The parish church of Altea, called the Virgin del Consuelo.

I'm going to have a little waffle on about this church, if that's OK.
I have been to Altea many times and for one reason or another, I have never been up into the old quarters and inside this church, probably because we like to walk by the sea and browse around the shops, and then it is usually time to head back to Benidorm, but this time I made the effort to go up there.

Wow, I was absolutely gobsmacked when I walked inside, I wasn't expecting what was before me and I feel like I would have missed something in my life, if I had never set eyes on this church.
I'm not a person who likes to look around art galleries or museums, but I do have a "thing" about churches, mosques and palaces.
I've been inside a lot of churches in Spain, so what is different about the one in Altea.?
I think when you go to places like Madrid, Valencia, Granada etc etc, in other words, the cities, then over the years you kindda come to "expect" astounding buildings, but here we have little Altea, tucked away on the Costa Blanca a typical Spanish "white washed" village/town and it possesses a beautiful church....a hidden gem if ever there was one!

The church is over 900 years old and apparently one of the bell towers was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War and has never been repaired, as a symbolic reminder of the destruction of the conflict.

I usually drag David around churches and he doesn't normally utter any opinions, but he was also impressed when we went inside and his first words were "oh my goodness, how do they keep it so clean" ?
Whilst I'm not into art Altea attracts artists, writers and painters from all Nationalities and the plaza outside the church with its restaurants, fill up in the evenings and apparently artists display their works in the summer months.

Just outside the church is a mirador (viewpoint) and from here you can see Benidorm's skyscrapers in the distance.
All this is just one Euro bus ride away from Benidorm and quite frankly, it could be a hundred miles away from the image of Benidorm.

If you are not fit enough to walk up to the church, then a taxi will cost about 4 or 5 Euros and you can walk down.
We started to walk up, but after a very short distance, I must admit that we got a taxi which cost 4 euros for the rest of the way. My neck/spine was hurting and it was "killing me" by the time I had filmed the ceiling in the church. Aww,sympathy needed here folks but, as I had been foolish going on the ice rink four days previously, then I suffered in silence....as if !

Anyway, I've had my little waffle.so, I'll just post the link to the video and let you see parts of this beautiful church.
It "broke my heart" to chop and massacre the video down to reduce the file size, which then enabled me to upload it on HT....Enjoy.!

Virgin del Consuelo Church, Altea...................December 2006

Sanji x