Guardamar del Segura

Guardamar del Segura (Valencian pronunciation: [ˌɡwaɾðaˈmaɾ ðeɫ seˈɣuɾa]) or briefly Guardamar is a municipality of the province of Alicante located at the mouth of the river Segura in southern Valencia (autonomous community), Spain. It is a Mediterranean resort, with a large pine forest abutting an 11-km-long white sand beach.

Historically an area of fishermen and farmers, Guardamar del Segura is the southernmost point where Valenciano (a dialect of Catalan) is spoken.

A Phoenician colony, called Herna by Roman geographer Avienus in his book Ora Maritima was the first settlement near the mouth of Segura river, and later Arabs called the place وادالرمل "Guald-al-ramal" (River of the Sand), likely the basis for its name today. In Spanish, "guardar" means "safekeeping" and "mar" means "sea", and this is another possible basis for its current name.

Guardamar hosts local festivals like Moros i Cristians, L'Encantà, and Fogueres de Sant Joan, which commemorate its history (Iberian, Arab, and Christian). The local spirit is called Aigua de València (champagne, fresh orange, cointreau).

Guardamar is the southernmost Catalan-speaking town, although as of 1991 only 41.8% of the town's residents knew how to speak it.

Points of interests

• Torreta de Guardamar, a radio mast of the US military and the tallest structure in the European Union.

External links

• Up to date information about Guardamar del Segura with quality photographs
• Information for Guardamar del Segura, on the Costa Blanca in Spain
• GUARDAMAR.com
• Agrupación Musical de Guardamar del Segura
• guardamardelsegura.com
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