Elche location, history and culture
Elche is a unique Mediterranean city situated on the touristic Costa Blanca of Spain, in the Valencian Community, located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located 20 minutes from Alicante and 15 minutes from Alicante-Elche International Airport, so it is a city with excellent connections with the major airports in Europe, which is ideal for students who want to learn Spanish.
Despite being a safe and easy to handle city, ideal for young students, Elche is also a relatively large sized city that offers endless possibilities for both its inhabitants and visitors. Not in vain, with a population of over 230.000 people, it is the third most populous city of the Valencian Community, behind Valencia and Alicante.
Although Elche is a city with a rich past whose foundation dates back to the 5th century BC, it is also a young city boasts a vibrant and dynamic atmosphere. With three universities based in the city, University Miguel Hernández (UMH), University Cardenal Herrera (CEU) and Distance Learning University (UNED ), it is no wonder that it offers all kinds of opportunities for young students, either academic or entertainment and leisure.
For its privileged location on the Mediterranean coast, Elche boasts an exceptional climate with mild winters and over 300 days of sunshine a year. Thanks to this, the supply of outdoor activities in the city is very wide, for both residents and tourists. Whether through water activities, hiking or sports of all kinds, Elche will satisfy the wishes of outdoor enthusiasts. In addition, Elche offers a variety of parks, open spaces and public sports complexes, because its inhabitants are big fans of all sports, resulting in a large number of facilities for practicing and organising numerous sporting events that take place throughout the year.
With a history of over 2.000 years, Elche also offers a wide cultural offer, as it keeps vestiges of numerous civilizations that have passed through the city over the centuries. Through its many monumental buildings and museums, lovers of culture and history will enjoy the various transformations undergone by the city in its time travel. Iberians, Romans, Franks, Germans, Byzantines, Visigoths and Arabs… they all passed through Elche to form what now is an eclectic and beautiful city, with a very rich past.
From the passage of the Arabs through the city, Elche retains one of its most beautiful treasures: the Palm Grove. With more than 200.000 palm trees and declared a World Heritage in 2.000, the Palm Grove of Elche is the largest in Europe and has become the unmistakable symbol of the city. Thanks to it, Elche offers truly unique and beautiful landscapes that surround the city in a tropical atmosphere.
However, the Palm Grove is not its only World Heritage declared by UNESCO. Besides it, Elche boasts two other World Heritages: the Misteri d’Elx, a wonderful religious representation dating back to medieval times, and the Centre for Traditional Culture School Museum of Pusol, a unique museum that takes us on a journey through time to the Elche of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This makes Elche a single city, for there is no other Spanish city that boasts three properties inscribed on the categories of World Heritage of UNESCO.
A few kilometres from the historical centre of the city, we can find one of Elche’s biggest attractions: its beautiful beaches. More than 9 kilometres of beaches with white sand and clear sky-blue waters are waiting for the students of our Spanish school for them to enjoy one of the greatest pleasures of Mediterranean life. Some of its beaches are located in unique enclaves surrounded by dunes and offer all kinds of nautical and water sports such as windsurfing, surfing, paddle surfing (SUP), dinghy or catamaran. But undoubtedly the most enjoyable activities for both, locals and visitors, are sunbathing, taking a swim or having a drink in a pleasant terrace facing the sea or in one of its many chiriguitos (beach bars), so typical of the Spanish beaches.
Considered the capital of footwear, Elche has a long tradition of shoemaking, which has turned it into the largest producer in Spain and a benchmark all around the world, so the shoe lovers will find in the city a place to indulge. In addition, shopping enthusiasts can enjoy the best companies and brands in various commercial areas of Elche, as the one located in the historical centre, its fantastic outlet route and its two large shopping centres.
We are confident that all students who choose to learn Spanish in Elche will greatly enjoy their stay and will live an unforgettable experience.
Culture and History
The origins of Elche date back to 500 BC when the Iberians built and founded the city of Hélike upon a small mount. This was an era of splendour in which, according to historians, the Dama de Elche, one of the city’s most valuable treasures, was discovered at La Alcudia archaeological site on 4th August 1897.
In the year 209 BC, the city was taken by the Romans. However, it was to be later, after the fall the Roman Empire and under Muslim rule, when the city was firmly established in its current location, in the area known as La Vila Murada. This was an important period in terms of development and wealth for the city.
Yet the arrival of James I and the Christian conquest in the 17th Century caused the city to suffer an important loss of population, due to the expulsion of the Moors. Two centuries later, espadrilles started to be manufactured in the city, this being the first step on the road to establishing a successful footwear manufacturing industry, on which much of the city’s economy is now based.
