Santa Pola
Santa Pola is a lovely little town located on the coast, 17km south of Alicante. Its landscape is well known for the mountain range, sand dunes and the salt works. It has over 4km of wonderful beaches of fine sand and crystalline water. All these beaches include different services and recreation areas. At Playa Lisa Beach, you can walk in the sea for at least one kilometre with the water level only reaching knee-height!
Santa Pola has one of the most important fishing harbours of the entire Mediterranean coast. It also has a 16th century castle, forming part of the old town fortifications, where you can find the ruins of the old port of Roman Eiche, "Portus Ilicitanus".
There is a 1000 hectare lagoon full of saltwater from the sea. Salt production began here in the 19th Century. The machinery used to extract and transport the salt has evolved with time, but the production technique has remained unchanged since they first started. Seawater flows into the lagoon and starts to evaporate, the salt concentration growing from 3.5% to 26%, a process that can take three years. The pink colour of the lagoon water isn't an optical illusion but due to the abundance of plankton like crustacea called Artemia Salina that live in the lagoon.
Nearby are the remains of th old tower of Tamarit, dating from the 16th century. There are a total of three watchtowers in Santa Pola. The Tamarit Tower was situated off the coast to establish communications between the coast and other towns farther inland. When enemy ships were spotted from the coast, the watchtowers would warn the rest with smoke signals during the day and by bonfires at night.