Elche
Elche is an inland town approximately 20 km from Alicante. It has a population of some 200,000 inhabitants. Elche has the largest collection of palm trees in Europe. El Palmeral Park contains some 200,000 specimens.
Two places well worth visiting are the Basilica of Santa Maria (16th century) and the Palace of Altamira (15th century). The museum of Archaeology, and the museum at I'Alcudia, located on an archeologically excavation site where the extraordinary "Dame of Elche" was found, are also of note. Elche is the largest shoe producer of Spain. Since 1997, Elche has its own university, which offers many courses such as Medicine, Law, Marketing, Public Relations etc. Another interesting feature of Elche is its Safari Park. This is just a few kilometres from Elche and has many exotic animals.