ARTICLE 8
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Alicante Spain
Alicante is a historic Mediterranean port city
situated in the southern part of the Land of Valencia,
in Spain. Uniquely located between the sea and the
mountains, the city, it is both a commercial town and
a popular tourist destination in Spain. In administrative
terms, Alicante is the headquarters of the province
of Alicante. It is also the second biggest Valencian
city, which is home to over 0.3 million people.
If to browse through the pages of Spanish history,
it becomes evident that Alicante has had inhabitants
since at least 7000 years back. Its early inhabitants
were the hunter gatherers who moved down from Central
Europe to the Spanish terrains between 5000 and 3000
BC. Greek and Phoenician traders followed suit in 1000
BC. But, the events that had permanently altered the
destiny of Alicante came not before the 6th century
BC, when the region started to figure in the territorial
expansion plans of the two powerful conflicting armies
of that time - the Carthage and Rome. In fact, that
was a period that had impacted virtually every traditional
settlement of the early Europe. Not many parts of Europe
had escaped the Roman invasion in those times, and
the destiny of Alicante was also no different from
theirs.
After the decline of the Romans in the 5th century,
Alicante passed hands quite a number of times, came
under the war lord Teodmiro, and had a brief period
of Arab occupation, before it eventually fell under
the rule of the Castellan king Alfonso X in 1246. However,
that was not to end the cycle of wars and conquests – which
was a common phenomenon in the medieval Europe – Alicante
has to withstand as it took another three more centuries
to settle down as a major trading station in the continent.
Historians consider this 15th century period as the
golden age of Alicante. But, as it is said that there
is every low for every high, the city went through
another low in the 18th and 19th centuries owing to
different political reasons. But the end of the 19th
century saw a vast revival of fortunes for Alicante
and the city slowly clawed its way back to prosperity,
thanks to international trade and a new world order
(Spain was a neutral nation during the World War I).
The present day economy of Alicante is mostly based
on tourism, wine production and export, and a thriving
service industry. In terms of tourism, Alicante has
some of the best beaches in the world, and its heritage
is something that is unmatched in the whole of Europe.
The major attractions in and around the city include
the “Castillo de Santa Barbara", City Hall
Building, Paseo de la Explanada, Concatedral de San
Nicolás de Bari and other cathedrals from the
medieval periods, Palacio Gravina, Museo Municipal
Casa de la Asegurada, and its many beaches - La Playa
de San Juan, La Albufereta, and El Saladar and Los
Judios, to name a few. Bonfires of Saint John and Moros
y Cristianos are the two festivals characteristic of
Alicante that are must-see events.
Alicante
airport has connections to all parts of Spain
and Europe. Alicante also has a bus station and a central
train station that offers daily connections to Madrid,
Valencia, Barcelona and Seville. Bus services
cover virtually every part of Spain. To know more about
Alicante, visit the city
page.
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