Just 90 minutes south of Valencia by car, the small city of Calpe occupies a privileged location along the Costa Brava. Like most towns on the Mediterranean, Calpe has almost completely given itself over to tourism. That’s not surprising, but we weren’t expecting to be impressed by the city’s architecture. Usually, high-rises thrown up for the sake of tourist dollars are bland. But Calpe has some buildings that are actually worth a look.
The most impressive piece of architecture in Calpe was built by the well-known firm of Mother Nature Inc. The Peñón de Ifach is an immense limestone outcrop that juts into the sea, connected to land by a narrow isthmus. At 332 meters in height, the rock dwarfs even the tallest of the city’s high-rises, and provides some perspective on the inability of humankind to truly change a landscape.
We did scale the Peñón during our trip, and will be writing more about that in another post. But for now, we want to focus on Calpe’s man-made constructions. It’s not like they’re all great — this is still a Spanish Mediterranean town, and most of the architecture is of the ugly variety. But Calpe has more weird, interesting, modern architecture than you’d expect, and we enjoyed discovering it.
We found ourselves wondering if Calpe’s high-rises act like flowers to the sun-starved bees of northern Europe. Why else would these buildings be so playful with their forms and colors? Is there something about pastel shades and rounded shapes, which draws people in? We are cynical, and have trouble believing that they were built simply for beauty’s sake.
As a photographer, Jürgen found Calpe to be a fascinating spot for photos. Here, the old mixes with the new, the organic with the man-made, the hideous with the beautiful. In some areas, there’s an almost unnatural lack of people, but then you turn the corner and the plazas are bustling. Some buildings sport wavy terraces which make no sense from close-up, but seen from further away, or from above, reveal a strange consistency with the landscape. We were consistently surprised by Calpe, and found ourselves appreciating it more, the longer we looked.
One of the coolest places to appreciate the city’s contrasts was behind the salt lakes. In the lake’s reflection, you can see the Peñón de Ifach and skyscrapers in a mirrored image occasionally interrupted by flamingos scouring for food.
We hope you enjoy these architectural photographs of Calpe! It’s a strange town, but one that’s well worth a visit, even if it’s not for a typical beach-based holiday. We’ve got several more articles about Calpe coming your way soon!
From our Travel Blog.