It was a quick and efficient visit to these three towns. Seeing them took us only one afternoon, with the time included to get there, which is an hour's drive from where we live. The plan was to do a whole day visit but we decided to go after lunch since some other activities also had to be finished during the morning.
Santa Pola
We arrived at Santa Pola and spent some time looking for a place to park. I thought it would be easier but the streets were full of cars already parked. No one seemed to have the idea of moving; Residents probably don't have garages in their buildings, so everyone parks on the street. And it was about time that here in Spain it is usually called siesta, the sacred nap after lunch. Well, we skipped it and came here to take a look.
Finally, we spotted a parking lot which was in one street right next to the walls of the Castle-Fortress of Santa Pola.
It was 4:07 p.m., as shown on the tower clock. A young woman with a small child was near the door and another woman passed by with her bicycle. I wanted to take a photo without them so I stayed there to see if it was possible.
4:08. More people arrived to enter my photo of the Santa Pola Castle. Okay, we would need to go through this square one more time, so I would try again later.
From this angle, it seems that the photo is crooked, but the street is on a slope and so is the fortress wall. The castle dates back to the 16th century and was built in the Renaissance style. From the street you see just the walls but when we entered I saw the entrance to the Chapel of the Virgin of Loreto and the doors of two museums. All were closed at the time we were there.
We had no plan or any particular place to see in Santa Pola, but I used navigation to see at least where we are going. First stop - the harbour and the beach.
First signs that we were close to the fishing boats and fishermen's brotherhood.
Close to the beach, we encountered so many motorcycles, but it was my husband who took photos of them. They looked comfortable for long rides. I don't have information if there was a gathering of bikers or similar, or if they just travelled together. Some license plates of the bikes were from Italy and France.
With my husband we commented on the number of the seagulls that we saw. We didn't see cats or dogs on the streets but seagulls... a plenty of. This guy found a place to pose:
On the map, I saw there was a little park with the ruins of a home from the Roman times. That was our next stop in this little visit to Santa Pola.
The park was open but the entrance to the ruins was not. I could not get close enough to read the history of this villa but I found more about it on Wikipedia. This paragraph is a translation from the Spanish text I read.
The Roman villa of Palmeral is a stately home from the 4th century that was located in the Portus Illicitanus, in the municipality of Santa Pola. This house had a large patio with a peristyle, surrounded by a corridor paved with mosaics. The mosaics are made with one-centimetre limestone tiles. The decoration is made up of a series of geometric motifs based on black fretwork on a white background, compositions in vogue in the 4th century and simple double Solomon's knots in red, black, ocher, white and floral motifs. It is a luxury villa, a construction model that responds to the preferences of the aristocratic landowner class for their private residences, during the Late Empire.
Leaving behind the park and this archaeological site we headed back to the part of the town where the castle was, passed by the building of the market, had a cup of coffee and decided to go toward our next destination.
Another photo of the castle when we were about to leave Santa Pola, this time without people in front of it. The visit was quick as you see. The town was conquered in less than an hour.
La Marina Urbanización
This was a bit odd place. Nothing strange or scary but there were just wide streets, nice houses and we met fewer people than seagulls in Santa Pola. I loved the tall cacti and palm trees growing from some yards though.
Some details that I could not miss out on... Painted rocks! I hope you can see the one with the ladybugs...
Villa Cactus also used some painted tiny rocks. I think people in La Marina like the same this as I do - pebbles and cacti. Still, I can't imagine myself living in a place like this, too isolated from the rest of the civilisation.
Dolores
Just 11 minutes after leaving La Marina we found ourselves in Dolores. The name Dolores in English means pains or sorrows. But it's not that the residents of this town live in constant pain. (At least I hope they don't.)
The name comes from the tradition of using religious names to designate settlements, in this case, the Marian devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows.
The lively vibe of this town was something I really liked, with the tall palm trees around the church in the city centre but we also walked through a calmer street. It was like a little tunnel of trees.
Statues are usually motionless, but this sculpture of a horse, made of a lot of horseshoes was moving. It was spinning in a circle, on a platform that was driven by the engine.
The clock on the tower shows the time... We were efficient - three towns in a short time.
Not bad, right?
Not bad ay all! You got a lot out of that afternoon, arriving at a destination at nap time makes me a little nervous hahaha I feel like I miss the good light to take pictures. But your walk was very, very well photographed, despite having to wait to get some good shots.
I loved the crooked photo! And also the statue of the little horse, it must be interesting to see the movement of the whole.
What a treat to live near the sea to make little escapades like this to take your eyes off the ordinary.
Hahaha, true, nap time is for siesta. Even the sky wants to sleep at that time lol. But it was fine as otherwise, it would be late to arrive and be able to see more than one place. In any case, an interesting afternoon to get to know some towns we have never been to (though I felt a bit like "not at home"... I mean, nothing wrong with the towns, it is just my feeling)
The horse was cool, I thought about making a short video but then nah we continued with the little exploration ;)
Haha there are places that convey these strange feelings. There are even lovely places where I wouldn't even remotely consider a right place for me, without there really being anything wrong with them, there's just nothing vibrating in between.
As for the video, I have considered on occasions like this making a short recording and creating a Giff that repeats that little moment. It is an interesting element to illustrate curious movements in the walks.
I did gifs two or three times I think, and put in the posts. But the last one I tried to do didn't work for some reason (it was a long time ago though) so I gave up on the GIF ideas
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Thank you so much @ybanezkim26 😇
I fell in love with the horse... it was for me wasn't it? hahaha
What beautiful places, those streets with palm trees, old buildings, this is fascinating!
But that horse has got the top prize!😍
The horse is even more interesting in real made of horseshoes and moving on that platform... now you know its location - close to the church in Dolores 😉
Haha, was it a contest? :D
Yes a photo contest hahaha if there are horses and cats they take the grand prize!
I don't know what I'll do without this community...I'll be wandering!
Ciudades antiguas...habitadas por el tiempo y la historia...gracias por el paseo!!
La Marina urbanización es relativamente nueva, sin edificios de valor histórico - es la que menos me gustó 😅
Pero el catillo se Santa Pola y el centro de Dolores (la iglesia) han podido ofrecer un pequeño viaje al pasado :)
If there was an poll in this post, "Choose the place you like the most", I probably would have clicked on Santa Pola. It's simple, it's on the sea. You stand on the shore and your eyes go to the horizon, to the open sea. Priceless!
Yeah, would be great if I made a poll too... I forgot about that option 🤷♀
But nice that you already made your choice in favour of Santa Pola. 🌞
Very beautiful and quiet place ❤
That one, La Marina was very quiet, too quiet for my taste. Dolores already gave more signs of life
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In that picture that seems to be twisted the only thing that saves it are those trees of different sizes that are contrary to reality hahaha
Hey, it's great to have a "carro", or maybe it's a coche? Ya ni sé 🤣 but visiting three places in the same afternoon and taking these wonderful photographs was not even possible for me on a tour where I traveled for free 🤭 Everything is very nice my friend, I will always admire your posts and all the love you put into them, you are my example to follow 😘
What is reality at all? hahahaha oh yes, the palm trees 🌴
Carro, for sure, aunque no sé cuantos lo dirían así en España. It is useful when you want to do little excursions like this. Gracias Jes ;))
The place looks like in a Middle East.. especially the first one..
Because of the wells of the fortress in the combo with the palm trees I guess :)
The building too
Wonderful place. I bet many instagram models and photographers would love the place on top of its rich history and culture.
Probably , but it was kind of calm this Saturday afternoon
Nice place and very nice photos. Spain is very beautiful, @mipiano. I hope that after retirement, we will get to see some places in Spain, definitely Santa Pola. :)
Thank you @hindavi. You will visit it, I am sure, many people come from Norway, to visit and to stay.
👍👍
I like the aesthetics in Santa Pola. But all places look lovely. Wish I could visit all that in the future.
I tried to bring the interesting highlights of Santa Pola, though there were also quite dull streets with all the same kind of buildings
You and your husband had an amazing day. The Santa Pola castle really looks big and I’m sure it will be a kind of place where they’d be having visitors over and over again
Would you love to visit there again?
You know @mipiano I really like those palm trees they give a spectacular touch to the city. I see that the beaches are already more crowded. is it hot there? Here it is unbearable. Nice everything you have shown us. Nice day to you.🥰❤️❤️❤️
Hello Mamani. The heat is still not that unbearable here, but it was Saturday so I suppose people liked to go and spend some hours on the beach. Thank you and have a nice day you too 👋
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thank you 😇
I enjoyed your photos. I have never been anywhere that looks like this.
I saw the kindness rock in the landscape immediately. :)
Thank you. Well, everything here looks more or less like this. /on the coast/. So I enjoy seeing a different landscape too
Yay, yes, the kindness rock was spotted :)
Me gusta pensar que tú colocaste esa roca pintada allí.
Unfortunately, no la coloqué yo - la roca estaba dentro de un jardín. /y no me saldrían tan bonitas las 🐞/ 😅
quizás ahora debo practicar un poco la pintura jaja
🥴 ayyyuuuuuu... ///