Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente square is the starting point of the hiking trails and also the start of La Milla (the mile). The people of Santa Pola love sports and healthy living, so it is normal to see people walking from this place up to the end of East Santa Pola, until they reach a place called La Cadena (the chain). This walk of some 3km hosts many hikers who, when coming across one another will ask: “Have you arrived?”, referring to the final point of La Milla. Santa Pola’s urban seafront is 7km long in total.
The first part of La Milla is called Paseo de Santiago Bernabéu, honouring the man who was the great host of Santa Pola. His main hobby was to spend hours in the sea in his small boat. On one occasion, at a social event where local personalities attended to honour him, when the time came to give out the gifts, the Major noticed that he had not brought a gift for him and was very quick to find a solution: in his speech, he proclaimed that the gift for the eminent Santiago was to name this street after him.
Santa Pola’s municipal slaughterhouse was, in older times, in this same site. The elderly locals still remember that the best octopuses were caught here.
The sand of Santa Pola beaches has a sort of greyish colour, different to the typical golden of other beaches. This is due to its high content of mafic minerals. On the Isle of Tabarca, opposite Santa Pola, emerge some sub volcanic rocks whose erosion has filled our beaches with darker grains. This feature is common on all the beaches except that of Pinet.
