Santa Pola is a coastal town located in the comarca

Comarca

A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...

 of Baix Vinalopó

Baix Vinalopó

The Baix Vinalopó is a comarca in the province of Alicante . It is bordered by the comarques of Vinalopó Mitjà and Alacantí on the north and Vega Baja del Segura on the south. Its capital is the city of Elx/Elche, with a population of some 230,000 people live...

 in the Valencian Community

Valencian Community

The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, by the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

. It has an area of 58.6 km² (23 sq mi) and has a population of 30,000 inhabitants of whom 10,000 are residents of the nearby town of Gran Alacant.

The town has an important salt evaporation pond

Salt evaporation pond

Salt evaporation ponds, also called salterns or salt pans, are shallow artificial ponds designed to produce salts from sea water or other brines. The seawater or brine is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be subsequently harvested...

 known as the salines which remains in business, additionally, most of it is recognized as the Natural Park of Salines de Santa Pola, an important RAMSAR

Ramsar

Ramsar is a city in and the capital of Ramsar County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 31,659, in 9,421 families....

 site. The town was settled over the ruins of a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 village called Portus Ilicitanus (literally, Harbour of Elche); after being abandoned for decades, then a castle was constructed in the 16th century which marked the repopulation of Santa Pola. The town has an archeological museum covering these phases.

Santa Pola is, at present, a coastal fishing and tourist town. Population more than doubles during the summer, with people coming mostly from the rest of the Alicante province, and also from the Basque autonomous community, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and the UK, just to mention some. The nearby island of Tabarca

Tabarca

Tabarca , is an islet located in the Mediterranean Sea, close to the town of Santa Pola, in the province of Alicante, Valencian community, Spain...

 (part of Alicante) can be visited by ship.

The new town of Gran Alacant, 5 km (3 mi) north of Santa Pola along the Alicante bay, accounts for about one third of the population of the district. Next to it is the Carabasi area, a nature reserve. Gran Alacant lies only a few kilometres from Alicante Airport

Alicante Airport

Alicante Airport , , originally named El Altet, is the sixth busiest airport in Spain, and the main airport for the Province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia. The airport is situated southwest of Alicante and east of Elche in the municipality of Elche on Mediterranean coast. Up to eighty...

 and a few hundred metres from the town of Los Arenales which is located in the Elche district.

In June 2009, the Valencian Government

Generalitat Valenciana

The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organised....

 announced that the Alicante Tram

Alicante Tram

The Alicante Metropolitan TRAM operates in the Spanish city of Alicante and its surrounding area and, like other narrow gauge railways in the Valencian Community, is run by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana...

 system will be extended southwards via Alicante Airport and El Altet, to stations in Gran Alacant and Santa Pola and then onwards to Guardamar and Torrevieja

Torrevieja

Torrevieja is a seaside city and municipality located on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, in south-eastern Spain.Torrevieja lies about 30 miles south of the city of Alicante and has a population of 104,000...

 before terminating in Murcia.

External links

• Santa Pola, in English.
• Santa Pola, City Overview with a Video and Pictures. From a local citizen. In English.
• Granalacant Urbanization, Granalacant Urbanization.
• Gran Alacant's Website | Devoted to Gran Alacant, http://www.mygranalacant.com