Spanish Steps

AM making the second of two visits in quick succession to the province of Aliante on Spain's southeast Mediterranean coast.

It has given me the chance to inspect steps taken by the local population to erect various coastal defences, or at least to look at what remains of them.

First up is El Castell, on a rocky promontory of what is today Benidorm old town.

It was built in the early 1300s when Benidorm was a small fishing village with little financial worth.

But the four miles of sandy beach stretching away from the promontory proved a tempting landing site for African slavers who frequented the sea in search of human and other valuables.

How Benidorm Castle is believed to have looked - it remained garrisoned even after most of the civilian population fled further inland 

These four cannons may have helped defend the castle, although an undated document in the archives of Castile refers to "three iron cannons," of which "one is unusable, having burst"

Remains uncovered in a dig six years ago

A surely fanciful reconstruction of the castle's well