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Seño Laura – Octubre 2008

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La Rioja

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Elche or Elx (in Valencian) is a city located in the Alicante province which, in turn, is a part of the Valencian Community, Spain.

Spanish CultureSpanish CulturePart of the town is coastal but the main city is some 15 km (9.5 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea.

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And you will know immediately that you are coming close because all the roads leading to Elche are lined with palm trees and there are a lot of signs proudly announcing that this city was named part of the World Heritage in 2001 thanks to its art and tradition.

It is now the third most important city in the Valencian Community thanks to its population (220 000) and has a prosperous shoe manufacturing business.

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Castillo de Altamira

This is the Altamira Castle, inside you can find the archaeological museum MAHE.

MAHE has a lot of information about the history of Elche.

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Basílica de Santamaría

This is the Basílica de Santamaría.

This church was built over an old mosque.

Each August there is a “theatre” play inside the church: Misteri d’Elx (The mistery play of Elche)

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Noche de la Alborada

Fireworks Night

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Fireworks Night

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Many archeological remains have been found in Elche, the stone bust of the Lady of Elx (Dama de Elche) is the most important.

Dama de Elche

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That’s me!

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Palmeral de Elche

Elche has got more than 200,000 palm trees.

You can go for a walk through the palm tree forest.

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We use the palm trees for the Palm Sunday in Easter.

Domingo de ramos

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And we eat a lot of dates from the palm-trees!

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We are very lucky, we have got a lot of fresh fruit and our typical dish “Arroz con costra” is delicious!

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