You are spending an afternoon in Downtown Benidorm, a beautiful city in Spain. But suddenly, you feel as if the urbanity and din is drowning you. You want ready relief but do not know how to tackle the situation. The answer lies not far and connected with a national highway N332. Located 35 kilometers away from Alicante (that is less than half an hour’s journey on car), is a serene seascape called Villajoyosa.

Its population is 25000+, most of whom have settled here after falling in love with the quiet atmosphere. You will have to dig the place to understand how quiet the place really is. Yes, it has its own city center and all facilities available. But as is the case of many sea-framed cities, this city bears grace and elegance for you. And there are countless water games to try if you have an affinity for the ocean blue.

Chocolate affinity

Villajoyosa is famous for its Valor chocolates. You will not be able to intrude much into the city without hearing of the article that has brought fame to the city. It is no small matter that its Valor form was imported to far off countries like Equador and Venezuela. Surely, if you are sweet faced and honey-toothed, you will love this place just for this reason only.

Color and hue

People in Villajoyosa are always joyous lending the name La Villa Joiosa to the city. There are Rubik-styled multi-colored buildings in line welcoming you to its interiors. Such building formations are dangerously close to the raging sea. You begin to wonder why. Maybe this is to keep the sea in close view. This enhances aesthetic sense as well as protection. You will mainly find fishermen living in these areas. This area is termed Arsenal.

There is a Royal Palm Casino just to keep the interests of compulsive gamblers. If you have been to any casino, you will know that the feeling is different. This casino may not meet the mark set by Las Vegas, but gives a sense of satisfaction anyhow. So you should not miss the spot even if you do not like gambling.

Full of life

The city comes to life in the ending part of July. You should not fill to plan your trip here in July-end. You will chance by the brilliant festival Moors and the Christians. There would be revelry and music throughout the time period. The replay of a dramatic content makes you happy just being here. The drama concerns the Moorish army entering the banks of the sea, and then thrown into the immense water body at night. The story is full of pathos and tradition and you will just love it.

There are numerous beaches along the coastline. Paraiso is the most raved after beach in Villajoyosa. The crowd is a mix of races and you will see plenty of flashing and tanned skin, if that makes you happy. There is a five star hotel too just on the rampart of a cliff. The view from up there is just amazing. It is timeless!

We know it already. Benidorm’s reputation travels with it. It is among the most popular winter hubs for old people. Benidorm deserves its reputation every inch but that is another story altogether.

What differentiates it then?

It’s not just the resorts or bars or nightlife or beaches. It’s the attitude that the beautiful Alicante city wears on its shoulders. It offers a pleasant and warm embrace. This warmth separates it. Times have changed and so has the age bar of fun. Today, you can run with a juvenile zeal at 80. It is here that Benidorm offers a few points worth taking a glance at.

Compact and easygoing too

Benidorm has a decent coastline but the town itself is concise and solid without many high gradient walks.

Food at a decent price

Holidaymakers love rejoicing. Food and gastronomic delights form a great part of the holiday package. You will find amazing restaurants and cafes serving during the afternoon for as less as eight Euros. You will be ecstatic with a four-course meal lavishly spread with bread, wine, and ethnic food. One that I can remember comprised of gazpacho soup, pork chop in pepper sauce with vegetables, meat and fish paella, suffixed by Crème Caramel. The beverage was great on the tongue and was extremely affordable.

Reasonably priced beverages

Brandy, liquor and coffees are all available at 2.5 Euros.

The fun factor

While you might find great cabaret over the town fabric, Benidorm Palace sizzles with the razzmatazz of this particular dance form. You can watch shows all across the year.

A lot to be done

You can try out a vast repertoire of things. Just go through a ready reckoner or a things-to-do list and you will find various things up your sleeve. Be it excursions, sightseeing, or market trips.

Café

If you are delighted by the old world charm and the pastoral movement of nature, just run through the various café orders in the café society. It will provide you with a pleasant sense of seeing the world silently moving by. Pleasant roar of a cosmopolitan crowd can be felt here. British presence is strong.

Promenades and Esplanades

Promenade along Levante Beach is a superb place to walk on. It is spick and span and offers a great bay view. If you access the place at an opportune time, you will most likely become a part of a huge gathering and festive atmosphere. Sun won’t be a tyrant either.

Its fun working out

You can work on beaches without a penny to fork out. The beach is strewn with old faces gathering their physical shreds and walking along. Of course, once the walk becomes tiring, they can always look back to coffee and brandy.

Papers for free

At Levante each, morning papers can be read without a price. The service is run by a local council and offers free newspapers except the months of February and March.

Beach within reach

Those who have an eye for adventure and love to exercise their swimming and bathing wares, there is plenty of fun at the beach area. Those on wheelchair can have a touch of the azure sea as well. Water-buggies can be a cool aid for them. Those who have some trouble walking but are overall sound on their feet; Benidorm beaches offer a repertoire of sticks and crutches. You will be well stabilized through suction caps.

Health-where to look

Pharmacies are tidily placed and accord a fair amount of emphasis on the well being of tourists. The authorities are more than ready to help in case there is a mishap somewhere. This way, you can wade through the sand and sea with a much-required comfort of mind.
Benidorm is certainly making it better for the “not so young” folks.

A natural beauty lies forty kilometers away from Benidorm in Spain. It is closer to another city Alicante at 27 kilometers and gives both the cities a wonderful option for excursion. Based on the Cabeço d’ Or (Spanish for Golden hill), this place is famous as the Canelobre Caves.

It is hosted by the city of Busot. From the edges of the city, as the Golden hill creeks up and around into numerous edgy formations, the beautiful caves remain planted in one of the flatter projections at a height of 700 meters. The caves have been a source of great revenue to the country’s coffers. Tourists from all over the world make plans to visit this natural hollowed sculpture.

A manmade path takes you to your great exploration inside the cave. People who have fear of closed spaces can take refuge on the three 45X45X35 platforms built inside. They were used as bases for aircraft engine repair in the 1930’s during civil war. These are made in the huge vault that the caves boast of.

Canelobre caves have been existent since the Dinosaur era. The brightest point is that they still grow and are alive. Though the growth is too miniscule to be gauzed by humans naturally - 1 cm in 100 years.

Curious lighting arrangements have been made in the curious caves. They throw light on the amazing natural creations on the wall caves. The natural mystique of the caves comes into the fore when illuminated by the fusion of lights.

Stalactites and stalagmites, technical names for pointed formations of ice crystals from the roof and base of the caves, are the major feature of the caves. They are still occurring and a new innovation called helictite can also be seen on the walls.

There is little scope for life owing to the excessive damp conditions. However a year round temperature of 18 degree centigrade allows germination of algae, fungi and other sub specie.

The unique creations of limestone are built in the shape of candelabra. Perhaps that gives origin to the name of caves. Caves have a unique glow, which one has to see to believe.

Canelobre caves have excellent natural acoustics, with rough edges providing ready voice throwers. This has led to many concerts having been held here in recent past. When the applause echoes within the cave, the feeling is awesome.

People have used the caves for mining purposes and as a nice hiding ground in the past. One wonders how they could have survived in the extreme cold and lack of illumination then however. That was until the Civil War begun.

Caves are open for the whole year and so the tourists can choose their own convenient time to visit them. It is better if you choose spring and autumn to avoid the heat and cold hassles.

You can even make a hiking tour from the top of the hill down to the caves. You will get to see micro-reserves with rare plant specie. You will feel the touch of nature closely as you venture forth along historic mines.