Staycation - Things to do in My Village
The Village of Polop Alicante
Polop de la Marina is a small village, 20 minutes inland from the Mediterranean coast, in the province of Alicante Valencia.
The first thing you see when you drive up from the coast and on the outskirts of La Nucia, is the tower and ancient cemetery surrounded by the remnants of Moorish walls at the pinnacle of the pueblo.
Looming over the village is a sleeping lion - the bulking Mountain Ponoch, awash with thorny browns, chinks of terracotta and pastel greens.
Polop has roads named after the composer and contemporary Spanish musician Oscar Esplá who lived there. Polop is more famous for its water supply and the Font dels Xorrets, which has 221 waterspouts in a square, decorated and representing each town of Alicante.
Writing about a staycation (holiday at home, rather than traveling away) I feel I have a small advantage in regards to how much to write about as 20 minutes down the road is Spain's largest and most popular holiday resort Benidorm, but even closer are the parks, Terra Mittica and Terra Natura.
Polop de la Marina - Images by ShearArt
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Books by Mark Shearman
Castillo De Polop
Most mornings, I ride my bike up to the old church, where there is a Spanish bar with panoramic views and I can sit in quite writing on my laptop.
Image by ShearArt
Theme Parks
Terra MÃtica is a theme park located in Benidorm/Finestrat and divided into 5 themed zones: Egypt, Greece, Iberia, Rome and the Islands.The park has plenty of scary high altitude, breakneck speed rides with names like Titánide, SynKope and Inferno.
There are over 35 daily shows and a friend of mine works on one called El Regreso de Barbarroja - The Return of Barbarossa - the horror of the seas!
The show is set on board a Pirate Ship and in Spanish but there is plenty of action to entertain.
Polop de la Marina
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Old Town Polop
Old town with the new in the background.
Image by ShearArt
Link to a Map of the Park
http://www.terramiticapark.com/descargas/planoTerraMitica.pdf
Terra Mitica Park
For Terra Mitica use the link below or click on the picture.
The Fonts
Image by ShearArt
Terra Mitica Park
Disposable Ponchos
Terra Natura
Terra Natura is parkland next to Terra Mitica and has over 1,500 animals from 200 different species, 50 in serious danger of extinction. The park also has over 2,500 examples of more than 160 species of trees, shrubs and ground cover plants.
The park is divided into four themed areas America, Europe, Asia and the entrance area. The park is designed to enable people to get closer to the animals removing many physical barriers.
Some of the Animal attractions include Big cats like Lions, Tigers and Jaguars also Elephants, Monkeys, Rhinoceros, Buffalo to name a few.
Terra Natura
For Terra Natura use this link or click on the picture
