The story of our adventure in Spain



In October 2002 we purchased a holiday flat in Guardamar on Spain's Costa Blanca - not far from Alicante and Torrevieja and we try to spend a good part of the year in Spain.

This blog hopefully will contain our thoughts and impressions of Spain - the good and the bad and lots and lots of photographs of not only Guardamar but the rest of Spain as we eventually get to explore it.

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Friday 23 May 2008

Elche

Elche not far from Alicante has a pleasant city centre and old quarter , market hall and numerous shops.

Once famous for its shoe industry  - this is now in decline due to the importation of cheap shoes from the Far East.


Many parks abound in Elche giving it a pleasant green touch .


This is a Basilica I am told - my dictionary tells me that a Basilica is a church that has been granted special privileges by the Pope !
My informant was most insistent that I call it a Basilica and not a Cathedral or Church.


When the Arabs ( Moors ) ruled this area in the Middle Ages they introduced the palm. Today Elche has many thousands of palms growing and is famous throughout Spain for the production of these trees.

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