The city of Alicante, the capital of the Costa Blanca, has a story full of love, loss, and honour, which is connected to the ‘Alicante’ name.
It centres on Cántara, the beautiful daughter of the city’s caliph, and two young men who both wanted to marry her: Aly and Almanzor.
Not wanting to upset either suitor, the caliph decided that whoever completed the most impressive task would win Cántara’s hand in marriage.
An unrequited love
Almanzor set off on a journey to find the finest and rarest materials for the work, while Aly stayed behind, focusing all his time on courting Cántara. She fell for Aly and decided to choose him before he had finished the task he promised.
But the caliph was a man of his word. Since Almanzor completed the job, he gave his daughter’s hand to him. Heartbroken, Aly threw himself into a ravine, which later became the Tibi reservoir.
Alicante name: A tragic end
Cántara, unable to live without Aly, threw herself from the cliffs at San Julián. Since then, the spot has been called the “Salt of the Moorish Queen.”
The caliph, crushed by grief over losing his daughter, died soon after. His face was carved into Benacantil mountain, and people call this the “Moor’s face”, a familiar sight from Alicante.
According to legend, the sad story of these lovers inspired the Saracen court to name the city Alicántara. Over time, the name became Alicante.
