Benidorm Potted History

PEOPLE have lived at Benidorm for thousands of years, but it only enters the historical record when granted a town charter in 1325.

For centuries watch towers were needed at both ends of the bay to protect the town from raids by African slavers.

The danger still existed in the early 1800s, but by then Benidorm was prospering thanks to a fishing industry based mainly on tuna.

It became a Spanish tourist destination in the 1920s, and an international one from the 1960s.

Fishermen's shrine