Article by: Gary willicott gary@gbinspain.com Published: 18/02/2008

Located in the shores of the Rio Serpis, this is on the slopes of a Mountain range called Mariola-Pico de Montcabrer: 1390 m. altitude. Head of the region of the Comtat, with 24 municipalities covering 378.9 Km2, and a population of more than 25,000 inhabitants. Distance to Valencia 110 km and 60 km of Alicante. One communicates with these capitals through state highway N340, with daily regular lines to Valencia (train and bus) and to Alicante (bus). Through the new A36 motorway. The area has now become very accessible from Alicante. It has a climate of transition between the mediterraneo and the continental one. The greater one indicates of precipitations is registered in the months of September, October and November and in the months of March and April.

For the sports minded and for relaxation it has a municipal polideportivo (sports centre) with football ground, sport tracks, covered pavilion and swimming pools.

As head of the region the Comtat, it has an ample panel of services of high category, typical market (Thursday), a considerable number of hotels and restaurants with splendid regional dishes and recognized fame. Moorish influences have marked the character and history of Cocentaina. It is the capital of the Comtat region, an agricultural district once scattered with Moorish farmsteads that, after the Recon quest, became Christian and Moorish farms. It took ten years for Jaime I to finally conquer the town; during the course of time the Christian quarter was walled to protect it from the large Moorish population living in the old part of the town, El Raval, located on the slopes of the San Cristóbal Mountain. With the expulsion of the Moors, the capital of the Comtat began to decline. In the Christian quarter, called Vila, a fortified palace was constructed for the first lord of medieval Cocentaina, Roger de Lauria. In 1442, the king of Aragon Alfonso XIII granted the title of Count and Lord of the lands of Cocentaina to the distinguished soldier Ximén Perez de Corella and the town became a Ciutat Comtal (County town). The Corella family renovated and extended the palace and gave it its current appearance. Adjacent is the Clarisas Convent (Franciscan Order of Poor Clares) with an image of the 'Mare de Deu del Miracle', which has been an object of devotion since 1520 when it wept 27 tears in the presence of the faithful. A visit of the town can be started from the Palace, taking note of the typical tile work on the façades of houses lining Calle Mayor, 'els taulellets', and in the Churches of the Salvador (St Saviour's) and Santa María de la Asunción (St Mary of the Assumption), which are all located in the maze of lanes and alleys of the old Moorish Raval quarter. Cocentaina has the best-preserved and admired medieval centre of Alicante's mountain hinterland.

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Article Link: http://www.property-partnership.com/overseas-property-guides/overseas-property-guide.cfm?id=115

Please contact the author at gary@gbinspain.com for more information.