Alicante

Alicante's Santa Bárbara Castle stands on Mount Benacantil, 166 metres above sea level, overlooking the bay. The fortress has origins in the period of Muslim rule in the late ninth century. Its name commemorates its capture by Alfonso of Castile on Saint Barbara's day, 4 December 1248. Major rebuilding took place under Philip II between 1562 and 1580. The castle opened to the public in 1963, when lifts inside the mountain also entered service.

The Teatro Principal opened in 1847. Designed by Emilio Jover Pierron, it has a neoclassical façade and an Italian-style interior with a horseshoe-shaped auditorium. Local merchants and property owners financed its construction, while the municipality provided the site, linking the theatre's origins to the commercial life of the port city.