Old town, wall and colourful houses

What it is

Villajoyosa's old town is a historic ensemble and a Site of Cultural Interest, one of the best preserved in the Valencian Community. The town was founded in 1300 by Bernat de Sarrià, procurator of James II of Aragon, on the remains of Iberian and Roman settlements, and so its streets follow the grid of the Christian foundations of the period. Facing the River Amadorio and the sea, the houses were painted in strong colours: the tourist board presents them as a model of polychromy in the western Mediterranean.

The wall and the fortress-church

The Barbary attacks of 1538 and 1543 razed the town, and a Royal Order commanded its defences to be rebuilt: Villajoyosa was one of the ten key strongholds of the kingdom against corsairs. That is how the Renaissance wall was born in the 16th century, paid for with silk taxes, with round bastions with sloping bases to better withstand cannon fire. It has been a BIC since 1985. Three bastions survive: the Pou, near the sea; the Retor, next to the abbey; and the Portalet, recently recovered on Calle Costereta.

The apse of the fortress-church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción serves as the main tower of the enclosure. It was built in the mid-16th century, in Levantine Gothic style, with a single nave, thick walls and few windows; along the roof runs a wall-walk with arrow slits and cannon-shaped gargoyles. In the 18th century the classicist Baroque doorway and the chapels of the Purísima and the Communion were added, where the 17th-century carving of Santa Marta, the town's patron saint, stands. It is one of only three fortress-churches in the province of Alicante. It can be visited Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 13:00, at Plaza de la Iglesia, 6.

The houses on the wall

When the Algerian threat disappeared, in the 18th century, the wall ceased to serve its purpose and residents began to build on top of it. Without knowing it, they created the town's most photographed image. The best viewpoints are the road bridge and the south bank of the Amadorio in its last stretch; also the park of the regenerated riverbed, which gives other angles on the façades.

The walk

The Historic Ensemble Route starts at the panel next to the tower where Plaza de la Generalitat and Costera de la Mar meet. It is wheelchair accessible, with a relief and Braille map, audio description by QR in six languages and a sign-language video. To continue outside the wall, the Urban Centre Route, 2 km and low difficulty, goes along Calle Colón, the Mercat and the Roman baths. You can go with a dog on a lead; the Costera de la Mar has a slope and steps.

Going down the Costera you reach Playa Centro. To understand the town's history, Vilamuseu is on Calle Colón, and the Mercat de La Vila is a short walk away.