CASTLES SANTA POLA

Built in 1557 and commissioned by the Viceroy of Valencia, the Castillo Fortaleza de Santa Pola stands as a Renaissance military fortress designed to protect the coast from Barbary pirate raids. Located in the center of Santa Pola on Spain's Costa Blanca, this stone structure features a distinctive square floor plan with corner towers and bastions named after royalty. Today, the fortress houses the maritime museum and fishing museum, where visitors can explore its arms courtyard, historic chapel of the Virgin of Loreto, and cistern, providing insight into both the castle's defensive heritage and the region's seafaring past.

Bunker de la Playa de la Gola is a Spanish Civil War-era fortification located on Playa La Gola beach in Santa Pola, within the Natural Park of the Salt Marshes of Alicante. Built in 1938 as part of Republican defenses, this machine gun nest represents the coastal fortifications constructed to protect ports and strategic locations. Though partially deteriorated without a roof and partially buried in beach sand, the structure remains reasonably well preserved and visibly accessible near the shoreline, offering tangible evidence of the region's twentieth-century military history.