Alicante

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Alicante

Alicante or Alacant (Spanish language

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
: Alicante, Valencian

Valencian

Valencian is the historical, traditional, and official name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the region's native language, known elsewhere as Catalan language ....
: Alacant) is a city in Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
, the capital of the province of Alicante

Alicante (province)

Alicante in Spanish language or Alacant is a Provinces of Spain of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Region of Murcia on the southwest, Albacete on the west, Valencia on the north, and the Mediterranean Sea on the east....
and of the comarca

Comarca

A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil.The comarca is also known in Aragonese language as redolada, and as bisbarra in Galician language....
of the Alacantí

Alacantí

The Alacant? or l'Alacant? is a Comarques of the Valencian Community in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is bordered by the comarques of Marina Baixa and Alcoi? on the north and Baix Vinalop? on the south....
, in the southern part of the Valencian Community

Valencian Community

The Valencian Community is an Autonomous Community located in central to south-eastern Spain. It is divided in three provinces, from South to North: Alicante , Valencia and Castell?n ....
. It is also a historic Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 331,750, estimated , of the entire urban area, 452,462, ranking as the second-largest Valencian city. Population of the metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence....
(including Elche and satellite towns) was 757,443 as of 2008 estimates, ranking as the eighth-largest metropolitan area of Spain.

area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years, with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC.

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Encyclopedia

Alicante or Alacant (Spanish language

Spanish language

Valencian

Spain

Alicante (province)

Comarca

Alacantí

Valencian Community

Mediterranean Sea

Metropolitan area

History

The area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years, with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC. Some of the earliest settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil

Mount Benacantil

Mount Benacantil is a mount that dominates the urban part of Alicante, and is the characteristic image of the city. The mount name appears as Banu-l-Qatil in the work of Muslim geographer Al-Idrisi in the twelfth century, but it is possible that this is an error of transcription because it does not make a lot of sense in Arabic ....
. By 1000 BC Greek

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
and Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories....
n traders had begun to visit the eastern coast of Spain, establishing small trading ports and introducing the native Iberian tribes to the alphabet, iron and the pottery wheel. By the sixth century BC, the rival armies of Carthage

Carthage

Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian....
and Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
began to invade and fight for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca

Hamilcar Barca or Barcas was a Carthage general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago ....
established the fortified settlement of Akra Leuka (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: , meaning "White Mountain" or "White Point"), where Alicante stands today.

Although the Carthaginians conquered much of the land around Alicante, the Romans would eventually rule Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of Spain along with the central plateau and the north coast, and part of northern Portugal....
for over 700 years. By the 5th century AD, Rome was in decline; the Roman predecessor town of Alicante, known as Lucentum
Lucentum

Lucentum is the name of the Roman Empire predecessor of the city of Alicante, Spain. Particularly, it refers to the archaeological site in which the remains of this ancient settlement lie, at a place known as El Tossal de Manises, in the neighborhood of Albufereta....
(Latin), was more or less under the control of the Visigothic warlord Teodmiro. However neither the Romans nor the Goths put up much resistance to the Arab conquest of Medina Laqant in the 8th century. The Moors

Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
gave the city its modern name - Alicante is Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
for "city of lights". The Moors ruled southern and eastern Spain until the 11th century reconquista
Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims....
(reconquest). Alicante was finally taken in 1246 by the Castilian king Alfonso X, but it passed soon and definitely to the Kingdom of Valencia

Kingdom of Valencia

The Christian Kingdom of Valencia , located in the Eastern shore of the Iberian Peninsula, was one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon....
in 1298 with the Catalonian King James II of Aragon

James II of Aragon

James II , called the Just was the King of Sicily from 1285 to 1296 and King of Aragon and Kingdom of Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327....
. It gained the status of Royal Village (Vila Reial) with representation in the medieval Valencian Parliament

Corts Valencianes

The Corts Valencianes are the main legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana and therefore of the Valencian Community. The main location of the Corts is in the Palace of Benicarl? in Valencia; however it can meet at any location in Valencian territory....
.

After several decades of being the battlefield where Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of Le?n....
and the Crown of Aragón

Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Northern Catalonia, as well as some of the major islands and mainland...
clashed, Alicante became a major Mediterranean trading station exporting rice, wine, olive oil, oranges and wool. But between 1609 and 1614 King Felipe III

Philip III of Spain

Philip III was the monarch of Spain and King of Portugal, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death. His Political minister was the Francisco Gom?z de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma....
expelled thousands of morisco

Morisco

A morisco or mourisco was any Muslim of Spain or Portugal who converted to Catholicism during the reconquista of Spain. The term also became a pejorative applied to those who had converted but were suspected of secretly practicing Islam....
s who had remained in Valencia after the reconquista, due to their allegiance with Barbary pirates who continually attacked coastal cities and caused much harm to trade. This act cost the region dearly; with so many skilled artisans and agricultural labourers gone, the feudal nobility found itself sliding into bankruptcy. Things got worse in the early 18th century; after the War of Spanish Succession, Alicante went into a long, slow decline, surviving through the 18th and 19th centuries by making shoes and agricultural products such as oranges and almonds, and its fisheries. The end of the 19th century witnessed a sharp recovery of the local economy with increasing international trade and the growth of the city harbour leading to increased exports of several products (particularly during World War I when Spain was a neutral country).

During the early twentieth century, Alicante was a minor capital which enjoyed the benefit of Spain's neutrality during World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, which provided new opportunities for the local industry and agriculture. The Rif War

Rif War (1920)

The Rif War of 1920, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Morocco Rif and Jebala tribes....
in the 1920s saw numerous alicantinos drafted to fight in the long and bloody campaigns at the former Spanish protectorate (Northern Morocco) against the Rif rebels. The political unrest of the late 1920s led to the victory of republican candidates in the local council elections throughout the country, and the abdication of King Alfonso XIII. The proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the system of government in Spain between April 14 1931, when King of Spain Alfonso XIII of Spain left the country following local and municipal elections in which republican candidates won the majority of votes in urban areas and April 1 1939, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered to Nationalist...
was much celebrated in the city on April 14, 1931. The Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted coup d'?tat by a group of Spanish Army generals, supported by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right , Carlist groups and the fascistic Falange, against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of pr...
broke out on July 17, 1936. Alicante was the last city loyal to the Republican government to be occupied by General Franco's troops on April 1, 1939, and its harbour saw the last Republican government officials fleeing the country. Even if not as famous as the bombing of Guernica

Bombing of Guernica

The bombing of Guernica was an Aerial bombing of cities on the Basque Country town of Guernica , causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths during the Spanish Civil War....
by the German Luftwaffe, Alicante was the target of some vicious air bombings during the three years of civil conflict, most remarkably the bombing by the Italian Aviazione Legionaria
Aviazione Legionaria

The Aviazione Legionaria was a unit sent by the Italian Regia Aeronautica in support of Francisco Franco Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War....
of the Mercado de Abastos in May 25, 1938 in which more than 300 civilians perished.

The next 20 years under Franco's dictatorship were difficult for Alicante as it was for the entire country. However, the late 1950s and early 1960s saw the onset of a lasting transformation of the city due to tourism. Large buildings and complexes rose in nearby Albufereta and Playa de San Juan, with the benign climate being the best tool to bring prospective buyers and tourists who kept hotels reasonably busy. The tourist development, aside from construction, also brought numerous businesses such as restaurants, bars and other businesses focused on visitors. Also, the old airfield at Rabasa was closed and air traffic moved to the new El Altet airport, which made for a convenient facility for charter flights bringing tourists from northern European countries.

When Franco died in 1975, his successor Juan Carlos I

Juan Carlos I of Spain

Juan Carlos I is the reigning List of Spanish monarchs of Spain. His name, while rarely Anglicisation, is rendered as John Charles Alphonse Victor Mary of Bourbon and Bourbon-Two Sicilies....
successfully oversaw the transition of Spain to a democratic constitutional monarchy. Governments of nationalities and regions were given more autonomy, and the Valencian region was not an exception.

The port has been reinventing itself since the industrial decline the city suffered in the 1980s (with most mercantile traffic lost in favour of Valencia's harbour). In recent years, the Port Authority has established it as one of the most important ports in Spain for cruises, with 72 calls to port made by cruises in 2007 bringing some 80,000 cruise passengers and 30,000 crew to the city each year. The moves to develop the port for more tourism have been welcomed by the city and its residents, but the latest plans to develop an industrial estate in the port have caused great controversy.

Economy

Alicante is one of the fastest-growing cities in Spain. The local economy is based upon tourism to the beaches of the Costa Blanca
Costa Blanca

Costa Blanca refers to the over 200 kilometres of coastline belonging to the Alicante province in Spain. The name "Costa Blanca" was devised as a promotional name used by British European Airways when they launched their air service between London Gatwick Airport and Valencia Airport in 1957....
and particularly the second residence construction boom which started in the 1960s and reinvigorated again by the late 1990s. Services and public administration also play a major role in the city's economy. The construction boom has raised many environmental concerns and both the local autonomous government and city council are under scrutiny by the European Union. The construction soar is the subject of hot debates among politicians and citizens alike. The latest of many public battles concerns the plans of the Port Authority of Alicante to construct an industrial estate on reclaimed land in front of the city's coastal strip, in breach of local, national and European regulations.

The city is the headquarters of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market

Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market , or OHIM is the trademark and industrial designs registry for the single market of the European Union....
and a sizeable population of European public workers live here.

University of Alicante

University of Alicante

San Vicente del Raspeig

San Vicente del Raspeig is a municipality located in the comarca of Alacant?, in the province of Alicante , Spain, inside the metropolitan area of Alicante ....
, right next to Alicante. More than 30,000 students attend the University.

Since 2005 Alicante hosts Ciudad de la Luz, one of the largest film studios in Europe. Spanish and international movies such as Asterix at the Olympic Games

Astérix at the Olympic Games (film)

Ast?rix at the Olympic Games is a France movie, adapted from Ren? Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's Ast?rix comic series. It was filmed essentially in Spain in the course of the year 2006....
by Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann, Manolete

Manolete (film)

Manolete is a 2007 in film biopic of bullfighter Manolete.The film was written and directed by Menno Meyjes. Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody starred in the lead role as Manolete....
by Menno Meyjes

Menno Meyjes

Menno Meyjes is a The Netherlands-born Academy Award and BAFTA nominated screenwriter.He moved to the United States in 1972 and studied at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco....
have been shot there.

Population

The official population of Alicante in 2008 was 331,750 inhabitants, and 757,443 in the metropolitan area "Alicante-Elche". About 15% of the population is foreign, mostly those from Argentina

Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
, and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a country in north-western South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the north west by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean....
who have arrived in the previous 10 years as immigrants. There are also immigrants from other origins such as Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
, Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
and Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
, many of which are under illegal alien status and therefore are not accounted for in official population figures. The real percentage of foreign population is higher, since the Alicante metropolitan area is home to many Northern European retired citizens, even if officially they are still residents of their own countries. Other sources indicate that the British

British people

The British are citizenship of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants....
population is by far the largest non-Spanish group of foreign nationals in the city, but most of them are not counted in official statistics. In the same pattern, a sizable amount of permanent residents are Spanish nationals who officially still live in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
, the Basque provinces

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an Autonomous Community in northern Spain.The Basque Country was granted the status of Historical regions in Spain within Spain with the Spanish Constitution of 1978....
, or other areas of the country.

Foreign Population (official data, 2008)
Pos.	Nationality	Population
1^st		5,186
2^nd		4,520
3^rd		3,715
4^th		3,505
5^th		3,287
6^th		3,064
7^th		2,746
8^th		2,299
9^th		1,614
10^th		1,203

Historical Population
Year	Population	Year	Population	Year	Population
1250	2,500	1797	19,313	1930	71,271
1350	3,250	1803	21,447	1940	89,198
1418	1,539	1857	27,550	1950	101,791
1609	5,040	1860	31,162	1960	121,832
1646	6,174	1877	34,926	1970	181,550
1717	11,019	1887	40,115	1981	245,963
1735	12,604	1897	49,463	1991	265,473
1754	14,394	1900	50,495	2001	288,481
1768	17,213	1910	55,116	2007	322,673
1786	17,345	1920	63,382	2008	331,750

Government

Luis Díaz Alperi (1945) of the People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is the main Right-wing politics political party in Spain.The People's Party was a refoundation of the Popular Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's r?gime, and a politician known to have moderate views....
(Partido Popular) was reelected city mayor with an absolute majority

Absolute majority

An absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed....
for his fourth term in the Municipal Elections of May 2007, followed closely by Etelvina Andreu (1969) of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, commonly abbreviated by its Spanish initials, PSOE , is the ruling party in Spain and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Carlism, founded in 1833....
(Partido Socialista). Díaz Alperi resigned in October 2008, and a close aide, Sonia Castedo, was appointed mayor.

At the foot of the main staircase of the City Hall Building (Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento

For a discussion of the historic ayuntamiento, see Cabildo .Ayuntamiento is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America....
) is the zero point (cota cero), used as the point of reference for measuring the height above or below sea level of any point in Spain, due to the marginal tidal variations of the Mediterranean sea in Alicante.

Climate

Alicante enjoys Mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide....
with mild temperatures throughout the year and little rain, concentrated in equinoctial periods. The temperature on average is between 16.8° and 6.2° in January and between 30.6° and 20.4° in August, with the average annual temperature of 17.8°. Daily oscillations in temperature are very small due to maritime influence, although occasional episodes of wind from the west could result in temperature range in excess of 15°. Annual oscillations in temperature are small as well, i.e. winters are mild and summers are warm.

The rainfall is 336 mm per year. September and October are the rainiest months due to torrential rains caused by the cold drop

Cold drop

The cold drop is a meteorological phenomenon that appears when a front of very cold polar air, a jet stream, advances slowly over Western Europe, at high altitude ....
, which can reach over 200 mm in 24 hours causing severe flooding. Because of this irregularity, on average only 37 rainy days are observed per year, and the annual number of sunshine hours reaches 2,864.

The record maximum temperature of 41.4° was recorded in Alicante on July 4, 1994. The minimum temperature of -4.6° was registered on February 12, 1956. The record rainfall of 270.2 mm in 24 hours was observed on September 30, 1997.

Transport

Alicante Airport

Alicante International Airport , , originally named El Altet, is the main airport for the province of Alicante and the region of Region of Murcia in Spain....
outranks its Valencian counterpart

Valencia Airport

Valencia Airport in Manises is the 8th busiest Spain airport in terms of passengers and second in the region after Alicante. It is situated 9km west of the city of Valencia, Spain....
, being among the busiest airports in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca

Palma de Mallorca Airport

Palma de Mallorca Airport or Aeropuerto de Palma de Mallorca is an airport located approximately 8 km east of Palma de Mallorca, adjacent to the village Can Pastilla....
and Málaga

Málaga Airport

M?laga Airport is the main airport for the Costa del Sol of Spain. It is 8 km southwest of M?laga and 5km north of Torremolinos. The airport has flight connections to over 60 countries worldwide, and 12,813,764 passengers passed through it in 2008....
and keeps expanding. It is connected with Madrid and Barcelona by frequent Iberia

Iberia Airlines

Iberia, L?neas A?reas de Espa?a, S.A. , is the national airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an extensive international network of services....
and Spanair

Spanair

Spanair is an airline based in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It was until recently a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines Systems, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company....
flights, with many Western European cities through carriers such as Jet2.com

Jet2.com

Jet2.com is a United Kingdom Low-cost carrier based in Leeds, England. It operates services from six UK Airline hub to over 40 European destinations; the airline also offers contract Charter airline services....
, Monarch Airlines

Monarch Airlines

Monarch Airlines is a United Kingdom charter and scheduled airline based in Luton, England. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest charter airlines, operating to Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, India and Africa, serving mainly leisure destinations....
, Globespan, Ryanair

Ryanair

Ryanair is an Ireland Low-cost carrier airline, with headquarters in Dublin International Airport and its largest operational bases at Dublin International Airport and London Stansted Airport....
and Air Berlin

Air Berlin

Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs Kommanditgesellschaft is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa. It is based in Berlin, Germany, and operates extensive semi-Low-cost carrier services to holiday destinations on the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and North Africa, as well as to major cities in Europe from 21 Germany a...
and has also flights to Algiers

Algiers

Algiers Nicknamed El-Bahdja or Alger la Blanche for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea....
and Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. In addition, Alicante's only link to South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, specifically Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogot? ? officially named Bogot?, D.C. , formerly called Santa Fe de Bogot? ? is the capital city of Colombia, as well as the most populous city in the country, with 6,776,009 inhabitants ....
, is provided by Avianca

Avianca

Avianca S.A. is the flag carrier of Colombia. Avianca was founded in Barranquilla in 1940, as a result of the merger of Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte A?reo or SCADTA , and Servicio A?reo Colombiano or SACO ....
.

Alicante railway station

Alicante railway station

Alicante railway station is the central railway station of Alicante included in :es:ADIF network of stations. It is a terminal station; any arriving train should reverse to continue its journey....
is used by cercanías

Cercanías

Cercan?as is the name given to the commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas. In Catalonia and Valencia , however, the term is replaced by Rodalies , while the bilingual designation Cercan?as - Aldirikoak is used in the Basque Country ....
linking Alicante with suburban and Murcia

Murcia

Murcia is the capital city of the Region of Murcia, located at the river Segura in south-eastern Spain. Its population is 433,850 , and the population of its metropolitan area is 743,326 ranking as the ninth-largest metropolitan area of Spain....
. Long-range RENFE

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "Standard gauge" networks of the Spain national railway infrastructure company :es:Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias ....
trains run frequently to Madrid

Madrid

Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....
.

Alicante Tram

Alicante Tram

Like the other narrow gauge railways of the Valencian Community, the Alicante TRAM operates in the Spain city of Alicante and its surrounding area and is run by the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana ....
connects the city with outlying settlements along Costa Blanca

Costa Blanca

Costa Blanca refers to the over 200 kilometres of coastline belonging to the Alicante province in Spain. The name "Costa Blanca" was devised as a promotional name used by British European Airways when they launched their air service between London Gatwick Airport and Valencia Airport in 1957....
. As of 2008, it runs up to Benidorm

Benidorm

Benidorm is a Valencia coastal town and Municipalities of Spain located in the Comarques of the Valencian Community of Marina Baixa, in the province of Alicante , Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea....
with further extension to Denia

Dénia

D?nia is the judicial seat of the Comarques of the Valencian Community of Marina Alta, in the Provinces of Spain of Alicante , Spain, on the Costa Blanca halfway between Alicante and Valencia ....
under construction.

The city has regular ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
services to the Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza, and Formentera....
and Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
. The city is strongly fortified, with a spacious harbour.

Culture, festivals and sport

Amongst the most notable features of the city are its main castle

Castle

A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territor...
, the Castle of Santa Bárbara

Castle of Santa Bárbara

The Castle of Santa B?rbara is located in the center of Alicante, Spain. It stands on the Mount Benacantil ....
, which sits high above the city, and its port, which has become the subject of bitter controversy in the city as residents battle to keep it from being changed into an industrial estate (see History of Alicante

History of Alicante

The area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years, with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC....
).

There are a number of notable museums in Alicante. Archaeological Museum of Alicante

Archaeological Museum of Alicante

The Archaeological Museum of Alicante is an archaeological museum in Alicante, Spain. The museum won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2004, a few years after significant expansion and reallocation to renovated buildings of the antique hospital of San Juan de Dios....
shed light on history of the region, presenting artifacts from 100,000 years ago up until 19th century. The archaeological museum won the European Museum of the Year award in 2004. On exhibition in Gravina Museum of Fine Arts

Gravina Museum of Fine Arts

Gravina Museum of Fine Arts is located in the city of Alicante, Spain in the Palacio del Conde de Lumiares, a four floor building constructed between 1748 and 1808 and declared a historical monument....
there are painting and sculptures of Alicante from 16th century to 19th century. The Asegurada Museum of Contemporary Art is currently closed for renovation.

The most important festival, the Bonfires of Saint John
Bonfires of Saint John

Bonfires of Saint John For this festival, people gather together and create large bonfires from any kind of wood, such as old furniture, and share hot chocolate while teens and children jump over the fires....
, takes place during the summer solstice

Solstice

A solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth's Rotation is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its north or south extreme....
. This is followed a week later by seven nights of firework and pyrotechnic contests between companies on the urban beach Playa del Postiguet. Another well-known festival is Moros y Cristianos
Moros y cristianos

Moros y Cristianos or Moros i Cristians , literally means Moors and Christians, and is a set of festival activities which are celebrated in many towns and cities of Spain, mainly in the southern Valencian Community; according to popular tradition the festivals commemorate the battles, combats and fights between Moo...
in Altozano or San Blas district. Overall, the city boasts a year-round nightlife, helped by tourists, fun-loving residents, and a large student population of the University of Alicante

University of Alicante

The University of Alicante was established in 1979 on the basis of the Center for University Studies , which was founded in 1968. The University is located in San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante , Spain, right next to the city of Alicante....
. The nightlife social scene tends to shift to nearby Playa de San Juan (St. John's Beach) during the summer months.

Every summer in Alicante, a two-month-long programme of music, theatre and dance is staged in the Paseo del Puerto.

Two Alicante football teams, Hércules CF

Hércules CF

H?rcules Club de F?tbol is a Spanish football league teams team formed in 1922 and based in Alicante. They will play the Segunda Divisi?n 2008-09 season in the Segunda Divisi?n....
and Alicante CF

Alicante CF

Alicante Club de F?tbol is a List of football clubs in Spain team based in Alicante in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it plays in Segunda Divisi?n after promotion in the Segunda Divisi?n B - Group 3 - 2007-08 season season from Segunda Divisi?n B in the Segunda Divisi?n Play-Off 2007-08....
currently compete in the Spanish Segunda División

Segunda División

The Segunda Divisi?n is the lower tier of the two professional leagues in Spain consisting of 22 teams. On 16 August, 2006, the La Liga reached an agreement with the banking group BBVA for sponsorship of the Segunda Divisi?n renaming the league Liga BBVA....
. They both host their home games at Estadio José Rico Pérez

Estadio José Rico Pérez

Estadio Jos? Rico P?rez is a multi-use stadium in Alicante, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 29,584 people....
.

Famous citizens

George Washington Montgomery, (1804-1841), born in Alicante, United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
diplomat and editor/publisher of the first Spanish language
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
translation of the works of Washington Irving
Washington Irving

Washington Irving was an United States author, essays, biography and history of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmi...
.
Carlos Arniches
Carlos Arniches

Carlos Arniches was a Spain playwright. His work, drawing on the traditions of the g?nero chico, the zarzuela and the grotesque, came to dominate the Spanish comic theatre in the early twentieth century....
(1866-1943), novelist
Rafael Altamira y Crevea
Rafael Altamira y Crevea

Rafael Altamira y Crevea was a Spain historian and jurist.Rafael Altamira was a historian and lawyer born in Alicante in 1866. Rafael Altamira, considered to be one of the most outstanding Spanish historians of the 20th century, was a many-sided scholar who also took interest in journalism, pedagogy, politics, and literature....
(1866-1951), co-founder of Permanent Court of International Justice
Permanent Court of International Justice

The Permanent Court of International Justice, sometimes called the World Court, was the international court of the League of Nations, established in 1922....
so-called the World Court
World Court

World Court can refer to:*the Permanent Court of International Justice , a historical court*the International Court of Justice , a UN court that settles disputes between nations...
, after 1945 International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands....
Francisco Javier de Balmis
Francisco Javier de Balmis

Francisco Javier de Balmis was a Spain physician who headed an 1804 expedition to New Spain and other Spanish colonies to vaccinate the populations against smallpox....
(1753-1819) physician who headed the Balmis expedition
Balmis Expedition

Balmis Expedition was a three year mission to the Americas led by Dr Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of giving thousands the smallpox vaccine....
to vaccinate the Spanish-colonies population against smallpox.
Gabriel Miró
Gabriel Miró

Gabriel Mir? Ferrer .Most critics believe that Gabriel Mir?'s literary maturity begins with Las cerezas del cementerio , whose plot revolves around the tragic love of the super-sensitive young man F?lix Valdivia for an older woman and presents?with an atmosphere of voluptuousness and lyrical intimism--the themes of eroticism, sickness,...
(1879-1930), novelist
Antonio Gades
Antonio Gades

'Antonio Gades' was a Spain flamenco dancer and choreographer . He helped to popularise the art form on the international stage. His most notable works included dance adaptations of Prosper Merim?e's Carmen and Federico Garc?a Lorca's Bodas de Sangre , as well as a feature-length adaptation of Manuel de Falla's 23-minute ballet E...
(1936-2004), Flamenco dancer
Juan Escarré
Juan Escarré

Juan Escarr? Urue?a is a Spanish field hockey player, who competed for Spain in three Summer Olympics, starting in 1996, when he captured the silver medal with his Spain national field hockey team....
(1969), field hockey player
Belen Rueda
Belén Rueda

Mar?a Bel?n Rueda Garc?a-Porrero is a Spain actress....
, actress
Miriam Blasco
Miriam Blasco

Miriam Blasco Soto is a professional judo competitor, who resides in Alicante, Spain. She competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain where she won the gold medal in Women's Judo in the 57 kg division ....
, judoka Olympic winner
Isabel Fernandez
Isabel Fernández

Mar?a Isabel Fern?ndez Guti?rrez is a Spain Judo, Olympic champion, world champion and six times European champion. She won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and received an Olympic bronze medal in 1996....
, judoka Olympic winner
Vanessa Romero, model and actress
Maria Jurado, model and actress
Esther Cañadas
Esther Cañadas

Esther Ca?adas is a Spanish actress and model ....
, model and actress
Pedro Ferrándiz
Pedro Ferrándiz

Pedro Ferr?ndiz Gonz?lez is a Spanish basketball coach. He is most famous for coaching Real Madrid Baloncesto basketball club in the 1960s and 1970s....
, basketball coach
Hannibal Laguna, fashion designer
Francisco Rufete
Francisco Rufete

Francisco Joaqu?n P?rez Rufete is a Spain Football who currently plays for RCD Espanyol. He plays predominantly as a Winger with good dribbling ability....
, footballer
Miguel Hernández, poet

Twin towns

Nice
Nice

Nice is a city in Southern France France located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
Carloforte
Carloforte

Carloforte is a fishing and resort town of located on Isola di San Pietro , approximately 7 km off the South Western Coast of Sardinia, Italy....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
Herzliya
Herzliya

File:Location_herzliya.pngHerzliya is a List of Israeli cities of 84,200 residents located on the Israeli coastal plain of Israel. It is part of the Tel Aviv District....
, Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
León
León, Nicaragua

Le?n is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. It was founded by the Spaniards as Santiago de los Caballeros de Le?n and rivals Granada, Nicaragua, in the number of historic spanish colonial homes and churches....
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua

Nicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democracy republic. It is the largest state in Central America with an area of 130,000 km2, about the size of the state of New York....
Matanzas
Matanzas

Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province. It is famed for its Afro-American religions.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero....
, Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
Oran
Oran

Oran is a city on the Mediterranean Sea coast in northwestern Algeria. Oran marked the largest westernmost metropolitan area of the then Ottoman Empire....
, Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
Riga
Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
Toyooka, Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
Wenzhou
Wenzhou

Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province of China of the People's Republic of China. It has a population of 7,645,700 in 2007, with 1,423,600 residents in the urban area of the city....
, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....

External links

Diputación Provincial de Alicante, Area of Presidency, Documentation Unit