Musings on my life in Spain

When travelling around the Alicante province, have you ever stopped to wonder why there are so many castles and forts perched on the hilltops? Come to Guardamar del Segura and have it all explained to you for free!

Located in Guardamar’s Casa de Cultura (c/Colon, 60) is the excellent Museo Arqueológico de Guardamar, or MAG for short. Throughout the summer of 2016 you can visit from 1100-1430 and 1800-2130, learning all about the castles which litter the hillsides from North to South, East to West. This temporary exhibition, in conjunction with the Museo Arqueológico de Alicante(MARQ) is free to enter which is a boon for newly budget conscious Brits!

Inside you will be surprised to see just how many of these fortifications exist. They seem almost innumerable. As you walk in, a video scrolls through old pictures of many of them. The information offers enough not to overwhelm you, and it is available in English as well as Spanish and Valencian. A second, narrated video, Almiserat, tells you all about the war torn region of centuries ago and its protective castles. It’s an old one and the speakers didn’t work very well, which was a shame. It was also played only in Spanish, but here it is on Youtube in English!! Watching this, you begin to understand why the region has so many Moors and Christians festivals.

You can read more about places I have discovered in Spain at www.anythingbutpaella.com