The Moros y Cristianos of La Vila Joiosa, held in honour of Santa Marta from 24 to 31 July, are of International Tourist Interest since 2003, and the reason is the Desembarco. In the early hours of 28 July the Moorish army sets out from the port, more than thirty boats wait offshore among fireworks and mock bombardments, and at sunrise the landing and the battle are fought on the beach.
Crowds watch it standing, sitting and lying on the sand, in the dark. Some of them go home without their keys.
Search before you give up
Sand swallows keys quickly, but not deeply. Before ringing anyone:
- Go back to where you sat, in daylight if you can. At night, a phone torch held low across the sand shows a key’s outline better than one pointed straight down.
- Check the obvious twice: every pocket, the bag lining, the towel or blanket you sat on, shaken out over clear ground.
- Ask the people you were with to check their bags. Keys handed to a friend “just for a minute” are a classic.
- Ask whether anything has been handed in. The Policía Local and the bars along the seafront are where a found set of keys is most likely to be handed in.
Sifting sand with your hands for an hour rarely works. Walking slowly along the line where you sat, looking, often does.
If the keys are gone
There are two separate questions: how to get in tonight, and whether the lost keys are a risk.
Getting in. A locksmith opens the door through the latch or the cylinder whenever possible, so nothing is broken. You will be asked for proof that you live there, so if your documents are inside, say so: they are checked as soon as the door is open.
If you live in the old town, just behind the beach, the locksmith walks in from outside the restricted streets: locked out inside the old town’s camera zone explains why and what to say.
The risk. Keys on their own, dropped in a crowd, rarely lead anyone to a door. Keys on a ring with an address tag, a building fob or a holiday-flat label do. If yours had anything like that, change the cylinder now rather than after the festival. The new one comes with its own keys and the old set stops working.
For next year
- Carry one house key, not the whole bunch, on a lanyard or a zipped pocket.
- Leave a spare set with someone in town, not in the car.
- If you are staying in a holiday flat, ask the host before the night how a lockout is handled.
And if the night ends somewhere other than home, for example at the hospital, there is a guide for getting home from hospital without your keys.
When you are ready to get in, here is how a door is opened without damage.