Village
Santa Pola is a coastal municipality in the Bajo Vinalopó comarca, in Alicante, with 39,709 inhabitants and 13 kilometres of coastline. A traditional fishing town, it has one of the most important fish markets in the comarca, and its urban centre is organised around the harbour and the castle. It is flanked by two natural areas: to the west the Salinas de Santa Pola natural park, and to the east the sierra and cape of Santa Pola, where a lighthouse has stood since 1858 atop the old Atalayola tower. Facing the cape lies the island of Tabarca. The origin of its name is uncertain: it has been linked to Santa Paula, to the apostle Saint Paul, or to the Latin palus, meaning wetland. Its beaches hold the Blue Flag for their environmental quality.
Activity
Santa Pola's patronal festival honours the Virgen de Loreto, patron saint of fishermen ever since 17th-century sailors from Elche installed her image in the local hermitage; it is held in August, with the main events around the 10th.
Monument
The castle-fortress of Santa Pola, on the plaza Glorieta, was built in 1557 by Italian engineers commissioned by the viceroy of Valencia Bernardino de Cárdenas, to protect sailors from the Barbary attacks frequent in the 16th and 17th centuries; today, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 1993 (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), it is a Cultural Centre and houses the Museo del Mar and the Museo de la Pesca. It is a square-plan fortress with two bastions and two turrets at the corners, typical of Renaissance military architecture: one of them served as the duke's palace until the 18th century, while the other two corners house the Bastion of the Duke and the Bastion of the King. Inside, the parade ground, the cistern and the chapel of the Virgin of Loreto, patron saint of the town, are preserved.
Monument
The Torre del Tamarit, also called Torre de las Salinas or de la Albufera, stands next to the channel giving access to the albufera of the parque natural de las Salinas de Santa Pola. It is a square-plan tower, built of rubble masonry with ashlar reinforcing its corners, and forms part of the system of coastal watchtowers that Philip II ordered built in 1552 for the defence of the Levantine coast, in this case protecting Elche between the castle of Santa Pola and the torre del Pinet, with which it maintained visual communication. It was in a ruinous state from the mid-20th century until a 2008 restoration recovered its original appearance. It is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
The Torre de les Escaletes, also known as Torre del Pep, rises on the sierra of the cabo de Santa Pola, near the coast. It dates from the 16th century, specifically from 1552, although it appears to have been built on top of an earlier tower of Andalusi origin; its walls are of rubble masonry, it reaches eight metres in height and is topped with stone corbels. It was part, together with the Torre del Tamarit and the Atalayola, of the system of four watchtowers erected by Philip II for defence against Barbary piracy, with the specific function of sighting enemy vessels hiding in the island of Tabarca and warning of their presence. It is declared a Bien de Interés Cultural by the Generalitat Valenciana (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
An old coastal watchtower located at the highest point of the cabo de Santa Pola (Alicante), one of those erected from 1552 onward, already in the 16th century, on the Alicante coastline. Given its good visibility, in 1858 the present-day lighthouse of Santa Pola was built on top of it. It was a square-plan tower, battered along its whole body and topped with a cornice; horizontal loopholes opened in its rubble-masonry walls, and the corners were worked in ashlar. It is currently preserved in a much-altered state, rendered and painted, although it remains identifiable next to the lighthouse.
Monument
The lighthouse of Cape Santa Pola is located on the cape of the same name, from where it overlooks the bay of Alicante as well as the huerta of Elche and the island of Tabarca. It was built in 1858 on top of the old Atalayola tower, a square-plan tower topped by a cornice that had itself been raised in 1552; today it is heavily altered, plastered and painted, although it is still identifiable.
Monument
Museum housed in the Castle-Fortress of Santa Pola, a 16th-century Renaissance military construction, devoted to the town's maritime and fishing history. The exhibition is organised into six sections: prehistory, with hunting and fishing tools from the Cueva de las Arañas dating from the third millennium BC; the Iberian world, with objects related to maritime trade and domestic life; the Roman site of Portus Ilicitanus, with mosaics, utensils from salting factories, glass, ceramics and coins; coastal fortification, with models of the castle and watchtowers; maritime arts, focused on fishing and navigation; and the Santa Pola salt flats, the economic base of the district. It also includes audiovisual screenings, a specialised library and a restoration laboratory.
Nature
The Salinas de Santa Pola nature park is a protected area of 2470 hectares in the municipality of Santa Pola (Bajo Vinalopó, Alicante), designated in 1994. It is an example of symbiosis between industry and nature: the wetland formed from the activity of Bras del Port, salt flats that began producing salt by solar evaporation in 1900 and which, together with those of BonMatí, remain in operation. The park combines dunes and beaches with salt production and an inland freshwater area, and at its entrance stands the Torre de Tamarit, a former coastal watchtower. It is a refuge for the greater flamingo, which gathers up to 8000 individuals during the breeding season, and for birds such as the pied avocet and the common shelduck, as well as the fartet, an endemic Mediterranean fish.
Curiosity
The Santa Pola salt flats maintain a centuries-old tradition of salt extraction, with landscapes of white salt mountains. The present-day maritime salt flats began producing salt by solar evaporation of seawater in 1900 and occupy, together with the wetland they generated, an area of 2,470 hectares declared a nature park in 1994. Today the Bras del Port and BonMatí salt flats remain in operation, in a coexistence between industrial activity and nature that has made the site a wetland of great ecological value.
Activity
Santa Pola's patronal festival in honour of the Virgin of Loreto is held from 31 August to 8 September, with events in the parade ground of the Castle-Fortress. The programme includes Moors and Christians re-enactments — with the landing and the Moorish embassy on 1 September, the Christian reconquest on the 2nd and the entry parade of both sides on the 3rd —, a float parade with comparsas on the 6th, the floral offering to the patroness in the castle chapel and fireworks on the 7th, and the solemn procession of the Virgin of Loreto on the 8th. On 10 September the Coming of the Virgin is also commemorated, with a procession from the harbour to her hermitage.
Activity
Moors and Christians festival of Santa Pola, held around the 1557 Renaissance Castle-Fortress, between 31 August and 8 September, coinciding with the patronal festival of the Virgin of Loreto. It includes a landing, embassies and the symbolic conquest and reconquest of the castle, entry and gala parades with floats, a floral offering to the patroness, fireworks and the final solemn procession.
Activity
Santa Pola's traditional pilgrimage is the Romería del Cap, held in June in honour of the Virgen del Rosario; its patronal festival, from 31 August to 8 September, honours the Virgen de Loreto.
Activity
The main festivals of Santa Pola, the Moors and Christians, are held from 31 August to 8 September in honour of the patron saint, the Virgin of Loreto, with parades, re-enactments of sieges of the castle, floral offerings and fireworks. On 10 September the Coming of the Virgin of Loreto is also commemorated with a procession from the port. Among the maritime activities, the feast of the Virgin of Carmen stands out, on 16 July, in honour of the fishermen, with mass, floral offering and procession; and the Romería del Cap, in June, dedicated to the Virgin of Rosario. The festive calendar opens in March with the Mig Any, the prelude to the main festivals.
Nature
Playa de Levante is one of the main urban beaches of Santa Pola, in the comarca of Baix Vinalopó. It has dark sand and calm waters, about 1,000 metres long and 30 metres of average width, and is lined by a wide promenade from which it is reached by stairs and ramps. It lies next to the fishing harbour, near the coves of Santiago Bernabéu, an artificial space located south of the town.
Nature
The playa del Varadero, in Santa Pola, takes its name from the old boat slipway beside which it stood and was previously known as the playa de los Ingenieros. Created by seabed dredging, it has flown a blue flag since 1987 and lies between the calas of Santiago Bernabéu and Santa Pola del Este, near the fishing port, one of the busiest in the Mediterranean with more than 3,000 crates of fish unloaded daily.
Nature
Gran Playa de Santa Pola, in the Gulf of Santa Pola (Alicante, Baix Vinalopó), 70 metres from the Club Náutico. It is an urban beach 1,100 metres long and 50 metres of average width, one of the most extensive in the municipality.
Monument
Santa Pola's fish market, where fresh fish is auctioned daily around the 'Peix de Santa Pola' quality label.
Monument
A port of Roman origin, one of the most authentic seafaring corners of the Baix Vinalopó comarca, with intense traditional fishing activity. In the 1st century a port was built next to the old Iberian settlement, known as Portus Illicitanus, which served the city of Ilici and which Ptolemy already mentioned. The first medieval reference dates from 1275, as the port of the Cap de l'Aljub, and in 1337 it was fortified with a tower. The present port was built in 1911, after enlarging the breakwater that a storm had destroyed in 1909, and it was enlarged again in 1931 and between 1953 and 1966. Today it combines fishing, tourism and salt export; in the 1980s it was home to the largest fishing fleet in the Valencian Community.
Curiosity
The port of Santa Pola, in the Baix Vinalopó comarca (Alicante), is of Roman origin: in the 1st century a port serving the city of Ilici was built next to an old Iberian settlement, called Portus Illicitanus according to Claudius Ptolemy. It was one of the most important ports on the coast along with Cartagena. From its Roman period, remains survive of a commercial area with the walls of dwellings, a small courtyard with a cistern from the 1st to 4th centuries, several warehouses, a necropolis and a salting factory. At El Palmeral a 4th-century Roman villa also appeared, with polychrome mosaics, the residence of a well-off family engaged in the port's trade.
Curiosity
Fish caught by the Santa Pola fleet carries the Peix de Santa Pola quality mark, which distinguishes its freshness and local origin. In the 1980s Santa Pola was home to the largest fishing fleet in the Valencian Community, although the volume landed has been declining over the years: from the 6,000 or 7,000 tonnes a year of the 1970s, it fell to 4,151 in 2001 and to just 2,753 in 2003. The fish is auctioned at the port's fish market and distributed from there along the whole coast, from Alicante to Almería.
Activity
Food fair in Santa Pola devoted to fish and seafood from the local fish market.
Monument
Church of the Gran Alacant development, in the municipal district of Santa Pola, within the comarca of El Baix Vinalopó.
Historical milestone
In the year 460 the emperor Majorian assembled at the Portus Illicitanus, the forerunner of the port of Santa Pola, the fleet with which he meant to attack the Vandals of North Africa. The Vandals destroyed it at its anchorage and the campaign failed.
Historical milestone
The port of Santa Pola is documented in 1275 under the name Cap de l'Aljub, after the cistern that supplied seafarers. In 1337 a watchtower was raised there, and in 1379 a warden is already recorded in charge of its garrison.
Historical milestone
Santa Pola asked to separate from Elche in 1812, during the Peninsular War, but the segregation did not take effect until 1835. In 1877 Alfonso XII granted it the title of villa, by then with fishing and the salt pans as the basis of its economy.
Food and drink
A dish from on board the Santa Pola fleet. Rock fish is cooked with ñora pepper and garlic and the rice is then made with that broth; the fish is served separately, with all i oli. It is prepared in an iron caldero, from which it takes its name.
Food and drink
Curing in salt is an old tradition in the port: tuna mojama, pressed roe, capellanes and sun-dried cod are still prepared in local workshops and served as a tapa with almonds, olive oil and tender broad beans.