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Spanish Baroque features undulating façades with high relief and ornate decoration.

Celebrated for its performances of the Misteri d’Elx (see Misteri d’Elx (Elche) (Mystery of Elx)), the monumental Basílica de Santa María was built between 1672 and 1783, replacing an earlier church built on the ruins of a former mosque.

This well-preserved Arabic castle withstood a lengthy siege before finally falling to Jaime I (see Moments in History) in 1245.

Unexpected steps and tiny passages link the steep streets of Bocairent, piled up on a hill in the Sierra Mariola. Almost every house is surrounded by pots of ferns and geraniums. In 1843, an extraordinary bullring was hacked out of the rock. It now regularly hosts summer concerts.

By 1000 BC, the Phoenicians and the Greeks were establishing trading settlements along the coast. The Carthaginians, landless after their defeat in the First Punic War, established Cartago Nova (modern Cartagena) in the 3rd century BC.

Pockets of northern Spain remained resistant to the Arab armies, and it was from here that the Christian Reconquest was launched. Battles raged through much of the 13th century. Mursiya (Murcia) was taken by Jaime I of Aragón in 1266; Al Lekant (Alicante) fell to Jaime II in 1296.

Rome crushed Carthage in the Second Punic War, marking the beginning of Roman domination of the Iberian Peninsula. The Romans brought with them their laws, their language and their roads, and established important settlements at Denia (Dénia), Alicante (Alacant) and Cartagena.

By the middle of the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire had splintered, and the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by a succession of northern tribes. The Visigoths arrived in 411 and eventually took control of most of Spain, but dynastic disputes left them ripe for conquest by the next wave of invaders.

The Costa Blanca has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, with cave dwellers living in the inland hills from around 50000 BC. Iberian settlements began to appear around 3000 BC. Later, two Bronze Age cultures emerged: Argaric in the south and Valencian in the north.