Avenida de Alfonso el Sabio in Alicante
One of Alicante’s largest and most important boulevards, named after the king Alfonso X el Sabio
The Avenida de Alfonso el Sabio is one of the most significant roads in the city of Alicante, bordering the entire northern side of mount Benacantil, home to the Castillo de Santa Bárbara. The avenue is named after the Castilian King Alfonso X el Sabio, whose troops conquered the Castillo de Santa Bárbara on the 4th December 1248 and succesfully took over the rest of the city just days later during the Reconquist of Spain.
The southern area of Spain had been occupied by the Moors from Africa, who held this area for over 500 years before the Christian forces of northern Spain gradually re-took the lower part of the country in "the Reconquist".
The road is 520 metres long extending southwest from the junction formed by Avenida de Jaime II, the Rambla de Méndez Núñez and the perpendicular road, Calle de San Vicente, to one of the most emblematic landmarks in the city, the Plaza de los Luceros.
The Avenida de Alfonso el Sabio separates the northeast barrio of Mercado with its eight perpendicular streets from the nine other perpendicular streets located on the southern side of the city centre.
It is a wide central boulevard with large sidewalks decorated by rows of neatly arranged palm trees and colourful flowerpots, and is notably a very active and lucrative shopping street with numerous banks, hotels, restaurants, office buildings and department stores extending all the way from one end of the avenue to the other.
On the Avenida de Alfonsio el Sabio visitors can also find the entrance to the Mercado Central, Alicante’s main food market selling fresh and locally sourced fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, with huge steps leading straight up to the meat and ham section from the main road.
The road has four major lanes for traffic, two going in each direction with a fifth lane used for turning into the perpendicular streets. A large underground carpark runs all the way along the Avenida, with several entrances via stairs and elevators. There are also two underground metropolitan tram stations at both ends of the Avenida, one just metres from Mercado Central and the other down by La Plaza de Los Luceros, as well as a bay for city buses, including a stop for the C6 bus service which runs to and from the airport.
Due to its central location and wide lanes, the Avenida de Alfonso el Sabio also serves as a passing point for all manner of festive parades and civic demonstrations, including the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos, the Semana Santa processions and the parades during the fiestas of Las Hogueras de San Juan in which two giant bonfire figures are put up, one by Mercado and the other by Luceros, to be burned as part of the celebrations.
The fortifications of the Castillo de Santa Bárbara can be accessed on foot from the Avenida de Alfonso el Sabio via a path located on the right side of the road (going north) just after the traffic lights at Mercado Central.
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