TORREVIEJA

Torrevieja's distinctive low-level houses and wide streets date from its rebuilding after a catastrophic earthquake, though older buildings survive, including the remains of the Roman port. With its beaches, sports facilities, Museo de la Semana Santa, restaurants and summer nightlife, the town is a popular holiday centre. Spanish music fans flock here in August for the Habanera Festival, a celebration of the lilting songs brought back to the town from Cuba by the 19th-century salt exporters. Torrevieja's salt flats are Europe's oldest and largest, sparkling flat expanses where salt water evaporates to produce pure sea salt, still widely exported. The salt flats at Torrevieja and La Mata are now also designated natural parks and have more than 250 recorded species of birds feeding on them. Find out more at the Museo del Mar y Sa!.