Villajoyosa has recently been picked up by some of the major travel publications and highlighted as one of the places to be in 2024, in fact the number one place to be!
I will share the links to the articles below so you can read for yourself, but it has spurred me on to write a few words too about this pretty little town located in between Alicante and Benidorm.
What strikes you first is that Villajoyosa is a busy little town which has retained a lot of its character, with the colourful fisherman cottages that line the seafront being the perfect example - the different colours allowing the fishermen to navigate home quickly after long stretches, or perhaps when the weather wasn't so kind.
Being a fishing village, the food as you would expect is superb, I have ate fish a number of times at the harbour Bar La Lonja which is simple fresh food, served up by the fish market, and there are several very good rice restaurants along the sea front. If fish isn't your favourite, there is also Bar L'Arsenal which serves up great burgers, but I think I'm showing my true colours there with that recommendation.
Culture and chocolate, visit the Valor chocolate museum where you can learn how chocolate was introduced to the area, and then try as much chocolate as you can in the testing room - reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when we went, no children were lost I'm glad to say.
Villajoyosa also celebrates one of the most spectacular Moors and Christian festivals, this year 24-31 July when for a period of eight days the whole town takes a trip back into the past to re-enact in a truly spectacular way a battle that took place in 1538. It’s a festival that has been celebrated for over 250 years in honour of Santa Marta, and commemorates events that took place in 1538, when Barbary pirates commanded by Zalé-Arraez tried to attack the town. Tradition has it that Santa Marta came to the aid of the local people, causing a flood that swept the enemy ships out to sea preventing the corsairs from reaching the coast. In thanks, the town took Santa Marta as its patron saint, and each year these celebrations are held in her honour, with the re-enactment of the attack by the Moors as the key event. Definitely a spectacle not to be missed.
And with so much talk of Villajoyosa, it would be remiss of me not to mention a two bedroom apartment that we have recently listed for sale, priced at 175.000 Euros (plus taxes), with sea views and right on the sea front, only minutes from the aforementioned Playa del Torres.
