Alicante City Hall presides over the town's main square with an authority earned the hard way. The original building was destroyed by French cannon fire from the sea in 1691, and its successor took nearly a century to complete. The result is a Neo-classical facade whose ornamental cannons — pointing seaward — nod to that maritime vulnerability.

Step inside and a surprise awaits: a sculpture of John the Baptist by Salvador Dalí, the artist's fingerprints still pressed into the stucco. Upstairs, ornate ceremonial rooms sit alongside what locals call the "rogues' gallery," portraits of every mayor who has held office here.

Look through the building's windows as you pass and you'll see something older: intact sections of the city's medieval wall, preserved inside when the hall was extended around them.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours connect the City Hall's cannon-battered past to the festivals that fill the square today, from New Year countdowns to Easter processions.