Moraira

There are fishermen’s associations, public and primary children’s education, Club Nautico de Moraira, and a modern building of various public services (The Espai Senieta), such as a public library, exhibition hall, assembly hall, classroom teaching, and leisure.

The American writer Chester Himes resided near Moraira, in the municipality of Teulada, where he lived until his death in 1984.

Origins and Evolution

Although the name Moraira is very old, the current village namesake originated many centuries later to be known with the name of some features as a rural area. In the late 18th century, buildings began to develop near the sea, according to the report of Fuero Fabian (1791).

This was possibly related to the export of the passes and were located near the Plains of the Sea. However, according to A.J. Cavanille (1797), there were no people throughout this area. “There are some people in the vicinity of Teulada, which is [the sea] almost a league to the northwest.”

Until the third decade of the 19th century, the population could not prosper in coastal locations that were not heavily protected, and that piracy was prevalent even at sea. Only with the conquest of Algiers by the French in the year 1830 did the outbreak of pirates end, and little by little activity on Moraira’s shores became possible, and people could live with more peace of mind.

Moraira is a village in the municipality of Teulada, situated 6 km off the Mediterranean coast. It is an important international tourist center.

Its parish, dedicated to the Virgen de los Desamparados, was established in 1974, being built in the same building as the late 19th-century chapel dedicated to Mary. It was built with material from the Moraira Castle, located a few hundred meters from the town.

It was mid-19th century when they begin to see a shop and a tavern with a few houses on the street of Dalt dels Magatzems, the former nucleus that was formed by the people. Then, at the same time that this street was formed, originated from the street or down the sea, the old kernel was created by these. This urban setting would continue throughout the second half of the 19th century.

Population Data

The first known figure of the number of houses in the heart of Moraira was back in 1860. According to the Gazetteer of the Province of Alicante, this year the “hamlet of Morayra,

which is miles from Teulada, has 38 houses, of which there is a 12-floor, 25 two-stories, and one unspecified. Of these 27 were permanently inhabited.

According to the Attorney Register of Buildings and Sites of 1922, the number of houses on the streets of Moraira is as follows: New Street, now Dr. Calatayud, 10 houses; Store Street, 23 houses; Beach Street, 4 houses; Sea Street, 4 houses; and Carrero Street, 5 homes. The total was 46 houses.

In the Gazetteer of the Province of Alicante in 1940, the “Radas de Moraira” (considered as the “houses”) were attached to 55 houses and nine for other uses. The number of people residing in Moraira in 1940 was actually 215 and 212.

Later, around the 1960s, the arrival of tourism began and, with it, the expansion of the town—first, with the construction of new houses on the street known during the ’50s as “Dr. Calatayud, and then the opening of new streets along the path of Portet (known as Denia and John Streets during the 18th century).

Back in the ’70s the Avenue of Madrid opened and then the other streets on either side of this avenue. Recently, this important road has been widened to the west at the opening of a new access and goes up the road from Moraira to Calpe.