One of the brilliant things about living in Spain is that we are able to drive to most of the places we want to visit, and they are usually easy drives at that, due to the excellent road system.
Accommodation here in Spain is so reasonable that it is easy to just decide, on the spur of the moment, to throw a couple of overnight bags in the car and head off somewhere different. We often use booking.com but it can also make sense to contact hotels directly, as they frequently offer far better deals. Both hotels and self-catering options are very easy to find in Spain, offering everything from the totally luxurious to just basic, shared dormitory hostel options, and all points in betweeen. For us it’s more like the former – we leave the latter to the young and those on a much tighter budget! We have stayed in some fairly basic places, but always immaculately clean, comfortable and well presented. One of our best bargains was in Cordoba – LOVE that city! – where we had a little quaint hotel on a street corner about 20 metres from the Mesquita, the Islamic mosque. It was built in 756 after the Muslims conquered southern Spain. It was converted to a Christian place of worship in around 1236 following King Ferdinand lll re-taking the area from the Muslims. Fortunately for us, the “new” cathedral was built over the original mosque, so we can see both.
One of our favourite restaurants in all of Spain is in Cordoba – it’s a very special award winning restaurant called Garum 2.1 and is utterly fabulous! The first time we went we were very honoured to be shown into the “holy of holies”, the upstairs private dining rooms, where “the elite meet to eat”, quite an experience! If you ever go to Cordoba please, please eat there! The food is fantastic, the atmosphere amazing, and the staff are so helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. The website is http://www.garum2punto1.com so have a wee peep and don’t miss it if you’re in the area.
If you’re looking for a holiday in Spain but don’t want to be in the hustle and noise of the traditional tourist areas, then why not consider staying somewhere inland, where the mountains and lakes will blow your socks off and you can relax and enjoy the scenery.
One fabulous place, near us, is run by Julia and Kelvin, and is called Tranquil Stays. Their home is part cave, and you can enjoy a different experience there, though with all the comforts of home – as well as a swimming pool for those hot summer days!
The house is located close to Fortuna, Murcia, in the quiet of the countryside, yet is only 10 minutes from town, and 30 minutes from Murcia city. About 40 minutes will have you at the coast, so really it’s a great place to stay if you want to explore our little part of Spain.
Julia and Kelvin, the hosts, are very friendly and welcoming, and will do everything they can to ensure your stay is a memorable one. The website for viewing more photos, and for contact and booking information is at https://tranquilstays8.godaddysites.com/
If you need somewhere to stay in Northern Ireland, you just can’t beat the Metropole Maison de la Plage, in Portrush, on the north Antrim coast. This is an utter gem, and is probably the best place we have ever stayed in – and we’ve travelled a lot! The house is immaculate, having been renovated, restored and rebuilt by our friends Rhona and Stuart, much of the work being actually done by themselves.
It is beautifully decorated and equipped, with three double bedrooms, two bathrooms and two sitting rooms. A lot of thought has gone into what guests really want from their holiday accommodation. The house is only 2 minutes walk from the beach, and 10 minutes walk into town where you can get everything you need, including rail and bus links to wherever you want to go. Rhona is just the best host ever, read the reviews and see for yourselves. I’m not at all surprised that they are usually booked up well in advance, with lots of returning guests. We absolutely LOVED our stay there!
Since we’re talking bit about travel in Spain, a word about toll roads, some good news and some not so good! Apparently they are going to do away with the tolls on the AP7, it’s the main toll motorway along the east coast of Spain. Good news, certainly. When we use this motorway to go shopping in La Zenia, or other areas near to it, the toll is €2.85 in the off-peak months, and €4.35 during the busiest peak tourist season. You pay this to get onto the motorway, but listen to this – you also pay the same again to come off at La Zenia Boulevard shopping centre! Eh?! A great little moneyspinner indeed! But there’s worse….we were there last week, on Wednesday, meeting friends for lunch. We paid by card to get on and to get off again. No problem, you might think, even if €8.70 is a bit steep for the pleasure of a virtually traffic-free road. Well no wonder it’s virtually traffic-free at those prices! And no wonder we don’t usually go near the coast in summer – too many people!
Here’s the word of warning… from now on we will always pay cash, we will NEVER pay by card again and here’s why. We were charged the two lots of €4.35 for our trip last Wednesday, one to get on the motorway and one to get off. No problem. We didn’t use the toll road on the way home, we took our time meandering along the coast road instead. However, on Monday of this week I noticed two transactions on my Wise euro account for another two lots of €4.35 apparently for last Friday, when we weren’t anywhere near the motorway. This has happened before to me on this motorway. I had contacted Wise and they paid the excess money back to my euro account and retrieved it from the Autopista del Sureste management people. I’m very happy to report they did the same this time when I advised them of what had happened yet again. Incidentally, the day after the previous incident occurred, I noticed that someone had managed to spend almost £3000 from my Wise sterling account, in London! I contacted Wise at once and within 48 hours the money was back in my sterling account. Someone had decided to pay their council tax, utilities and goodness knows what else using my card details. I’m very glad Wise acted so promptly, and I now freeze my card immediately after every use so the details can’t be used. You live and learn!
A couple of recommendations for you now…we’re very fond of music in this house – we have a guitar, piano, mandolin and kalimba, and a few hundred CDs, only outnumbered by the amount of books we have lining the walls. The husband is learning to play then mandolin, little by little, or “poco a poco” as the Spanish say. We’ll get there!
Here are some links to some of the best music you’ll ever hear, and I’m very happy to confirm these are friends of ours:
http://www.eilidhpatterson.com
All amazingly talented singer/songwriters from Northern Ireland, and all often feature on our playlist at the pool every day. Enjoy!
My life in Spain 