L
LITERARY
WALKING TOUR
ALICANTE, STEP BY STEP
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Alicante, step by step
A literary walking tour of Alicante city
The literary walking tour Alicante, step by step is a project designed by a group of teachers from the adult education school CFPA Francisco Giner de los Ríos. With this literary tour, we want to show our city to our students using literary and journalistic texts dealing with different emblematic places in Alicante. The materials and indications can also be used by anyone who wishes to learn more about Alicante with our indications and selection of literary texts.
This literary walk is part of a bigger project called Alacant Pas a Pas that includes on its website tours with texts in the two languages spoken in our city: Valencian/Catalan and Spanish. We also have a webpage with texts and materials just in Spanish, Alicante, paso a paso.
Click on the image to go to Alacant Pas a Pas webpage.
LITERARY WALK
We start our literary walk in Alicante Central Market. Built in 1921, from the first moment Central Market became one of the most important meeting places for Alicante society. Italian aviation forces, under General Franco's orders, bombed it at 11:15 a.m. on May 25, 1938. The bombing killed more than 300 people and was one of the bloodiest episodes of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
Going down from Central Market along Avenida de la Constitución we find Teatro Principal. It is located on Ruperto Chapí Square and it is the most important theatre building in Alicante city. Teatro Principal opened on September 25, 1847.
From Teatro Principal we go down Castaños Street to Gabriel Miró's birthplace. Miró is one of the best Spanish language prose writers of the twentieth century. On Castaños Street we can also see some examples of the stately homes that Alicante bourgeoisie built from the end of the 19th century, such as Salvetti Palace (1887).
Playwright Carlos Arniches was born on San Francisco Street (formerly Sagasta Street) in 1866. Nearby San Fernando Street offers a good variety of stately homes where Alicante bourgeoisie lived at the beginning of the 20th century. Bardín House (headquarters of Alicante Institute of Culture, named after writer Juan Gil-Albert) is a good example. On Dr. Balmis Square we can find one of the best preserved air-raid shelters built during the Spanish Civil War.
Saint Nicholas Co-Cathedral is located on Abad Penalva Square. It was built on the site of an earlier mosque, in a late Renaissance style with few ornaments. Construction was carried out between 1616 and 1652. The cloister dates from the fifteenth century, although it has been renovated in several occasions since then. In 1959 Saint Nicholas rose to the category of Co-Cathedral, so it now shares its cathedral status with Orihuela Cathedral.
We go up Labradores Street, full of palaces and houses from the eighteenth century. Among the palaces on this street we can highlight Maisonnave Palace, current headquarters of the local archives, and Portalet Palace, an interesting visitor centre with exhibitions about Alicante Old Town. At the end of Labradores Street we can find San Cristóbal Square.
Former Carmen Convent was located on Carmen Square. The convent was built in 1586, renovated and converted into infantry barracks in 1850 and finally demolished in 1936. Today this square is a strategic point to begin the exploration of the two most singular neighbourhoods in the old part of the city: San Roque and Santa Cruz.
La Ereta Park is a garden built at the foot of Mount Benacantil in 2000, it was designed by French architects Marc Bigarnet and Frédéric Bonnet. It is situated on the hillside of Mount Benacantil and offers some of the most spectacular city views in Alicante. From the park we can see Santa Cruz and San Roque neighbourhoods, the harbour, City Hall, Tabarca island, Saint Nicholas Co-Cathedral, Santa Bárbara Castle...
Pozos de Garrigós (Puente Square) are ancient structures excavated on the slopes of Mount Benacantil used for water storage. Today they house Alicante Water Museum.
On Villavieja Street we can find Porta Ferrissa (12th and 13th century) and the Palace of the Marqués del Bosc (end of Main Street). This palace was during the Civil War the headquarters of the Athenaeum, where poet Miguel Hernández gave a lecture on August 21, 1937.
Santa María Basilica is the oldest church in Alicante. It is a Gothic church built between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries on the remains of an old mosque, although the main facade is Baroque. In this square we can also visit Alicante Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA). The museum is located in La Asegurada House, the oldest civil building in Alicante, originally built to serve as the city granary.
We will now go from Santa María Square to Paseíto de Ramiro. A bust of Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío presides over the part of the garden closest to the beach. In this garden we can also find the State Public Library and, across the avenue, Postiguet Beach, one of the city most emblematic places.
On Gravina Street, on the way to the City Hall, we can find MUBAG, the Museum of Fine Arts. It is housed in an admirably restored old palace, Gravina Palace. The museum has a good collection of 19th century art, it also offers many interesting temporary exhibitions.
We finally arrive at City Hall Square. The Baroque City Hall was built by architect Lorenzo Chápuli on the remains of the old City House (1701-1780).
This promenade extends from Puerta del Mar to Canalejas Park. It was built in 1867 on top of the old port dyke and it is now one of the most representative images of Alicante. The Esplanade runs parallel to one of the port wharfs and it is lined on both sides with rows of palm trees. The floor is decorated with 6,000,000 tricoloured marble tiles forming a mosaic design with a singular wave effect.
Since the Middle Ages, Alicante harbour has played a decisive role in the city's commerce. From the 16th and 17th centuries, and until the 19th, it became one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean.
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