El Puerto de Santa María
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El Puerto de Santa María is situated on the Cadiz coast within the Bay of Cadiz, to the south of San Cristóbal mountain range and neighbour to the towns of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Jerez de la Frontera, Rota, Puerto Real, Cádiz with a total of some 22 kms of coast. El Puerto de Santa María is renowned for its main tourist attraction, its beaches, which total 16kms of its coast, all are of fine golden sand and are graced with more than 3.000 hours of sunlight per year. A little of its history: The town was founded after the Trojan Wars by Menestheo, General of de Athens, settling in the city and naming it El Puerto de Menestheo. Later the Phoenicians and the Greeks were responsible for the increase in commerce through the port. Proof of this fact is the archaeological ruins of Doña Blanca that date from the VIII century B.C. The town was also occupied by Romanas and Visigoths and in the year 711 it was conquered by the Moors in the battle of the Guadalete who renamed the town Alcanatif or Port of the salt mines. In the year 1260 the town was re-conquered by Alfonso X who changed its name to Santa Maria del Puerto. |
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In various works of Alfonso X the town was the protagonist of various miracles of the Virgin Mary. Christopher Columbus chose this town as his residence where he convinced a local merchant to put his boat (La Santa Maria) at his service in which he made his voyage to the new World of America. Great progress was made in the town during the XVI and the XVII centuries with the building of the Royal Boats and housing the headquarters of the Navy. At the end of the XIX century, commerce to the New World had declined and after a number of wars and revolutions the town ceased to expand. In the XX century and thanks to the commerce of the local wine and sherries and of course tourism, the town now a city, began to recover it former glory.
Calle Ave del Paraiso 6 / P.O.Box 720 | 11500 El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz
Tel: +34 956 87 19 26 | Fax:+34 956 54 19 18
info@SpanishSummerCamp.com
