Torrevieja is a city larger than Guardamar and about a 20-minute bus ride away. It's along the coast as well but it lacks a beach. There's a boardwalk instead.
But we weren't interested in the boardwalk. We walked and walked and walked in the 5PM sun, scurrying from shady spot to shady spot, navigating roundabouts, and zigzagging our way from the city center to the edge of town. We passed so many Chinese restaurants. We walked through a neighborhood built for the British, which had no shady spots on the sidewalk because the British love the sun (that's why they vacation in Spain). I'm pretty sure we made it to the edge of town.
We come to a field overgrown with wild plants and see a black mass off in the distance. It's the ruins of a relaxation spa that Toyo Ito designed (here is more information). The mayor of Torrevieja a few years back commissioned several famous architects to build in the city. The relaxation spa was hated by the locals, and when the financial crisis hit and the project was more heavily scrutinized, it was found that the spa was being built on land protected as a nature preserve by the Valencian government (similar to a state government). Construction was halted and what was already built was abandoned.
We climbed into the foundation of the spa and found it eerie. We could tell that it had been burned and the glass had been shattered. This is a photo of me inside of the ruins. The twisting wood formed a shell shape that sat on a concrete foundation. I am standing on a steel floor deck. It was massive and humbling to be inside. It made me realize that even if I become a famous architects, it's still the luck of the draw that determines whether or not your projects will be realized in the end.
