La Vila Joiosa between Coast and Culture
Accommodation in La Vila Joiosa
In La Vila Joiosa, a small walled coastal settlement on a raised, south-east-facing promontory beside the mouth of the Amadorio River forms the historic centre. The historic ensemble of Villajoyosa is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural. The town walls and the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción are also protected as Bienes de Interés Cultural in the Monument category; the church is a Gothic fortified church.
File:MTN25-0847c4-2007-Villajoyosa La Vila Joiosa.jpg
Photo: Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Culture and History
The public baths of the Roman city of Allon were built between AD 85 and 110 beside the city forum, which is now located at Plaza de la Generalitat. Renaissance walls run along the Costera de la Mar; they were built around 1550 after Berber corsairs destroyed the earlier walls in 1443. La Barbera dels Aragonés was a 17th-century country house that was transformed into a romantic 19th-century palace with furniture and an extensive household collection of various origins.
Vilamuseu is the town museum of La Vila Joiosa and also the centre of its network of museums and monuments. It houses the Centro de Interpretación del Pecio Bou Ferrer. Since 2013, the Bou Ferrer project has included visits and strictly supervised diving under close supervision, allowing visitors to learn about the ancient shipwreck. The Bou Ferrer is a sunken Roman merchant ship off the coast of Villajoyosa.
Routes and Experiences
The Ruta Conjunto Histórico begins beside the tower at the junction of Plaza de la Generalitat and the Costera de la Mar. Its starting panel is accessible to wheelchair users and offers large print, Braille, a tactile map, multilingual QR content and a video in Spanish Sign Language. La Colada de la Costa is an approximately 8-kilometre, roughly two-hour circular coastal route of moderate to easy difficulty between Playa del Torres and Torre del Aguiló in La Cala.
The Moros y Cristianos festivities of La Vila Joiosa are recognised as a festival of international tourist interest. The festival programme takes place from 24 to 31 July and includes El Desembarc, a staged historical landing featuring lights, gunpowder and festive events.
Coast and Water
In the centre of La Vila Joiosa there is a sandy beach more than 1,300 metres long, with an accessible bathing service at Basseta l’Oli. Playa El Torres is a semi-urban pebble and sandy beach surrounded by vegetation, with a 560-metre-long beach area, a promenade and opportunities for diving. The Torre de Sant Josep stands on this beach and is considered the best-preserved Roman funerary monument on the Iberian Peninsula.
There are six snorkelling routes at the various beaches of La Vila Joiosa. When snorkelling, fish and seagrass meadows of Posidonia oceanica are considered part of the described underwater world. At the Escola de Mar, visitors learn and practise water sports such as kayaking, sailing, diving, rowing and windsurfing. “La Vila y el mar” is an interpretive walking route about La Vila Joiosa’s historic relationship with the sea, fishing and the harbour.
Cuisine
The Chocolates Valor chocolate museum was recognised by the Generalitat Valenciana in 2008 as the Museo Valenciano del Chocolate. It presents the development of chocolate production with historic machinery and offers a factory tour followed by a tasting. Mercat de La Vila is La Vila Joiosa’s central food market and a gastronomic showcase for products from La Vila Joiosa. Some stalls prepare purchased products in small portions for consumption on site. At the port of Villajoyosa, visitors can experience the lively afternoon auction of the fish and seafood caught that day.
For the higher-level travel overview: Alicante.
