of the members of the Marina Alta Collectors Association. A little further on we find ourselves in the Plaza de la Villa, where the Parish Church of Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves is situated. Its main features are the stained glass and mosaic murals which decorate its interior, and the church mosaic. This was inaugurated on the 22nd of October 1997, and shows us different incidents from the Old and New Testaments, as well as the pictures of the Cristo del Sudor and Virgen de las Nieves.

Attached to it, and serving as a chapel, is the Old Church, the only example of the Gothic-Mudejar style in the community of Valencia. The small Gothic-Mudejar church has an interesting net vault and pointed horseshoe arches. The city walls support the old church as well as the building within the walls.
This primitive fortress (XIV century) was transformed and is now the sacristy and the base of the belfry. It combined religious and defensive purposes and acted as a kind of protective bastion.

As we come out of the church, on the left of the square we reach the Museum of Archeology. It was opened in April 1996 and consists of two exhibition floors arranged in chronological order from the III and VII centuries up to the present time.
Objects and ceramics, found during the latest archaeological excavations, are displayed in its showcases. They offer visitors a global vision of live in the surroundings of Els Banys de la Reina (The Queen's Baths).

After the museum visit, climbing down the steps, you continue the route through the first street on the right, Torreones Street, narrow and cobbled, a prime example of the old town's charm. At the far end you can see yet another mural, this time the work of Fernando Vaquero. At the end of this street on the left we go down towards Mayor street which will take us on the right-hand side to square de España. From there, you see one of the most typical streets. Paternina, with its original colourful flower arrangements. Residents look after the plants all year round and they decorate the street during the local fiestas in August.

To the left in José Antonio street, you can find the Festivals Museum. It displays a great variety of costumes from the different celebrations that takes place in Calpe, costumes of the different captains of the Moors and Christians dating from 1975, including the "Favoritas" and "First Ladies". These festivities take place in the month of October in honour of Santismo Cristo del Sudor. It also contains Calpe's typical costumes used during the Patron Saint festivities on the 5th of August in honour of the Virgin de las Nieves and the Fallas of San José on the 19th Mars, with its "Ninots indultats", effigies that are saved from the burning flames.

Before reaching the end of the street, you can take a short cut to the left through a small street Mola, that takes you to Del Mosquit Square, where the Tourist and Residents Office -Tourist Info- is located. From this privileged spot you can admire two very different murals: one Mosaic, in the façade of the tourist information office, is the work of Gastón Castelló, the other, painted by Elias Urbez, is above the fountain of Del Mosquit Square.

A gentle climb through La Ermita street takes us to San Salvador square. Crossing over the Masnou avenue and up some steps you reach the Hermitage of San Salvador, a pleasant walk taking in some interesting views. Its name commemorates the reconquest of Calpe by James I on the 6th of August, the feast of San Salvador.
From this avantage point you can admire a beautiful panoramic view of Calpe, as well as Urbanización la Manzanera, with buildings designed by the architect Ricardo Bofill.
The Ermita is open to the public on San Salvador's day and at Easter.

Once you have recovered your breath, you can climb back down to the Mosquit square where you can right to go down through Purisma street, at the end of which, after having passed the open-air summer cinema, you can see another beautiful mural, the work of Gerda Pasteur.
Continuing along, to our left we take Pedro Garcia Ortiz street, that will lead us to the Arrabel. This is the acient Moorish quarter framed by narrow steep streets with smaal white-washed houses, and decorated with floral arrangements and stones embedded in the pavements suggesting motifs characteristic of Calpe, amphorae, anchors, geometrical drawings, El Peñón de Ifach, etc...

As you walk to the end of the street, you can observe the charm of Pescadores, Puchalt, San Roque streets and right in front of Puchalt street you find an entrance to "Mariners Square". This was inaugurated on the 16th of July 1997, the feast of the Virgin del Carmen next to the fishermen council building in honour of seafarers.

Through the itierary, we suggest that you stop at some of the typical bars and restaurants that you come across and taste the delightful local cooking "tapas", rice and stews, accompanied by good local wine and rounded off with a typical local dessert.
To complement this route, we invite you to observe some of the colourful decorated façades in the Mediterranean style, as well as Mestre Francisco Llopis square, where it meets with Santisimo Cristo and San José streets. This end the route.

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Moraira information.

A small coastal town, Moraira is situated in the beautiful mountainous area of the Costa Blanca. The resort is conveniently placed between the airports of Alicante and Valencia (about 90km from each). However, the surrounding area has a quiet and relaxing atmosphere, with beautiful and.unspoilt scenery and many small villages to explore. There are also some larger resorts nearby that are easily reached by car that are well worth visiting: Javea, Calpe, Denia and Altea are all within 15km, while Benidorm is about 30km away.

Moraira lies in a bay, on the South Eastern coast of Spain, between the larger resorts of Javea and Calpe, 80 kms (1 hr) from Alicante and 110 kms (1.5 hrs) from Valencia airports with excellent motorway and coastal roads from both. The town has pleasantly grown from a small fishing village to an attractive holiday and retirement resort retaining its considerable charm that attracts visitors from all over Europe and is particularly popular with Spanish from Madrid and Valencia. It has an impressive marina, excellent variety of local shops, weekly open markets, harbour-side fish restaurants and bars still retaining their Spanish character.

The two main local gently-shelving sandy beaches, awarded the prestigious EEC Blue Flags for cleanliness, are well tended and very safe for family bathing. In fact the whole of the Costa Blanca has 34 Blue Flag beaches. Other local leisure facilities include 3 large Golf courses, tennis, football, squash, all water sports, boat hire and trips, horse-riding, go-kart racing tracks for both adults and children, a small fairground and three good night-clubs for all ages. There are too many restaurants of interest and good quality to list here but we can mention that there are 8 Michelin recommended restaurants in the immediate area with three of them being star rated and not expensive either.

Moraira enjoys a typical subtropical Mediterranean climate, with cool sea breezes in summer and protection by surrounding mountains against the cold North winds in winter. The area averages nearly 3,000 hours of sunshine each year and the average temperature easily exceeds 20 degrees. In 1986 the World Health Organisation recommended the climate of the area as one of the most equitable in the world - neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter. On average it can boast 325 sunny days each year making it an ideal all year round destination.

There are many places of interest to see on day excursions, apart from the other coastal resorts of Javea, Calpe, Denia, Altea, Benidorm, Villajoyosa and Alicante there is also the spectacular scenery to see inland including the wonderful mountain-top fortress of Guadalest, the Vergal Safari Park near Denia, Europes largest palm forrest at Elche and the ancient city of Murcia. Valencia (third largest city in Spain) is one and a half hours away and Barcelona (second largest) and the capital Madrid are four hours away, all reached by motorway. Spains answer to Euro Disney, Port Adventura near Barcelona, is about four and a half ours away. We are also only 45 minutes away from Finnestrat where southern Spains answer to Disneyland will open in 1999, hopefully! The famous `Lemon train has also to be experienced as it has been described as one of the great train journeys of Europe, running between Alicante and Denia.

If you like open markets then, apart from the weekly Friday market held next to the beach, you could plan a visit to the various markets held at nearby resorts for each day of the week! Apart from the buzzing activity you would see cheap fresh fruit and vegetables, local specialities, herbs and spices, leather goods, clothes, rugs, fresh and silk flowers, souvenirs, pottery and a whole variety of other goods.
Golf is well catered for, with 13 excellent clubs on the Costa Blanca and having 4 within, and around, the Moraira area.

As in all of Spain there are numerous Fiestas held in this region throughout the year with specific ones held in April, June, July and November in Moraira.
The Spanish people of Moraira are extremely friendly and patient with foreign visitors to the area although they do not depend on tourism for their livelihood as agriculture is the predominant feature. With a large European resident community existent, there is a pleasant international feel to the area. Most people are pleased to speak English with you and even more pleased if a small attempt to speak Spanish is made.

Altea information. The dome of Altea's church, blue with a white geometrical design, is one of the symbolic images of the Costa Blanca. Altea is situated on a hill whose peak rises above the white-tiled parish church. The magnificently jumbled and cluttered centre of the Old Town provides Altea with a special charm. When visiting, start at the Plaza del Convento and take the Pont de Moncau - this leads to the Vellaguarda district, an area of steep narrow cobble-stoned streets with balconies and small glorietas (circular intersections). In the Plaza, the cultural and leisure centre of Altea is the Church of the Virgen del Consuelo (Our Lady of Solace). Altea's peacefulness and tranquillity have made it a paradise for artists and craftsmen and their shops and stalls are scattered throughout the Old Town Centre. At the foot of the hill lies the wide sea promenade and the commercial street, the Avenida del Rey Jaime I. Altea has a 6 kilometre beach, with cliffs alternating with shingled bathing areas. Playa de la Roda is located adjacent to the old town centre. The main beach, Playa de Cap Blanch, is located to the south and runs into Albir's beach. The Playa de Cap Negret, a shingled beach ending in a small cove with black pebbles called the 'Cala del Soio', is located to the north. L'Olla is another much-frequented beach opposite a small island of the same name. Altea ends in the 'Mascarat point' and the Sierra de Bernia, where the La Barreta, La Solsida and La Galera shingled coves are located. In earlier times, Altea used to be situated on the road to the Sierra de Bernia and was called Altea la Vella - a small village intersected by a Way of the Cross that ascends to a Calvary surrounded by cypress trees. The Sierra de Bernia, with its Font del Garroferet and ancient fortress, are excellent reasons to visit the area.

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