Guadalest
The mountain town of Guadalest is a historic-artistic complex divided into two districts. The castle quarter can be reached through a tunnel in the rock, and the castle itself hangs over the peak, protected by an ancient mediaeval wall. The Arrabal, or modern quarter extends around the skirts of the mountain, and last year over two million visitors made Guadalest the second most visited place in Spain.
Set on the uppermost part of a mountain peak, the town overlooks a deep valley through which the Guadalest river runs. The landscape has abundant pine trees, interspersed with croplands. The fruit is mainly the medlar, followed by apples, pears, cherries and figs, and excellent honey is produced here as well.
The town of Guadalest was first settled in 715 by the Moors but was regained from them between 1238 and 1276, as there were several insurrections as the Moors obviously did not wish to give up such a beautiful location! The town having had a military function during the 17th and 18th centuries, it was eventually abandoned as a stronghold in 1848. Inside the town the historic nature of the place becomes evident, with a Crib Museum, a tunnel hewn out of the rock that gives access to the town, ramparts, and the church next to the Orduna palace where scrolls dating from 1555 give much evidence of the Moorish domination of the town. Going upwards, the road passes more museums and local craft shops, and stretches up to the high square at 590 metres above the sea level. From here can be seen the two castles and the wall that surrounded the church and the houses of the town, a town whose most famous image must be that of the church Bell-tower perched on top of a rocky outcrop.
In the area surrounding the town can be found the reservoir built between 1953 and 1964 that supplies water to the surrounding towns, in particular Benidorm.
There is no shortage of good food available in the town, with a local cuisine ranging from traditional paella, through "Pimientos Rellenos" (stuffed peppers), "Verduras al Horno" (oven baked vegetables), to "Conejo al all i oli" (rabbit in garlic mayonnaise).