|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 5, 2019 14:09:55 GMT 2
In 10 days or so we are off for our annual escape-the-winter break. We alternate between long haul and the Mediterranean. This year we are going to Spain's deep south, not the Costa del Sol or the Costa Blanca or the Costa de la Luz but the Costa Tropical. You have probably never heard of it. It is directly south of Granada, a stretch of coast only about 60 kilometres long, protected by the Sierra Nevada from winter weather. Its microclimate is subtropical. It produces mangoes, avocados, papayas etc. There are sugarcane fields and a rum factory. We are renting an apartment in La Herradura (Horseshoe for non-Spanish speakers), named because of its lovely bay. The small town has about 4000 inhabitants and no high rise hotels. You can google Costa Tropical or have a look at this link: www.centroelmar.com/about/the-area/We are taking an overnight ferry to Santander in the north then having a leisurely drive down south including 2 nights on a small boat moored in the harbour of Cartagena. La Herradura will be our base but Granada and Seville are within easy reach. We are getting excited.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 5, 2019 16:00:35 GMT 2
My stomping grounds.
If you want normal tickets for the Alhambra, you are probably too late already. Almuñécar is not bad, Nerja is full of tourists and tat, the Alpujarras are lovely and have the best ham in the world.
|
|
|
Post by Voy on Jan 5, 2019 16:07:22 GMT 2
that sounds just lovely, and their PR guy has a great way with words: "perfect place off the beaten track for the sensible adventurer." Sensible Adventurer is a wonderful concept !
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 5, 2019 18:05:33 GMT 2
My stomping grounds. If you want normal tickets for the Alhambra, you are probably too late already. Almuñécar is not bad, Nerja is full of tourists and tat, the Alpujarras are lovely and have the best ham in the world. I booked our (normal) tickets for the Alhambra a fortnight ago. It is a horrible website and they do their best to disguise where you can buy anything other than tours. I went to Nerja about 45 years ago and I don't feel the need to go back. Almunecar is in the next bay to La Herradura but it is very much bigger and has a lot of tourists (though not in winter). We'll vivit the Alpujarras provided there is no snow. I have booked stays in Granada and Seville. I have wondered about taking a ferry to Mellila but there is probably not a geat deal to see.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 5, 2019 19:00:08 GMT 2
You've got it about covered then. Tickets for Seville?
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 5, 2019 20:08:27 GMT 2
Seville, not yet. I have just had a strange email from the hotel. Booking.com says our room is confirmed.The hotel says:
Hello David. Your request is subject to availability. Regards
I have asked if they mean we have a room or not.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 5, 2019 21:53:54 GMT 2
I've just had the last few days booking flights for Easter, June and the summer. Now I've moved on to hotels for a few times away for a couple of days in the summer. I've found sometimes Booking to be a few Euros more expensive than going direct to the hotel. Not all of them but there was one for the same price but it included breakfast. I don't always check though.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 6, 2019 0:10:16 GMT 2
Yes, I try to look at the hotel itself or comparative sites. Booking is not always the cheapest.
|
|
|
Post by auntieannie on Jan 6, 2019 11:45:01 GMT 2
I wish you and Mrs Faz the very best of holiday and keep you in my heart.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Jan 6, 2019 17:54:35 GMT 2
Sounds like a lovely holiday, Baz. Safe travels and enjoy the wine and tapas!
|
|
|
Post by Scrubb on Jan 7, 2019 6:07:41 GMT 2
Sounds really lovely! HOpe the two of you have a fantastic winter escape.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 8, 2019 0:10:53 GMT 2
My stomping grounds. If you want normal tickets for the Alhambra, you are probably too late already. Almuñécar is not bad, Nerja is full of tourists and tat, the Alpujarras are lovely and have the best ham in the world. Alhambra booked. Alcajar in Seville I have tried to book but the site refuses both my French bank card (euros) and my British card. I want to visit the Alpujarras. We can take a bus from La Herradura to Orgiva. This is not necessarily the best place to stay but the bus gets in at 6 pm so probably we should stay the night there. We can take a bus on from there to, I think, Pampaneira. Probably there are other destinations. Do you have recommendations? We are not going to take our car up into the mountains as we want to look at the scenery not the road.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 8, 2019 7:39:35 GMT 2
No idea why your cards are refused. The times I've been to Seville the queues have been minimal to get a ticket on the day. Except once where it was quite long, probably a tour group, so we had a walk round for an hour or so and came back. It was fine then. Alpujarras - Orgiva is a bit of a sad town and not particularly attractive and whenever we've been close by we have stayed for a week or more in holiday home - so I can't say anywhere good to stay. Just out of town in the valley is an area where the 'new age travellers' have set up a year round camp and you sometimes see them in the town playing their Peruvian throat mikes or whatever trying to get some money. There has also over time been two really nice cafes opened up by expats but never lasted more than a season. Whenever we've been to the area, which is quite often as at one time we were thinking of buying a place around there, we've rented a holiday home on the outskirts of Orgiva as a base for looking. But now we do have somewhere and when we go back we invariably stay in Lanjaron. Lanjaron is an attractive village with a good spread of good accommodation and places to eat and a nice central street, plus it is a spa town, but it might not be quite in the right place for you to start from. We've never stayed over in any other village in the hills but we have visited more or less all of them and have done walking in the hills between a couple of them at times. There is a long distance footpath, the GR7, cutting through there and on average, from Capileira back to Lanjaron it is downhill. All the villages have their own attractions in their location or food but we always use the car and generally stop at Trevelez to turn back round. We have done a full circuit a few times and the southern section through Torvizcon is not so dramatic by far, but does give better views of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Obviously you'll have to be aware of bus timings but from Orgiva to Trevelez is less than 2 hours on the bus anyway, so it's up to you how far you go. You've checked out the ALSA bus website for timings? www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/home
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 8, 2019 7:55:17 GMT 2
Further - looking at the bus website, I'd stay in Lanjaron as the same bus I think just carries on to there from Orgiva. The the next day there are buses off into the hills.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 8, 2019 11:25:16 GMT 2
Thanks Mark. I hadn't (stupidly) realised the ALSA bus continued. Lanjaron looks great. I'll look further into it when I come back from having my hair cut.
|
|
|
Post by shrjeff on Jan 8, 2019 11:46:39 GMT 2
Thanks Mark. I hadn't (stupidly) realised the ALSA bus continued. Lanjaron looks great. I'll look further into it when I come back from having my hair cut. you still have hair to cut? wow!
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 8, 2019 13:01:07 GMT 2
I'd much rather stay in Lanjaron than Orgiva. If you look at a map of Lanjaron you'll see a small road, Av de Andalucia and its continuation, Calle Real. This is quite a nice place for a walk and is dotted with cafes and small shops. Even though it isn't a pedestrian road it doesn't suffer much from traffic (one way street, west to east) as they tend to take the bigger road a little to the south, Calle Variante. Look at Google Steet view, but a rough description is that if you imagine an oval shape tipped at 45 degrees along its long axis - the top is the small street and the bottom, a stiff walk down and up, is the "by pass" of Calle Variante. Off this road, the bottom one is quite a nice little castle thing and there are good views across the valley. Suggest if you have time, calling at Arca de Noe, Number 38, Avenida Andalucía, for some ham and maybe tapas/food - www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g608983-d4480673-Reviews-Arca_de_Noe-Lanjaron_Province_of_Granada_Andalucia.htmlI think the bus stops at the east end of the village. Places to stay? It's up to you. Nothing is spectacular but we've stayed at the Hotel Central, Hotel El Sol and the Hotel Andalucia - all at the west end. All good and nice enough.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 8, 2019 13:51:47 GMT 2
Jeff, I still have a lot of hair. Ask Annie.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 8, 2019 19:27:44 GMT 2
Arca de Noe sounds great.
I can't get accommodation at any of the 3 hotels you mention. I can at Hotel Manolete (which also is recommended for tapas).
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 8, 2019 20:53:55 GMT 2
Looks fine Baz. Middle of town so handy to stagger back to in the evening.
|
|
|
Post by auntieannie on Jan 8, 2019 22:36:04 GMT 2
Jeff, I still have a lot of hair. Ask Annie. yes, that lion has a rather impressive mane. (all kept in pristine order at all times.)
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 11, 2019 0:45:17 GMT 2
Our arrangements are made. On Mark's recommendation we'll be going to Lanjaron. I think the hotels he has stayed in may not be open in February so I have booked us into the Manolete. Seville I had already booked. I can't get tickets for the Alcajar because my credit card is not accepted. I found a site where many people complained their credit cards wouldn't work. I'm not worried because if we go first thing in the morning before tour groups arrive we'll have no problem. Bus times to Seville are inconvenient so we'll go the day before to Malaga. I've booked a room in a hotel in the old quarter. And that's it. We set off a week tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 11, 2019 7:03:40 GMT 2
You've been to Malaga before?
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 11, 2019 11:26:26 GMT 2
I went to Malaga but back in the Middle Ages.
|
|
|
Post by OnlyMark on Jan 11, 2019 12:24:33 GMT 2
If you've not been since then it couldn't have been "Moor"ish.
|
|
|
Post by shrjeff on Jan 11, 2019 12:30:07 GMT 2
we visited many years ago and enjoyed the picasso museum immensely...
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 16, 2019 12:58:06 GMT 2
We are catching the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander on Friday. It is a 24 hour journey, much of it across the notorious Bay of Biscay. I have looked up today's forecast: Wind: 20 knots Waves: 2.8 metres Swell: 2.4 metres Cloud: 0% Visibility: 6 miles (An interesting combination of metric and imperial measurements.) It doesn't look too bad.
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 17, 2019 11:12:12 GMT 2
The Bay of Biscay is flexing its muscles for our passage tomorrow. Today's forecast is for wind of 38 knots and waves of 8.1 metres. Yikes.
Correction. I find that stormy weather is for next week. Tomorrow is wind of 21 knots and waves of 2.8 metres. We might get to keep our dinner down after all.
|
|
|
Post by Scrubb on Jan 18, 2019 4:50:13 GMT 2
Whew.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Jan 18, 2019 5:03:21 GMT 2
Safe travels!
|
|