Off topic but hopefully inspirational for some of AccMan’s readers.
Unlike just about everyone else, we didn’t take a break in the July/August period. It’s too hot, too crowded, too noisy and too expensive. In fact we hadn’t taken any sort of break since June 2008.
Living in Spain means there’s bags of choice. We could travel around the country for years and still not ‘do it all.’ Instead we opted to take a last minute style break in Lanjaron in mid-September. It’s also less than two hours’ steady drive from our home. It’s the second time we’ve stayed there as it’s a good base for Granada, the High Alpujarra and the costal towns of Salobrena, Motril and Almunecar with Malaga and Marbella further afield to the west. My pal Frank Scavo was over from the US, staying in Malaga for his daughter’s wedding. Spanish hospitality being what it is, we couldn’t find a time to meet up. They had Frank and his family tied up partying for a week in celebration of the nuptials. Don’t you just love that but that’s Spain for you.
Being paranoid about security and despite that the most exciting thing likely to happen here is a fall out over parking rights, I took half the office with me. I didn’t realize at the time but the apartment we stayed at has wifi that works. Fatal. So despite supposedly being on vacation I couldn’t resist the temptation to flick through odd web pages, read or rather delete emails, reply to only the most urgent, post a handful of Tweets and take the odd call. Talking to others in the past it seems that is our lot but even so, the apartment was terrific and conveniently located over a new Brit run cafe/deli/restaurant: Ambienza.
Great food and different from yer traditional Spanish fare so for us, a refreshing change. If you decide to visit, try the vegetarian pastas, home made ice creams and mocha coffee (medium or large.) They are to die for and reasonably priced. The owners have taken an eco friendly stance on everything they can so for instance napkins are 100% recyclable, tablecloths are brown wrapping paper and as many ingredients as possible come from Fair Trade sources. It is much more than cliched marketing and while the locals often look on quizzically, it was good to see the business enjoying a steady trade. And no blaring TV – result!
Down town – if you can call it that – the bars and restaurants are still doing reasonable trade although now is the season for ladies of a certain age to ‘take the waters.’ Lanjaron is after all an ancient spa town tracing its roots back to Roman times. Competition being what it is, the tapas are terrific and the quality of wines on offer superb, albeit at slightly inflated (by our standards) but still reasonable prices. A half liter of beer for €2 including tapa? Can’t be bad. And all within staggering distance of the place we stayed. Having been there in June last year, the drop off in trade is dramatic but the bar owners are still as enthusiastic and attentive as I remember them, the quality of food just as good. 
This is a quiet time of year for the costas the Spanish prefer so on those days we ventured to the beach we had miles of sand to ourselves. The motorway from Granada has recently been extended to Motril. That makes the drive from Lanjaron easy, less than 30 minutes and avoiding the switchback mountains but still requiring you to traverse a number of spectacular viaducts, albeit to motorway standard. The only downside is that the beach loos at Salobrena were locked up. Slightly inconvenient but not enough to spoil the days.
What’s sadder to see is the devastation that’s been brought by the economic downturn. Over a quarter mile stretch I hardly found a single beach side shop that wasn’t either for sale, rent or empty, a trend that was repeated in several of the beach areas we visited. Modern ghost towns in the making I fear as the economic gloom continues. But there are compensations. Like paseo on the beach on a langerous Sunday afternoon when families and friends meet to bask in the late day sun, enjoy a beer or coffee and talk incessantly about whatever is on their minds. Paseo is such a democratic ‘event.’ We mixed with bikers, teenagers, retirees and the well-to-do all in the same place and with the same degree of geniality. To think Spain remains class ridden, paseo is a great leveler and a tradition to cherish.
We finally got around to visiting the gardens at the Alhambra, just south of Granada. They’re a phenomenal sight and at €6 a pop to enter, not unreasonable. It’s an oasis of pleasured calm in an otherwise parched landscape with some of the most stunning carved stonework and architecture you’ll see anywhere in the world. That’s part of the Moorish legacy to this part of Spain that up until maybe 40 years ago was one of the poorest backwaters of Europe. As an aside, where we live, the town is dominated by a 1,000 year old castle in the Moorish style, one of many on the Ruta del Califato.
Time moves slowly in this part of Spain but since our last visit it was interesting to see that parts of the Sierra Nevada and Alpujarra are succumbing to small but dramatic wind farms. Andalucia has been comparatively slow to use its naturally sustainable energy resources so while others may bemoan the impact on the landscape, it’s hard to be overly critical of these efforts to move away from fossil fuels. I just wonder what the early Moorish settlers might think if they could look upon some of these giant windmills.
One of the great things about this area of Spain and time of year is that you can take it as easy as you want. Do nothing and watch the world go by, lounge on a near deserted beach, take in the sights in quiet yet spectacular spots, eat and drink your way through wee towns and villages making each day a mini adventure of sorts and not requiring us to kill the credit card.
Finally, as we were preparing to leave, the local band came marching through town trumpeting a merry tune. As always in Spain – another day, another fiesta. Unusually for Spanish brass bands, they were not playing flamenco or a dirge and were all in tune. It seemed a fitting end to a much needed break.
Now back to normal programming…
PS – there’s the start of a Flickrstream here, I’ll upload some video when I find a moment. For more artistic pics of the area, check out this guy.
