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The fishing town of Santa Pola has nearly 15 km (10 mi) of fine sandy safe beaches with shallow water - an ideal family location. Santa Pola is the closest mainland town to Tabarca Island and has, at its port, regular boat trips available to the Island. According to records, the town has been inhabited since the third Millennium BC. A fortified city was built in the forth century BC to provide protection to settlers. With the coming of the Romans in the 1st Century BC, the population increased, as they made it one of their main ports, naming it Portus Illicitanous. Many of the fortification seen today date from the 16 century and where built to defend the town from the Barbary Pirates had at that time taken over Tabarca Island.
An impressive 6,103 acre natural park, the Parqu Natural de las Salinas de Santa Pola overlaps with what was in the early 18th century a fishing and hunting reserve. It was in 1890 that a salt factory opened and transformed the area by making the sea water flow through a circuit of ponds to precipitate out the salt. The area has now developed its own eco-system and supports around 8,000 Flamingos, as well as Sand Pipers, Osprey and Heron. |
