Sights in Alicante
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Museo de Arte Contémporaneo de Alicante (MACA)
Closed for many years while its premises, the splendid 17th-century Casa de la Asegurada, was renovated and enlarged, this splendid museum was about to reopen at the time of writing. It has an excellent collection of 20th-century Spanish art, including works by Dalí, Miró, Chillida, Sempere, Tàpies and Picasso.
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Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina (MUBAG)
Alicante's fine-arts museum, with canvases from the Middle Ages to the 1920s, is within the Palacio de Gravina, a stalwart 18th-century mansion. The setting and presentation are terrific – perhaps more so than the paintings themselves.
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Museu de Fogueres
In addition to a wealth of photographs, costumes and ninots (small effigies saved from the flames) it has a great audiovisual presentation of what the Fiesta de Sant Joan, all fire and partying, means to alicantinos.
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MARQ (Museo Arqueológico Provincial)
The Museo Arqueológico Provincial, or MARQ, has a strong collection of ceramics and Iberian art. Exhibits are displayed to give the visitor a very visual, high tech experience. The only drawback is the lack of information in English.
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Castillo de Santa Bárbara
There are sweeping views over the city from this 16th-century castle, which will soon house Museo de la Ciudad de Alicante (MUSA), a new museum recounting the history of the city. A lift/elevator, reached by a footbridge opposite Playa del Postiguet, rises through the bowels of the mountain. To return, it's a pleasant walk through Parque de la Ereta via Calle San Rafael to Plaza del Carmen.
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Lucentum
The Roman town of Lucentum,a forerunner of Alicante, is where excavations have revealed a rich wealth of pottery. You can make out its clearly defined streets and town plan.
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Pozos de Garrigós
The Pozos de Garrigós are three vast water cisterns, built to collect run-off from Monte Benacantil and nowadays used as a venue for temporary exhibitions.
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Iglesia de Santa María
The Iglesia de Santa María has a flamboyant, 18th-century facade and an ornate, gilded altarpiece, both contrasting with the nave's Gothic simplicity.
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MARQ
MARQ, very visual and hi-tech, well merits a visit even though there's little information in English.
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Basílica de Santa María
The flamboyant, 18th-century facade and ornate, gilded altarpiece both contrast with the nave's Gothic simplicity.
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MUBAG
MUBAG, Alicante's stimulating fine-arts museum, is within an 18th-century mansion.
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Panoramis
An area of shops, restaurants and hip bars on the western causeway. To get there, follow the curve of the port along pedestrianised Paseo Explanada de España or the waterfront promenade (separated only by a hideously busy road).
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Icarus
This splendid waterside bronze figure of a pin-headed Icarus bearing a surfboard as he emerges from the water is by contemporary sculptor Esperanza d'Ors.
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Beaches
Immediately north of the port is the sandy beach of Playa del Postiguet. Playa de San Juan, easily reached by the tram, is larger and usually less crowded.
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