Text: Antonio Colmenar / Photo: BloguerosViajeros.com
Where does the sky begin? And where does the sea end? There are dawns in the Valencian locality of Benidorm when you do not know if what you are seeing is the water of the sea lapping the foot of the beach or a firmament of clouds bursting into bloom above the skyscrapers.
Benidorm is the Spanish city with the most skyscrapers, even more than Madrid and Barcelona. It has 27 buildings standing more than 100 metres in height, the tallest of all being the residential structure Intempo, whose 200 metres make it the fifth tallest building in Spain, and the second highest residential block in Europe, only outmatched by the Breslavia Sky Tower in Poland.
This colossus of two towers joined at the top and with 47 floors underwent several setbacks during its construction phase when the housing market bubble burst. It finally ended up in the hands of Sareb, the bad bank of the Spanish government, that accumulates all those things that the Spaniards pay for with their taxes.
But Benidorm is not just the InTempo fiasco. We are looking at one of the most important and well know tourist destinations in Spain and the Mediterranean, courtesy of its beaches and its night life. In summer, it houses 400.000 inhabitants, making it the tourist capital of Comunidad Valenciana and the city with most hotel beds in Spain, beaten this time, by Madrid and Barcelona.
Among its hotels is the Bali, which continues to be the highest hotel in Europe. It is 186 metres tall, although the partial construction plan was for a height of 210 metres. It has 52 floors and a total of 776 rooms.
