A few weeks ago I met at a dinner with a German writer who had never been to Alicante. When I told her “sun and beach” she reacted with words like “skyscrapers”, “bars” and “lots of people”. During the next half hour -and show her a few images- I tried to convince her of the opposite: on my coast all those clichés fueled by the mass tourism of the 60s, its lavish hotels and its promenades still coexist, but there is more, much more: there are cellars where the wine that once seduced Shakespeare is preserved, cheese factories in whose surroundings goats run around among the almond trees or labyrinths that blend into mountains of pine trees.
These following alternative corners of the Costa Blanca represent a different immersion in the Mediterranean and a reinvention of all those universal clichés.
Alicante’s Vega Baja is synonymous with orchards, verses by Miguel Hernández and a host of stages often far from the usual tourist routes. A good example is found in the Cuevas del Rodeo, a set of art workshops set up in fifteen caves excavated by Murcian miners starting in the 18th century in the vicinity of the town of Rojales. Small oases where the art that sighs behind blue doors and tickles the bowels of this whitewashed mountain is carved, painted, intertwined and sewn. The Rodearte festival, an event that takes place every first Sunday of the month, is a good excuse to immerse yourself in these fascinating micro-worlds.
There are places where all the wishes we ask of shooting stars accumulate. We just have to unlock them as the best challenge. And Casa Tápena is the threshold. This typical charming construction has housed the offices of Alicante Natura since 2002 and up to eight hectares converted into a winding maze of hedges that proposes a unique challenge: reach the center of the route, touch the cedar you will find, close your eyes and make a wish. . A unique experience – and free admission – to enjoy with the family before connecting with a second labyrinth, smaller though, in the Alicante town of Penáguila (27 km away).
Between the iconic towns of Dénia and Xàbia, in La Marina Alta Alicante, the regional road offers a stop in the small town of Pedreguer, cradle of the pleita baskets and the cultivation of raisin grapes in its typical riu raus, where we also find a jewel unknown to the general public: the jardín de l’Albarda, an old lemon orchard that seduced the chemical engineer Enrique Montoliu at the end of the 80s. The perfect canvas to build a typical Valencian-style house surrounded by a Renaissance garden of 50,000 square meters where nature and architecture are integrated to unfold an oasis for the senses: from the dome of its Mediterranean hermitage leaning out over the orchard to a cactus amphitheatre.
On the Costa Blanca we find hiking trails at the level of its ideal beaches to enjoy as a prelude to summer. The so-called Ruta de los Acantilados starts from the famous Cala Moraig to lead you along paths that overlook old peasant ovens, the murmurs of the pines conversing with the Mediterranean blue and a unique final stop: Cala Llebeig, an inlet at the end from the Widow ravine and famous for the presence of old houses that served as surveillance posts to control contraband in the 19th century.
At 1,558 meters high, the Aitana peak is the highest in the province of Alicante and a complete surprise for those who seek to get lost among lost villages that seem to speak to the sky. Clouds of almond and olive trees surround traditional oases such as the town of Alcoleja, the gateway to the Sierra de Aitana and dominated by the tower of the old palace of the Fenollar family, the Marquises of Malferit. A little gem where you can stop to taste the pericana -typical salad of dried cod and peppers- before continuing through other charming towns such as Sella or Relleu, which recently inaugurated a walkway anchored to a ravine more than two hundred meters above the swamp. of the Amadorio river.
The old commercial routes between the Alicante regions of La Marina Baja and La Marina Alta always ran into the impediment of a huge ravine and bandits, among whom the famous Mascarat stood out. Over time, the construction of three bridges facilitated transit through the foothills of the Sierra de Bernia, presenting today one of those places that speak of history through unique hiking trails. As a suggestion, you can walk the original path that connects the towns of Altea and Calpe, a town that this year celebrates its year of Ricardo Bofill, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Red Wall.
If you are in the city of Alicante, the capital of the Costa Blanca reveals secrets that go beyond its beaches and terraces. Nothing better than starting with a walk through the old town in the Barrio Santa Cruz, its whitewashed facades and a castle of Santa Bárbara that always spies, to link up with the Raval Roig (or Red Suburb, in reference to the old color of its houses). . The city’s original seafaring neighborhood today offers images such as the colorful houses on Madrid street, the controversial “Casa del Pescador” devised by Francisco Esplá under a façade with marine motifs, or a beer with views in the patio of the S.C.D. bar. Marine. If you are left wanting more, you can make a different urban plan, like this night route through the old walls.
On the road that connects the towns of Monóvar and Salinas we find some of the most unique temples of fondillón, a sweet wine with an Alicante denomination of origin already mentioned in their time by William Shakespeare or Alejandro Dumas. Bodegas Monóvar is a good place to start a tasting through centenary barrels recovered by the Miñano Gómez family to preserve the wine heritage of the Poveda family, owners of the historic Salvador Poveda Winery.
At the end of the 19th century, mule-drawn carts descended from the Terrers dels Pobres quarry to supply the more than 40 potters who once lived in the town of Agost with white clay. The pottery displays a microworld of vessels, jugs and amphorae born from the four workshops that still exist today in this town 18 km from the city of Alicante: from a first visit to the Pottery Museum to connecting with the workshops of La Navà, Roque Ramírez, Severino Boix and the veteran Emili Boix, embraced by a huge bignonia swollen with reflections and Mediterranean charm.
Just 13 km from Agost we find the town of Novelda, famous for a modernist route that reveals jewels such as its house-museum, the Casa Mira, the Gómez-Tortosa Center, with its tapestry room and its columned patio, the casino de Novelda or, especially, the sanctuary of Santa María Magdalena. Located on top of a hill, this unique Alicante ‘Sagrada Familia’ was conceived by the engineer José Sala Sala and built between 1918 and 1946 with pebbles from the Vinalopó River itself. An icon born from the extensive commercial activity based on saffron or vines that turned Novelda into a display of beauty and design almost two hundred years ago.
This temple of fine dining in the city of Alicante is the bastion of the prestigious chef María José San Román. A restaurant with exquisite views of the port and even more special dishes based on the 5 S’s (taste, health, sustainability, social and solidarity). Delicacies made from zero km products from the chef’s own garden, among others, and which here hatch into delicious rice dishes and “entertainments”, such as their beetroot velvet with strings and sprouts. (Monastrell. Av. del Almte. Julio Guillén Tato, 1).
