El Rafalet
Javea has three main centres; The Old Town, The Port Area and The Arenal Beach.
Javea, The Old Town
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A maze of pedestrian streets lead to a central square and the fortress church of San Bartolome, pocked with bullet-holes from the Civil War, but still standing strong. At night, when the church bell rings, and the amber lights reflect off the white-washed walls and honey-coloured tosca sandstone buildings, it feels as though you’ve time-travelled back to a torch-lit world of several centuries ago. (Quote: Liam Lacey – The Globe and Mail)
Many restaurants, quaint bars and shops fill the streets and squares.
A typical indoor market where people meet, shop and eat and a lively weekly open market on the main village square.
More on the historical city centre : https://en.xabia.org/ver/1562/Stroll-through-X%C3bia-Historical-City-Centre.html
The Port Area (Duanes de la Mar)
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Directly east of the Old Town is the port, where you find the beauty of a working community, set along the ever-changing sea against the rocky wall of Cabo de San Antonio (the long end of the Montgo elephant’s trunk). Here, you’ll find a marina with its pleasure and fishing boats that is also a fish market selling the daily catch to restaurants overlooking a pebble beach, where you can simultaneously listen to the breakers and music from a piano bar.
Amid the low-rise apartments and shops, look for the exuberantly modernist fisherman’s church, the Church of Our Lady of Loreto. This architectural gem, built in the mid-1960s, is shaped like a sailing boat surrounded by concrete ribs and nodding palm trees. (Quote: Liam Lacey – The Globe and Mail)
Many restaurants line the boulevard and however crowded it may get in summer, there is always a village-like feeling about the port area.
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More on Duanes de la Mar : https://en.xabia.org/ver/1563/Visit-Duanes-de-la-Mar.html
The Arenal Beach Area
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South of the port area after walking the beach promenade you come to the third part of Javea, the Arenal (Spanish for sand), the beach and centre of the August tourism boom, when Javea’s population can triple.
It never closes down off season like many other beach towns and especially during week-ends many locals and those from nearby cities flock to the Arenal to dine and wine or simply watch people and enjoy the view.
This part of Javea very much resembles a Florida beach development which gives it an old school, classy ambiance . ​
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More on the Arenal : https://en.xabia.org/ver/1567/Arenal-.html
History of Javea
Xàbia (Valencian) or Jávea (Spanish) is a coastal town in the comarca of Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, Valencia, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. Situated on the back side of the Montgó, behind a wide bay and sheltered between two rocky headlands, the town has become a very popular small seaside resort and market town. Half of its resident population and over two thirds of its annual visitors are foreigners.
Tourism in Javea began in 1969 with the construction of the state-owned luxury hotel (‘parador nacional’), the only one of its kind on the Costa Blanca, located at the end of Arenal beach.
The area was first inhabited in prehistoric times, 30,000 years ago by cave dwellers on Montgó. Subsequent residents have included Stone and Bronze-age peoples, Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians, Visigoths, Germanic, Carthaginians, and Moors. Roman fishing boats used the port, and there is evidence that dates the Roman occupation of Xàbia to the 2nd century BC, it makes Xàbia the oldest known Roman site on the coast with a commercial port for fish and minerals.
In the 6th century AD, Christian Visigoth monks came to Xàbia and founded the monastery of Sant Martí, which likely gave its name to the cape in the area named Cap San Martí. Hermenegild, son of the Visigoth king Leovigild of Toledo, sought refuge in the Monastery after angering his father by marrying a Christian girl. When his father's troops arrived to arrest him all but one monk fled to Portichol; Hermenegild and the old monk were killed. Several people with Visigoth names still live in the area.
There is little left of the Moors and their culture, other than some inscribed gravestones and ceramics. They had controlled the area from about 714 AD until they (the Moriscos) were finally expelled from the Alicante region in 1609.The hermitage of Popol dates to the 14th century.
(source: Wikipedia)
Points of Interest (for more detailed information visit : https://en.xabia.org/ )
Thanks to its rich history, Javea has a significant heritage of historical monuments most of which are in a good state of conservation. Noteworthy are:
- The Church of San Bartolomé: a building in the Gothic style of the reign of Isabel. In medieval times this church was the main defensive structure and fulfilled both its functions perfectly: to defend the population and to attend to their religious needs.
- Palace of Antonio Bañuls: located in Primicias Street is the palace residence of Antonio Bañuls, member of the Court and major-domo to Felipe III. It currently houses the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography. Here we can admire a magnificent reproduction of the Iberian Treasure of Javea, an outstanding piece being a diadem found in a pottery vessel in Yuca. The centre has eight rooms for permanent exhibitions and two rooms for touring exhibitions.
- Chapel of Santa Ana: small Gothic style building which formed part of the 14th century hospital. Constructed from tuff stone. Its layout is rectangular and divided into three sections. It has a semi-circular arch at the entrance and fan tracery vaulting.- Municipal Market: located on the site of the former nuns’ convent, the market was constructed in 1946, designed and built to blend in with its location.
- Casa Bolufer: a building with a very austere style. Its facade has a tuff stone finish, the window bars and balconies are of forged metal and the woodwork of mobile wood. It is situated in the church square very near the Town Hall.
- Church of the Virgin of Loreto: one of the more aesthetically pleasing modern churches. Its design is an oval layout imitating the keel of a boat and it is built using materials such as cement and iron.
- “Virgen de los Ángeles” monastery: 160m. above sea level, a monastery of the Order of St Jerome run by one sole monk who carries out all the duties. In July the fiesta of the Virgen de los Ángeles takes place and the monastery receives an increased number of visits.
- Javea Town Hall: located in the old part of town, built of tuff stone as are all the old buildings in Javea. The Town Hall is in the church square.
- Chapel of the Calvario: noteworthy for the combination of geometric shapes crowned by a cupola of Arabic tiles. The chapel was built in the 19th century and houses an image of Jesus the Nazarene.
- Chapel of Popul: on the southern slopes of the Montgó massif, this chapel has the same structure as other chapels built during the re-conquest using tuff stone. It was refurbished in the 18th century.
- Acequia de la Noria: this is a channel excavated out of the rock, some 100 metres long, connecting El Saladar with the sea. It can be reached via the path that goes from Arenal to Cala Blanca.
- Capsades Tower: the remains of the settlement around this tower indicate that there were Muslim buildings in this area in former times. Found in this tower were ceramic shards, iron keys, needles, a bronze awl and a coin.
- Ambolo Tower, Portichol Tower, and Torronel Tower: watch was kept from these lookout towers built at strategic points along the coastline.
- The Viewing Points Route: another of the major attractions of Javea municipality are its viewing points. Between Cabo de San Antonio and Granadella beach there are fourteen viewing points from where to admire marvellous views over the Mediterranea.
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