Javea

JAVEA is in many ways Moraira’s ‘big brother’. Lying in coastal terms, just round the corner of the Cabo de la Nao, from Moraira. Javea’s landscape is dominated by Mount Montgo (now designated ‘Parque Natural’), known locally as the ‘Elephant’s head’. Montgo is a small mountain of ‘Tosca’ stone – its distinctive ‘trunk’ extending into the sea at Cabo San Antonio where its subterranean progress continues beneath the Mediterranean before erupting to the surface as Ibiza (not a lot of people know this!) Tosca stone, originally quarried from the beaches of Javea in Roman times, and still featured in arches and pillars in local buildings and villas, until it was recently banned, is unique to just Javea and Ibiza. Javea’s discovery and development predates that of Moraira by just a few years, and has changed beyond recognition during the past forty years of its development. A kind of Spanish Dartmouth, the town has grown and developed in a ‘T’ shape, parallel to the coastline, and formed from three distinct areas. The left hand end of the head of the ‘T’ is the original old town, still retaining its ‘Spanishness’ and perched at the top of a hill to protect its original inhabitants from pillaging Barbary pirates. This blends the commercial heart of the town within a tangle of quaint, narrow passageways and a permanent, covered market building close to the church square. The right end of the head of the ‘T’ is the harbour and marina, like Moraira, it has its own market with a daily fish auction but, unlike Moraira, the emphasis of the facility leans more towards its fishing origins, rather than as a haven for ‘yotties’. Moving back southwards, along the waterfront, just past the beachside Parador, is the Arenal beach a superb sandy bay with clusters of palm trees providing bathers with some essential shade. The length of the Arenal is lined with restaurants and shops, and both the Pueblo and the Puerto have their fair share of shops, bars and restaurants too. Between these three centres, from first-line seafront, back to the Pueblo many apartments have been built and there is much choice for all budgets and tastes. Beyond this triangle, are many developments of detached villas (as well as linked villas and townhouse complexes), available for all tastes, from €120,000 to €5m+. As with Moraira, many of these areas are now very mature, with the bulk of the properties partly obscured with greenery, low density development and plenty of protected green areas. The Pueblo has recently been subjected to three years of sustained infrastructural renewal (now completed) which had caused a certain amount of disruption, but now the rewards can be reaped with several new, underground car parks, and streets re-laid with cobbled roads and pavements etc.