Tapas in Javea at El Clavo
Where can you get good tapas in Javea? It’s a question I am asked a lot and the answer is that there are many good places - and here is one of them. Down at the Port facing the sea is El Clavo. On the right you can see the menu and I guess it accounts for most of what they offer.
So you have your typical seafood tapas - prawns, squid, octopus, small sardines. You have your meaty tapas - meatballs, lomo, mini-ribs, a bit of chicken sometimes. And your ‘typical’ tapas like paella, patatas bravas, and of course snails.
The quality? Very good. The price? Well, it’s not cheap but it is good value. The price for each tapa varies but they have a good clear menu and each tapa’s cost is clearly displayed.
My recommendation is - this is one tapa bar that gives excellent food and good service. It’s right on the seafront overlooking La Grava beach, has quite a few tables outside with parasols and I have spent several very pleasant interludes here. Give it a go.
To get to El Clavo drive fown and into Javea Port, past Polly’s Bookshop on your left, carry on past the Javea Tourist Information office on your right, park where you can, and you should see it on your left, effectively underneath the ‘new’ church. While you are here, head up the steps past El Clavo, take a left and you will see some souvenir shops and a nice sailing outfitters shop - lots of cool clothes if you sail, and they look cool if you don’t also.
There are lots of day trips you can take when you are in Javea - and one that is well worth the while whether you have a musician in the family or not is to the guitar factory in Gata de Gorgos, about 9 km from Javea. I should make clear that there is no obligation to buy - they are really friendly and very passionate about what they do and happy just to show people round. Obviously when you get this close to such craftmanship there is a great temptation to buy and I guess they don’t do badly!If I had a couple of hundred euros to spare when I visited there is no question, one of their guitars would have been coming home with me!I didn’t know they did guitars like this but you can get classical Spanish guitars - no surprise there - but narrow bodied - really narrow - almost like a semi-acoustic electric. These are designed for the coolest flamenco players but get an amazing amount of resonance from a very narrow body. I’ve never seen them anywhere else and would have bought one except I already had the guitar I had brought over with me to take home.There are distinct sections to the factory - where everything is done by hand I should add - and the process begins with them wetting the wood and wrapping it round the moulds. The inside supports to give it strength are fitted - and strips are also placed on the underside of the soundboard to channel the sound. Then they tie the top, bottom and sides of the guitar with string and let it dry. One fact I didn’t know - and if you have an acoustic guitar in the house go and check now - the top of your guitar (where the soundhole is) is actually made up of two pieces of wood glued together in the middle. I’ve been playing guitar twenty years and I never knew that - doh!
After the guitars are dried they are painted. When dry they go to assembly where things are added like tuning pegs. Then come the frets which are simply angled pieces of metal banged into the fretboard with a hammer, by hand. The bridge is attached, the guitar polished and varnished and finally the strings are attached and it is road tested.
wicker basket shops (the town’s other speciaility) - keep going, turn left just before you get out of town and head to the railway tracks. As you drive towards the railway tracks you will see on your left a street with a no entry sign - look in the sky and you should see the guitar sign on your left. Now you know where the street is - head to the train tracks do a left, a left and probably another left and you will be there. They can be contacted on 659 962 481. 
Well, the story I am told is that the Villa was given to the Minister for Tourism under Franco’s regime by the Town Council, as a gesture of thanks for giving the order to build the Parador in the town. Now of course that Minister is very old but the terms of the gift were that he could use it during his lifetime, but once he died it would be returned to the council. So he doesn’t feel like spending on it when he won’t keep it. It’s what I’ve heard anyway.You should visit because it’s very eery and intriguing to think just how fantastic it would have been twenty years ago. You can view it by walking behind the Parador and along the sea wall. Why not stop at the Parador and have a drink on their terrace while you’re there. The Roman ruins that can be found in both places are the remnants of the Villa built for the Roman Commander of the area - now imagine that - a villa on the arenal with no other buildings on it at all.
Every year in Javea they decorate the Promenade with the most fantastic sculptures. The best place to see them is down at the Port near the tourist information office where you can find a guide to the artists that made them and a little bit about the works. While you’re down this part of town pop into Polly’s for a second-hand novel, have a beer at Posito next to the tourist office or some tapas at El Canari.
Some of the best ones use the local Tosca stone. As you drive from Javea Port to the Arenal you will see what look like steps leading into the sea - these are I believe remains from where this stone was quarried in Roman times.
He had a selection of his work displayed in 
It’s not something we do very often when on holiday, but I can recommend getting up really early! Take a trip down to the arenal beach and watch the sun come up. 
