Panoramic View and the Legend of the Cara del Moro

As you take the path down through Ereta Park into Alicante’s old town, you’ll be treated to sweeping views over the sparkling bay. There are plenty of scenic balconies and viewpoints along the way, so take your time and don’t forget to snap a few photos! While you’re admiring the view, let me tell you the legend behind one of Alicante’s most iconic landmarks, the “Cara del Moro,” or the Moor’s Face. Just to be clear, that’s Moor as in M-O-O-R, the old term used for the Berber peoples of North Africa. The story goes back to the days when this fortress was under Muslim rule. An Arab governor lived here with his beautiful daughter, Zahara, who had no intention of getting married, so her father organised a grand reception, inviting all the kingdom’s most eligible bachelors. A young Christian man somehow managed to sneak into the gathering. Worse still, he was the son of the governor’s sworn enemy. Naturally, the two young people fell in love. They planned to run away and live in secret, but before they could escape, the young man was found, arrested, and sentenced to death. The girl was devastated, and refused to eat or drink. Eventually, her father made her a deal, if, by the next morning, the slopes of Benacantil were covered in white, he would spare her lover and allow them to be together. If not, she would have to marry the Arab prince he had chosen. Zahara agreed, and spent the night praying for the impossible, snow, in a place where it barely ever rains. At sunrise, she opened her eyes, and the mountain was white. Not with snow, but with almond blossoms, blooming in full. Overjoyed, she ran to tell her father, only to find her beloved already dead. Her father hadn’t kept his word. Crushed by grief, Zahara threw herself from the top of the mountain. Her father, struck by remorse, fell to his knees and begged Allah to punish him. The legend says, he was turned to stone, and his face was carved into the side of the mountain, gazing toward the place where his daughter had fallen. A lasting reminder that a promise… must never be broken.