Spanish Steps VI

This tower, from about the 16th century, guarded a royal road that passed by Benidorm

The entrance - now bricked-up - on the ground floor suggests the building was not expected to withstand serious attack, but was probably more used to regulate traffic and collect tolls.

Spanish Steps V

MUCH of modern Altea is spread along the seafront, but when taken from the Moors in 1244 it was mostly a hilltop settlement.

The Virgen del Consuelo (Virgin of the Consolation) Church was erected in the1600s, and quickly became a local landmark.

Most of what can be seen today dates to the late 1800s and early 1900s 

The church was at least partly built with defence in mind

Picturesque house facade

Spanish Steps IV

FURTHER along the coast from Benidorm is Altea, once a Greek colony but now a centre for tourism, thanks to its climate and picturesque old town.

Altea, like most of the rest of Alicante, was Republican in the Spanish Civil War, and its coast was blockaded by the Italian and German navies in support of Franco's Nationalists.

Miles of flat beaches were easily accessible from the sea

Eight machinegun pillboxes, called búnquers in Catalan (bunkers or búnkeres in Spanish) were built in the Altea area.

This pillbox near Cap Negret is one of three survivors, and only two of those are now above sea level

Another view - none saw action, but they are believed to have had a deterrent effect

Spanish Steps III

THE trek from Cala de Finestrat to Villajoyosa is enjoyable in its own right, but also has a fair bit of historical interest.

Known as the Colada de la Costa, the route was originally a livestock trail, which makes for easy walking for most of the way between the two towns

Old terracing is evidence of farming in harder times

Abandoned farmhouse

Cacti have no complaints about the quality of the soil

Old military barracks, a forward post for anti-smuggling patrols in Franco's times

Spanish Steps II

I AM staying in Cala de Finestrat, which officially is "three kilometres from Benidorm," but "also borders the town of Villajoyosa" to the southwest.

Now I am pretty sure if you asked most visitors, they would regard Cala de Finestrat as a part of Benidorm, if admittedly on the western fringe.

This month I have twice walked from Cala de Finestrat to Villajoyosa, and back again, which is a great and relatively easy cliffside trek, but there is no  way the former is even close to the habitations of the latter, although the official borders may be another matter.

However, that is by-the-by - more interesting from a historical perspective is that on a hill overlooking Cala de Finestrat is a stone watchtower, which you might just be able to make out in this photo

Approaching Torre de l'Aguiló, built in the 1500s to act as an early-warning system against raids by Muslim slavers

The metal staircase is a modern addition - entrance would originally have been by rope-ladder, or a similar device

Looking from the watchtower at today's Benidorm

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