Amerys Travels

Amerys Travels 2009- From the mountains of Costa Blanca, Spain

2009-07-21T16:40:00.001-07:00

It’s not all about sun and sea here, as this area of Spain is very mountainous indeed, and you don’t have to go far inland to find dramatic mountain views and pretty little villages. A relaxed day trip from Calpe through Callosa de Serria and Tarbena (try the Fox Venta (roadhouse/pub) as we did, and meet the very friendly three legged cat. Onward through Jalon, Benissa and Teulada, and your mountain tour could include the locally famous Algar falls, with their swimming holes, and the very pretty (but a bit touristy) Guadalest village (see photos) and castle- quaint cobbled streets and just amazing views over the reservoir and surrounding countryside.

But all good things come to an end, and after two weeks here, we needed to move on.

We had a six hour drive down to our shared apartment near Puerto Banus where we replaced our view from the house of Penon Ifach with our rather distant but similar view of Gibraltar (well, from the roof terrace on a clear day!)

Here we have spent just ten nights this winter, including a week with friends, and now we have just returned to New Zealand via a night in London and a night in Kuala Lumpur. In case you are wondering why we are only away for half the usual amount of time this year, it’s because Christine’s mother is not as well as she used to be and we didn’t feel that we should be away for too long- we are just thankful we have been able to get away at all.

As this area of Spain has been covered so thoroughly in our travel journal over the last seven years, we will leave it at that for this year.

Bye for now,

Richard (and of course Christine)

Amerys Travels 2009- Costa Blanca, Spain- local places around this coast

2009-07-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the break in this journal- now for a catch up!

Exploring the coast to the north of Moraira, first decent sized place we came to was El Arenal, a lovely beach of good sand between rocky headlands, and backed by shops and cafes. At the southern end we were much taken with the cafés and bars close to the water beside the beach. Four of the first ten photos are of this town.

A little further north of here, Javea is more of a residential area than just a beach, and we liked the historical town centre a couple of KM’s inland very much- lots of character. The port has some nice big fishing boats, so serious fishing is done here, and the prime spot we found for a fishy lunch (see two photos) was almost over the fish market- right beside the port and upstairs, with nice views over the port and over the rather unexciting and rocky town beach and promenade.

Here we found our first so called “crisis menu” with menu of the day prices well down, from €14 to €7. Due to the collapse of the UK pound against the Euro, Spain seems very quiet to us this year, and we are picking up the impression that visitor numbers are down by around 25%.

The next town north and over the mountain is Denia (photo of beach and castle) which we found rather unattractive and there was little to admire, except perhaps the castle. Had we been staying here we would have been tempted to jump on a ferry and relocate to Ibiza, as the ferries leave from here.

There are some very nice places to the south of Moraira, and only 30 minutes away is Calpe, where the very striking and impressive Gibraltar like rock Penon Ifach punctuates this coast. Calpe is partly up on a cliff and partly set on two lovely beaches, to the north with an impressive promenade, and to the south, beside the very much working port, more cove like and prettier. You can walk around the rock, or to the top, but my knees told me to wait until they have been fixed.

Between the two beaches, the hard times and intense competition between a dozen or so restaurants clustered together make for some amazing value three course lunches at around €8.50, (NZ$18) including main course examples of Swordfish and grilled Sole. As you walk along comparing the menus you are offered free sangria and nibbles to encourage you to sit in their restaurant- something we have never seen elsewhere.
Needless to say, Calpe is a great lunch or beach destination!

We didn’t get time to explore further south towards Benidorm, but we understand it would be well worthwhile next time we find ourselves in this area.

More from us very soon,
Richard and Christine

Amerys Travels 2009- From Valencia, Spain

2009-07-06T01:31:00.001-07:00

Valencia is around 90 minutes from us, and on arrival, following the advice of our hosts, Geoff and Paula, we parked when we got to the city centre and took the open top double-decker bus tour, which enabled us to see (and hear about) as much of the city as we could in the one day we had available. One day is nowhere near enough.

The city is built on flat land around a river, with many nice bridges, but it has a bizarre quality about it, as the river was completely diverted to solve the massive flooding problems Valencia used to experience, and the dried up river bed now holds gardens. Imagine the Thames replaced by gardens!

We would have thought they could have retained at least a small river and diverted most of the water instead.

Known to New Zealanders as the new home for the America’s Cup yachting trophy we used to hold, we looked forward to seeing the port, and expected a lively waterfront lined with bars, but it all seemed pretty deserted and a bit boring.
The nearby beach area seemed to have all the bars and cafés (where we had lunch) set back from the widest beach of nice sand we have ever seen. We never saw the water’s edge- it would have taken ten to fifteen minutes to walk to the water from the promenade, and although the sand was nice and fine, it’s not our kind of beach- we found it just to big and open and characterless. We would always prefer a small cove between rocks any day.

What was truly delightful was the city centre itself- the old historical centre full of the most splendid buildings, including the cathedral and the pretty Plaza de la Virgen with it’s fountain and statues of the eight virgins.

What was even more impressive, however, was the district full of modern architecture, and it was simply staggering. We used to think the Sydney Opera House was dramatic, but not any longer. As you can see, some is pretty, some is ugly, but all of it is very impressive. It includes an Arts and sciences museum, performance spaces, and Europe’s largest aquarium complex.

Would have loved to have a closer look, and to explore some of the parks, but we will just have to come back.
More from us soon,
Richard

Amerys Travels 2009- Costa Blanca, Spain- Benidorm

2009-07-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

We had heard so much negative comment about beer swilling lager louts in Benidorm over the years since it first became popular in the 60’s for British package holidays, that we have been dreading going to look for ourselves, but at the same time knowing that a visit to Costa Blanca must include the good with the bad.

We expected a flat, featureless coastal plain beside a good beach covered with ugly high rise 60’s concrete tower blocks, and where there were rows of cafés offering Full English Breakfast, Fish and Chips and Real English Ale to a badly sunburnt clientele who all had a knotted handkerchief on their heads and wore socks with sandals. We didn’t see it as a “must see’ attraction on this coast, but thought it was worth having a meal there on the way back from dropping Brother Bill and Polly off at Alicante airport.

What we found was an attractive city of some ugly and some stylish high rise, including and surrounded by hills, beside three good beaches, each separated by hilly headlands, with thousands of palm trees lining the streets. Yes, about half of the café’s could have easily been found in Blackpool, but the rest served mainly Spanish food- or at least what passes for tourist Spanish food up and down the Costas. However, some were very authentic, and we were amazed by the high quality shops alongside the bucket and spade ones.

What surprised us most of all was how few English people there were around, and most we saw were the (as usual) very stylish Spanish families out for their evening stroll- grandparents through to babies all together, and all dressed up. Maybe most of the English package holidays have dinner included, and so they were absent from the streets in the evenings?

The extreme south of the city seems to be the new area, full of classy stylish new developments behind a nice beach, and then over the headland is what looks like the 1960’s developments of high rise apartments beside a huge beach of perfect sand, lined with palm trees, but unlike the very similar Miami Beach and Surfers Paradise beaches, the high accommodation towers did not take the sun off the beach in the evening.

Separating what we have been told is the northern-most Spanish beach (more high rise on a nice beach) from the main beach and a lovely little cove (see photo) is a small promontory, and as you can see, this has been made into a huge and attractive terrace with lovely views out to sea and down over both main beaches. Like the Balcon de Europe at Nerja, for those who have been there, but much bigger and more impressive.

This promontory marks the old town behind it, narrow marble lanes with many boutiques and touristy shops, along with all sorts of eating places. It was as nice as any Spanish “old town” and better than many, and this is were we had our evening meal.

Maybe the town is in a new ascendancy after some years of neglect (as happened to Torremolinos) but all in all we were very impressed and agreed that we could easily spend a week there, especially with places like Calpe, Moraira and the mountain villages close by.

And more about the mountain villages next time.

Richard and Christine
PS: SIXT car rental are clever enough to trace their name on blog sites- see their comment. We also thought they were very clever when they texted us as we got off the plane at Terminal 2 to tell us exactly where to wait for the shuttle bus, and then we only found by asking around that their bus only went to Terminal 1, so we had to catch an airport shuttle to the other terminal. And that’s where we (and another couple with the same directions) waited for one hour before spotting the bus on another part of the arrivals area and stopping it! (The driver said they were no longer allowed to stop where we had been directed)

Amerys Travels 2009- Costa Blanca, Spain- The Moros i Cristians

2009-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

This whole area seems to be obsessed with celebrating the invasion of their coast by the Moors in the 8th century (“Moros”) and the subsequent driving out of the Moros again by the Cristians (no, I am not spelling it wrong) in the 15th century, and many towns hold huge elaborate re-enactments of the struggles, two of which we were able to see some of, in Moraira and Benissa.

Be here in the second half of June if you would like to be thrilled by the exotic scene and deafened by the firing of many what look like ancient black powder blunderbusses- but wear ear plugs, as the noise is horrific in the narrow streets. We can’t understand how the local townsfolk have been doing this for hundreds of years and are not yet stone deaf.

Teams of Cristians, Moros and Pirates with elaborate costumes and weapons supported by their bands (not sure how the pirates fit into the history here, but they are very colourful) storm the castle in turns and then have a great big party (seemingly to demonstrate that they are really all friends) and of course you can’t have any fiesta in Spain without heaps of fireworks.

There is a photo of the most impressive float in the Moraira parade- the pirate ship with the huge skeleton at the back, which reared up and down and stretched out to try to grab the pirate captain.

If you want to learn more about the 8th to the 15th Century Moros I Cristians, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moros_y_cristianos

By for now,

Richard

Amerys Travels 2009- Moraira, Costa Blanca, Spain

2009-07-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

And now to try to catch up with my travel journal!
We had made a last minute decision to have a hotel night after arriving from Gran Canaria to Barcelona before driving the four and a half hours down to Moraira on the Costa Blanca, and what a good decision that turned out to be. On arrival at 6.30 pm there was no sign of Sixt, our car hire firm at Barcelona Airport Turned out they had been banned from their usual pick up point but didn’t ring or text us) and by the time we finally found ourselves on the road it was 9.30pm.

We won’t again use an off-airport rental car company who don’t have at least an office in the arrival hall!

And then they expect you to pick up a black car in an almost dark underground hotel car park and accept responsibility for any existing scratches or damage which may be found on the car at the end of your hire!
Once bitten, twice shy, so I moved the car to better light, and found six bits of un-noted damage for them to record which we would probably have ended up being billed for as our fault.

Stayed the night at the four star Hotel Melia at Sitges 30 minutes down the coast (one of the www.lastminute.com “secret hotels” where you only get to know the hotel name once you have booked) and then headed south, stopping for lunch in the very pleasant little town of Penisscola, which has one of the best castles on this coast.

Moraira is on the coast, around an hour or so each way from both Alicante and Valencia, and just north of Calpe, which is half an hour north of Benidorm, about which more of later.

We are borrowing one of the top ten nicest homes we have ever home exchanged, a spacious villa
(3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms) with infinity pool looking down the valley to the sea, with the huge Penon (peninsular) de Ifach in the distance at Calpe, looking for all the world like Gibraltar protruding dramatically into the Mediterranean.

The valley runs down to one of the prettiest bays we have ever seen, El Portet, a three minute drive, with soft sand and several café’s where you can watch the beach and water activity. Would you like to rent a villa or an apartment there? You can choose one close to the beach at http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/el-portet/

We will tell you about the Moros i Cristians next time....

Regards,

Richard and Christine

2009-06-29T09:57:00.001-07:00

Amerys Travels 2009- Gran Canaria- the north of the island.

We will start with the furthest point we visited, Playa de las Nieves in the North West, noted for it’s fish restaurants, the ferry to Tenerife, the pretty little chapel called Ermita de las Nieves, and the almost impossibility to find a car park, even now in what is the quiet season for the Canary Islands. Heaven help you if you visit November to April (high season) or July and August (summer school holidays)

The bigger town of Agate nearby was reputed to have some nice buildings, but after going round and round the tiny one way streets of the old town, we gave up on it due to our inability to park.

Parking seems to be the Gran Canaria Achilles heel, except in central Palma and parts of the most modern of the southern tourist resorts – and smaller towns particularly need to do something about it if they want us tourists to visit and spend money.

Not too bad for parking in Santa Maria de Guia, a pleasant little town famous for it’s Queso de Flor (cheese of flowers) made from sheep and goats cheese and the flowers of the cardoon thistle. Not nice enough to be worth the trip, in our opinion.
Next stop was Galdar, a very pretty town (again car parking difficult) noted for the famous (at least in Gran Canaria) Cueva Pintada, or painted cave- geometric designs placed there by the aboriginal Guanche people who were here before the Spanish came. Not up to the caves found elsewhere in terms of wall paintings, France, for example) but some interesting stone age village remains of houses, and the house recreation in the photo.

More interesting, we felt, was the Guanche people’s Cenobio de valeron (convent of the valley) which is a collection of 300 caves hollowed out of the rock, mostly within a big sheltering cave. For hundreds of years They have been thought to be the cells of eharimaguadas- the young virgins of the island- who were sent there under the care of the nuns to protect their purity until they were old enough to marry.

You can just picture the young men of the island clambering up the steep slope (see picture of Christine) to the caves in the dead of night, intent on a liaison with one of the young virgins, and being beaten back by the protective nuns, while the girls watched on, giggling with excitement.

What a shame that the less than romantic modern historians have now decided that they were merely grain storage caves!

Another town in the North-east we liked was Teror, with it’s many nice traditional Canarian balconies.

We have also included with this posting some pictures of the famous Cave Restaurante Togoror, and, just down the road, a cave church.

And now time we moved on- all in all, Gran Canaria is a nice size island for a couple of week’s holiday at any time of the year, but best in May or June when it’s quieter and it’s easier to park. It seems you can expect around 30c most of the time with little or no rain (at least in the South) but it can be very hot at times.

An amusing note, now we have finished with Gran Canaria and flown 1,000 miles north to Moraira, on the Costa Blanca in mainland Spain.
I was having a haircut this morning, and bemoaned to the hairdresser that after seven yearly holidays in mainland Spain we still have not found Letche-letche, which is very common in all the Canary islands. After I explained that it was half an inch of condensed milk in a small glass topped up with strong black coffee (you stir up as much of the milk as you wish) she said ‘oh, you mean a Bon-Bon- any bar will do it here!”

Needless to say, our next instalment will be from Moraira.

Richard (and of course Christine)

Amerys Travels 2009- Gran Canaria- A very pretty town, and the biggest city

2009-06-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

There is one small town which really stands out for prettiness, and it’s called Puerto de Mogan.

It has the most delightful waterfront, full of pretty little townhouses with bougainvillea and geraniums everywhere, and several small canals plus a lovely sandy beach. A great place for sitting in one of the many pavement cafés people watching, or watching the long distance sailors preparing their yachts for the Atlantic crossing to America.

If you would like to rent one of the best townhouses here, right on the waterfront, see the photo, and if you can’t read the phone number on the sign, ask me for it. A delightful place.

However, nice as Puerto de Mogan is, having had a good look around the island by now, we have no hesitation in recommending our favourite for your holiday here- exactly where we are lucky enough to be staying. Contact Geraldine at www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/maspalomas/35149

Las Palmas is the biggest city on the island, and has a lovely and well developed heart encompassing good shopping, lots of parking, and the jewel in the crown, Las Canteras beach- golden sand, sheltered by an offshore reef, and lined with a promenade of cafes. Driving in the city is a bit of a nightmare, and the outskirts are quite industrial, except in the older historical centre of Vegueta, where the rich used to live. If you manage to navigate to it via the one way system on your way into or out of Las Palmas, and if you manage to park, you will find lovely squares and buildings and a great cathedral. Of more interest to us, nearby is the little church where Christopher Columbus reputably prayed at before finally setting sail for America. Nearby, the prettiest building of them all- Casa de Colon, houses a delightful small museum (of the three in this area) dedicated to Chris Columbus and his voyages and ships in a historical building with a tranquil central courtyard and lovely balconies.

If you can fight your way over the dual carriageway from Vegueta to the Triana shopping area, walk Calle (ie road) Mesa y Lopes to find some of the best shopping in Gran Canaria, and all the big stores are represented.

Back in the city centre, while Christine researched in a new waterfront shopping centre, I discovered and very much enjoyed the Museo Elder technology museum. Very interactive, and I got to watch some chicks hatching and sit in a jet fighter cockpit, amongst other wonders.

Nearby Parque Santa Catalina is a pretty square, built over a main road – they are very good at burying road and car parks in Spain, and most town squares seem to have several levels of parking beneath them.

On the way to, and up in the hills away from the main coast road, two places we found of interest.

Firstly, at the head of the Barranco de Guayadeque (barrancos is a deep valley/gorge) is the famous Restaurante Togoror, a cave restaurant you can easily get lost in, where the rooms are of course all carved out of the rock, including the tables and chairs. Fascinating, good value food, but depressing and cold on the bum if you are there for an hour!

Not too far away, the town of Aguimes has bronze statues of children playing, bike riding, on a swing etc, and this makes an average town absolutely charming.

Next installment, we will take you up to the north of the island.

Richard and Christine

Amerys Travels 2009- Gran Canaria- desert sand dunes and camels

2009-06-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

The southern rain-free coastal plain was unsuitable for any kind of agriculture and considered valueless until the 1960’s, when a local land owner came up with the idea of developing the area for tourism, as the area had the required ingredients of much sun and sand and was fit for nothing else. Hotels and apartment buildings were developed on a promontory in the south where a Frenchman had built a house in the sand dunes. As you would expect, the local Spaniards named the area after him “Playa del Ingles” (Beach of the Englishman) Maybe French sounded like English to their ears. Or maybe they were clairvoyant, and nowadays it’s very much the English (plus many Germans) who adopted the area and it’s wonderful sands for their holidays in the 60’s and 70’s.

By the 90’s, holidaymakers must have become sick of the cheap, nasty and boring concrete piles of apartments built in Playa Del Ingles in the early days of the Canarian holiday boom, and wanted something more stylish, because the developers learned their lesson and upped and moved back inland and over to the other side of the sand dunes to develop Maspalomas next door as a very much more upmarket resort area, and filled it with lovely but rather crowded villas and the timeshare resorts which had become so popular. Some we saw were simply amazing-look at the infinity pool in the photo. Look for www.riu.com/es/Paises/espana/gran-canaria/ if you want to consider renting one (or buying a timeshare)

The sand dunes are rather special, and I can’t get to the bottom of why they occupy this particular area rather than elsewhere on this coast. There is talk of the sand blowing over from Africa, but why here and not on Tenerife, for example? Anyway, as the photos show, they are very dramatic, and they even have camel safaris. And for those like Christine who know how difficult it is to stay on a camel as it throws you back and forwards while getting to it’s feet, you will be pleased to know that you don’t even have to balance on the camel (ie “get the hump”), as with these you sit in sort of pannier seats each side of the hump. Very Arabian.

Further west along the coast new resorts are springing up, and two are worth a mention as places to visit or stay.
The huge and very impressive ANFI Resort has it’s own shopping centre, marina, entertainment and even an imported Caribbean beach of white sand (which the locals love visiting as all beaches are open to the public here) This resort would be well worth while staying at because of the amazing quality and facilities, and you can even buy a week’s holiday here for life- no- not timeshare, but a sort of holiday club you buy into. Talk to John at john.hodgkiss1@hotmail.com and I am sure he will find you a week’s rental and/or even a share in the place.

A little further along, two lovely golden sand beach developments are Playa Amadores (apartment developments, beach and not much else) and Playa Puerto Rico (apartment developments, shops, beach and a busy port for boat trips)

Next installment is about our favourite town on the island.
Richard

Amerys Travels 2009- the mountains of Gran Canaria

2009-06-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

We seemed to very quickly leave behind the hot and dry coastal fringe as we headed up into the central mountains for a day spent exploring inland. Dry rock quickly gave way to shrubs and even groves of palm trees higher in the valleys, and vegetation started to appear as we climbed. The highest peaks are 2,000 and 1,800 metres respectively (6,400 feet and 5,900 feet) and from this central high area the slashes of deep valleys (barrancos) run down to the coast, providing for the most dramatic mountain scenery.

In the photos you can see some of the mountain villages clinging to the ridges, with terraces carved out for cultivation, most with a couple of cafes for us tourists to refuel. The roads are well paved, but narrow and exceptionally winding, making for slow tiring driving.

As far as the stunning scenery is concerned, I will leave it to the photos to tell their own story.

Next time- the dry southern tourist areas.
Richard

Amerys travels from Gran Canaria 16th June 2009

2009-06-16T04:20:00.000-07:00

Amerys Travels 2009 from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

The Canary islands have a very African feeling to us, compared to mainland Spain- not surprising, as they are over 1,000 km from Spain and under 200 km from southern Morocco on the left hand bulge of Africa. Certainly the apartment development we are staying at is very “Arabian nights” in it’s design, as you can see from our first five photos.

And we are finding it very warm and pleasant- it gets up to around 30c at mid-day (our highest was 34c) and down to perhaps 22c at night. This is the dry side of the island, with only around 60 days with rain each year, which also means that the scenery is mostly sand and rock- more attractive than it sounds, softened by extensive plantings of flowering bougainvillea and oleander.

The island is circular could in theory be circumnavigated in a day, but it would be very tiring, as it’s very mountainous, and while a week would be a pleasant stay, two weeks here is ideal if you want to see it all.

The apartment was lent to us by Geraldine from Dublin, one of our home exchange friends, and it has a warm and cosy feeling to it, as the rough plastered walls are rounded into the ceilings in an almost cave like manner, and all doorways are arches. It also includes two rounded turrets (in the base of the towers seen in the photos) with one being a circular dining area and the other a semi-circular en suite bathroom (on the left end). Two good size bedrooms, two bathrooms, and as you can see, a large terrace overlooking the pool, the café and the sea, which is literally a stone’s throw away. With the windows open at night, the sound of the waves is soothing, and we can watch the early morning fishing boats passing close by from the bed in perfect privacy.

The lovely pool is very close to us, and along with the café nearby possibly might make it a bit noisy when the resort is full in high season (it’s a November to April European winter escape destination) but the terrace here is well above the public areas and pretty private- great for people watching. As we are here at the quietest time of year, there’s no noise at all.

The apartment complex and the other nearby developments have particularly bold and different architecture with lots of spiky minaret like bits and lots of contrasting ceramic tiles, and which is very attractive compared with the generally bland 1960’s style apartments in developments nearby. Although rocky in front of us, a sandy beach is three minutes walk on one side, and on the other it’s a 10 minute walk along the promenade to the village of Bahai Felix (Happy Bay). Designed as a small tourist resort, the village has a lovely amphitheatre style square surrounded by attractive buildings containing restaurants and bars- a bustling scene in the evening with lots of outside tables overlooking the kids playing in the square within sight of their parents dinner table. Perfect.

Next time, we will take you out to explore the mountains.

Richard (and of course Christine)