This building contains some modernist features and was built between 1911 and 1912 under the management of Juan Vidal Ramos over Balmes Square, over which there was still a part of the 18th century wall. With its rectangular shape, the Market mimics the layout of a basilica, with a circular appendix on the South-west side covered by a semispherical dome called La Rotonda (the roundabout). The building is split into two floors, one of which is a semi-basement due to the irregular surrounding streets. The front of the building was designed by Enrique Sánchez Sedeño and is presided by an impressive staircase surrounded by two emerging figures with decorative features. On 25th May 1938, the Mercado Central was hit during the worst bombing suffered by the city of Alicante during the Spanish Civil War, which resulted in 300 civilian victims. The Italian air force was responsible for that tragedy. All kinds of high-quality products can be bought at the Market, especially local fish and seafood, vegetables and fruit, as well as other typical local products. That is why the city’s top restaurants source their food from the Mercado Central.

The Gold Museum is the most well-known museum in Bogotá, with 6,000 of artefacts on display and another 49,000 in the archives. Explore the pre-Hispanic cultural heritage presented over three floors. Jewellery, masks, bowls, ritual offerings and armour are separated by themes and geographic area. Guided tours are conducted in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. Check the schedule on the official website.

Further inland, in the southern part of the island, lie the so-called masticochoria (mastic villages). These well-preserved, fortified villages date from the 14th-16th centuries and were centres for the cultivation of mastic. Mastic is the sweet-tasting gum of the lentisk bush, which was exported all over the Mediterranean – and the area still produces around 300 tonnes of mastic every year. The most picturesque villages are Pyrgi, with its houses decorated in black and white geometric patterns called xysta Mesta, where towers and walls surround a baffling labyrinth of village streets as well as Olympoi and Vessa are all a worth a visit.