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Elche Culture Costa Blanca Spain

Elche Culture

Elche

Cuisine
Elche Cuisine Elche has standing out among the extensive repertoire of rice dishes prepared in Illicitan style is the savory arroz con costra, a paella-type rice topped with a crusty layer of omelet. Also characteristic of the area are the pipes i carasses (oven baked dry cod and sweet peppers), putxero amb terongetes (a stew with meatballs) and fresh mullet from the lagoon of Fondo with all i oli.

For desserts Elx offers another extensive list of sweetmeats such as date bread, fruits and the famous dates from local palms, not to mention torta d'Elx, a local cake made form almonds and liquid sugar. To accompany the sweets, Elx offers a cordial known as Cantueso Oro, a liqueur made by SYS Distillers since 1867, and also a date liqueur of more recent invention.

Craftmanship
Elche Craftsmanship The variety and originality of the craft industry in Elche has been maintained down through the generations to our days. A good example of this is the work of the artisans who use the white palm to create artistic palm fronds which are distributed throughout the country for use in Palm Sunday processions.
 Elche Craftsmanship

Monuments and Museums
Elche Monuments

Santa Barbara Castle, San Fernando Castle, Casa de la Asegurada, Casa Alberola, Santa María church, San Nicolas de Bari cathedral and the Santa Faz monastery in San Juan de Alicante.

There are other sites of interest including the historic centres of Altea and Guadalest, Torre Vigia in Moraira, Palmeral and Huerto del Cura in Elche, Orihuela cathedral, castle and ancient dockyards of Dénia, Alfarería museum in Agost and the Fonts de L'Algar in Callosa d'En Sarria.

Below are details of some of these:

The Castle Fort
This was constructed in 1558 by Italian engineers by order of the Viceroy of Valencia, Don Bernardino de Cardenas, for the protection and defence of mariners against the attacks of pirates, a frequent occurence along our coast in the 16th and 17th century.

It is a fort of square form, with two bastions and two large towers at the corners, characteristic of renaissance military construction.

Inside is a parade ground and a rainwater cistern, with a chapel of the Virgen de Loreto and a museum of the sea.

Currently the castle has been converted into a Cultural Centre where activities of a cultural, festive and religious nature take place.

 Elche Castle Fort

Archeological Remains of 'Portus Ilicitanus'
Elche Remains of 'Portus Ilicitanus' The remains of the ancient port of 'Lilice' are to be found at the western extension of the town.

At various outdoor conservation sites , as well as the Casa Romana in the El Palmeral park, one may see the remains of the business quarter of the Roman city, with walls of dwellings of two or three rooms and a small patio with a rainwater cistern of the 1st to the 4th century a.d. Also conserved are the foundations of several store houses.

The discovery of greater interest is an Iberian layer from the 4th century b.c. in which a large quantity of Iberian and Greek ceramics were found. At this site and on top of the Iberian material was a Roman factory for the salting of fish from the 4th century a.d. with various sections for filleting cleaning and preserving. This technique of salting, which is still in use today, was begun by the Phoencians and was well established in Roman times.

Watchtowers

As a defensive measure, in the 16th century thirty seven watchtowers were built along the Valencian coast to monitor the Mediterranean.

Within the boundaries of Santa Pola are three watchtowers; the Tamarit tower, situated at the salt pans, which served as a link with the land round Elche, the Escaletes tower, also known as the Pep tower, on the south-eastern part of the Sierra, whose function was to monitor the neighbouring island of Tabarca and the Atalayola tower, on which was later constructed the current lighthouse, which communicated with the other two.

Elche Watchtower

All are strategically located to spot the enemy before he reached the coast and they communicated with each other by smoke signals during the day and by lights at night to protect the communities in Elche.