Guadalest (Alicante) is one of those small towns in Spain that, unwittingly, have become one of the tourist, no doubt due to its proximity to Altea, Benidorm and other beach destinations in Europe, but still has merit to get foreigners to boot from the edge of the sea to take them to see and visit some history.

He had ten years in Valencia and many others with pending visit, and the end it was a fortuitous change in plans which led us to fall here, without hope or plan it, because we were lost within the province of Alicante and our way went back home here.

Really until you stand in front of this rugged mountain is not aware of what you're seeing is a piece of rock with a thousand years of history that is dwarfed by those that surround it, and is located in a valley surrounded by Aitana, Aixorta and Serrella, yet from the top you can get to see on clear days Altea.

Speaking of Guadalest we refer to the whole mountain, but in reality it involves two castles and the village itself, the Fortress of Alcozaiba and the Castle of San Jose. Access to the site is done along the right the mountain and through a tunnel carved into the rock.

The two strengths are of Muslim origin and s.XI. After the conquest of the town by James I, the town was given to several families, including Cardona, who named the Orduña (of Basque origin) Bailiffs and Governors of Guadalest.

After the great earthquake of 1644 that destroyed much of the castle stands the Casa Orduña whose family reached its greatest power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

On the other side of the mountains stands the steeple of the Church of the Assumption, which is accessed through the Casa Orduña.

Orduña House is a great exponent of the aesthetic tastes of the bourgeoisie in the second half of the nineteenth century. During the visit, access the different units available to the home, from the kitchen to the lofty halls and offices of the lords.

For interior stairs only accessible from the home itself is accessed throughout the Castillo de San Jose.

In 1974 declared a Historic-Artistic whole Guadalest is a kind of bazaar where shops and restaurants blend with the museum, which is that there are nine museums in such a tiny kernel: the miniature, the ethnological, that of torture, Marco Antonio organic crib with that of salt and pepper ... the case is to have entertained tourists

Worth shop around from one end to the people is very nice and the fact that you are fully pedestrianized makes it even more charming.

In the basement of City Hall are carved in the rocks of the twelfth century the old dungeons.

The views of the surrounding mountain and swamp Guadalest are incredible from the Castle ...

And here we, back home, another chapter in the history of Spain, approach Guadalest, you will not regret.