Villaricos Village |
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The village has a thriving local community and a traditional rhythm, every Sunday there is a colourful market. Villaricos is full of charm and vitality, it has an old fashioned simplicity and a warm friendly atmosphere. Location The village sits at edge of El Playazo, a 7 km long great sandy beach of the Almanzora coast, that stretches across the mouth of the Almanzora River. Villaricos beaches are well known locally for their beauty and tranquillity.
La Boca del Rio – This is the broad stretch of sand that cuts across the mouth of the summer dry Rio Almanzora, again very quiet with few tourists, but popular for beach fishing. Las Brisas Beach – This long curved sandy beach is more frequented being closer to the village and being served by the popular Las Brisas Beach Bar, which is great for paella, sardines and long relaxed beach lunches. There is a children’s play area near the Castillo de Cristal at the village end. El Castillo de Cristal Beach – Just the other side of the Castillo and reached from the Maritime Paseo, is this small sand beach, bounded by rocks on one side and the tiny La Balsica harbour on the other, where there is a delightful “chiringuito”, serving excellent tapas. Cala Verde – This is a black pebble beach, right in front of the village, with exceptionally clean bright water. Somewhat uncomfortable under foot, it is nevertheless the beach of choice for the local villagers. Excellent for snorkelling, the remains of the old iron “embarcadero” of the mining days are still visible on the sea bed beyond the mirador. Villaricos was a real live village in its own right and any new development would need to be special. A sympathetic and attractive traditional building style was designed and vacant sites within the village are being redeveloped with courtyard schemes of low rise townhouses and apartments, grouped around their own gardens and pools. Using the existing street pattern in this manner reinforces the traditional identity of the village, improves values and raises the sense of quality from the outset. Later, the surrounds of the village will be linked together with a series of plazas, some with shops, bars and restaurants, others with both formal and informal gardens and swimming pools, themselves joined by narrow streets and alleys in the old Mediterranean manner.
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Villaricos is a simple fishing village, perched precariously between the Sierra Almagrera and the sea and flanked by the Almanzora River. With a history that dates back to Neolithic times, Villaricos was once a great Phoenician port. In the 19th century the village was a silver mining town and now it is a very pretty traditional fishing village.
La Fabrica del Duro - The closest part of El Playazo, named after the “money factory”, the mint that was situated here in the time of the silver mining boom. Very tranquil and little frequented, with a series of small sandy bays.