I suspect the couple who asked me what they could do with a half day in the Costa de la Luz might be regretting it. I´ve been asked a few odd questions in my time. Some repeatable and some definitely not but what can we do with a spare half day on the Costa de la Luz was a new one on me. Eager to explain their intrusion into my coffee break the wife explain that they had asked a local shop keeper and he had pointed at me as I sat in the main square of Chiclana and told them to ask “la hija rubia” (the blond girl).
As they were headed south to Gibraltar Airport they had perfectly placed themselves for a half day tour of our beautiful coast. We sat for 10 minutes with a coffee and a large napkin serving as a note pad. I think they had in mind a quick bit of sightseeing and a spot of lunch – big mistake on their part!! Some people are anally retentive about computers and some about tidiness and cleanliness my thing is the Coast of Light. If you want to see some of it then why not see as much of it as possible in the time you have.
It seemed a shame for them not to see some of Chiclana on their way so I told them to head for the Carretera de la Barossa (the beach road). Following this long, quite attractive road with its detached villas and beautifully manicured roundabouts you come to the small roundabout just past the Hotel Las Marismas de Sancti Petri. Turn right and and as you pass the marshlands where they still rear and harvest shell fish in the shallow man made water pens, keep an eye out for the many herons who catch a quick snack and the marsh birds who live on the banks in the reeds. In minutes the beautiful beach will become visible to the left and the offshore island of Sancti Petri with its well preserved Roman temple dedicated to Hercules at the end of the sandbank. Stop at one of the cafes near the marina and let your eyes drink in the glittering green sea with the small brightly painted fishing boats bobbing up and down.
Head back to the little roundabout and turn right. Follow the main road to the very famous La Barossa beach, one of the most loved and well known beaches in Spain. Park up in the ample parking areas and take a walk down to the beach to see the view from the headland or walk along the promenade with its restaurants, cafes and artisan stalls in summer.
Rejoin the main road and follow it to Novo Sancti Petri. A similar name to the place you have just come from but a world apart. This purpose built holiday resort has been around some 20 years and its not at all typical of the area. Providing a mix of 4/5 star hotels and leisure activities to keep even the most easily bored person occupied 24/7. It boasts a 27hole golf course designed by Sevi Ballasteros, a golf school, driving range, tennis school etc. In a few minutes you will pop out the other side and the apartments and hotels will be a distant memory.
Next on the road is Roche, a small area of deluxe housing. If you pass through out of the summer season you can be forgiven for thinking it is abandoned. Keep the kids occupied with a game of spot the human win a prize. At the exit from Roche you will see the new Eco hotel on the right. Not sure what they do in there but suspect it has something to do with wheat germ and tofu so probably least said the better. You are now approaching some of the best beaches for this area called Las Calas de Roche they are sheltered coves of white sand with abundant rock pools to keep even the most inquisitive kids occupied and generally speaking it is the locals who frequent this stretch of coast. Park up, cross the narrow quiet road and walk down the wooden steps. You can out of August get one of these spacious and well appointed coves completely to yourself.
Push on along the coast past Roche light house and down the hill through Conil Harbour. As you go down the hill spot the large anchors lying in abundance to the right and left. They are used for weighting the fishing nets for the twice yearly Almadraba tuna fishing out at sea as the tuna “run” in or out of the Straights of Gibralter depending on the season.
Now you need to take it easy on the gas and look for the sign for Trafalgar. This is “the Trafalgar” scene of the battle. The beach is beautiful if a little bohemian. Wearing a leather bracelet and tie dyed shirt is compulsory. If you are unlucky you may need to clamber over a sand dune to see the beach. The entrance is known as Las Dunas and for good reason, they are prone blowing over and closing the road but on the premise that you make it past the entrance you wont be disappointed. Warning: older ladies get your spectacles on before you pass Las Dunas or you will be bitterly disappointed when you miss a glimpse of the sun kissed surfers getting changed at the roadside with total abandonment of clothing and modesty!
Once you have had an eye full of the bay and the sun kissed surfers, back to the car and join the main road. You will pass a few slightly rundown beach apartments and a couple of cafe bars which sit on the joyfully named Playa de los Muertos (Beach of the Dead). So named due to the number of dead which were washed up there at the time of the battle. Take a left turn and head uphill into the Caños de Meca. A beautiful protected woodland area full of designated BBQ areas where you can stop and while away an hour or two amongst the horses, birds and fabulous pine trees pruned in the copa style. So named as they are cut into the shape of a stemmed glass to provide open space underneath but a heavy leafy canopy to keep the forest floor cool. The BBQ areas are run by the council and all you need to bring is the charcoal and the food. Alongside the BBQ´s there are benches and tables with bins and in some areas public toilets. Enjoy them but please observe the fire regs displayed on the boards.
At the far end of the Caños de Meca lies Barbate, the famous fishing town. As you enter you will see to the right the fishing port and to the left the large wood built Chiringuito used by the fishermen as a bar and snack area. A few yards further on is a very nice shop on the same side of the road selling fish products. Everything from fish pate to air dried tuna. Have a wander in and solve a few souvenir problems. Barbate is famous for many things including being the town where the English gangland member Kenneth Noye was identified as he sat having lunch with some of his friends from the underworld. His identification by the girlfriend of a road rage stabbing victim led a few days later to his arrest and deportation to the UK.
Follow Barbate high street to its end and turn right. This will take you out the pretty back road to Zahara de los Atunes a town which I always feel has been caught in time. The mountains to one side and the sea to the other provide a beautiful backdrop to this very sleepy but now chic little pueblo. Spanish Hello magazine´s pages are filled with celebs on their annual hols in this not so well known enclave. They are buying the beach front apartments with views ocean and the daily sight of people landing hand caught tuna on the beach which they sell to the various restaurants and bars provides a bit of interest to pass away a day in the sun.
Back on the road and look out for the sign posts to Bolonia or Baelo Claudia as the Romans called it when they set up their town right on the waters edge around 41 AD. It was an important industrial town in those days providing Garum (fish sauce) which was widely used througout the Roman Empire. Take your EU passport and you can walk around the town with its well preserved theatre, temple to Isis, thermal baths and fish sauce production plant free of charge. Stop at one of the little thatched restaurants on the beach and try some of the local seafood or walk on the beautiful white sand, avoiding the odd local cow paddling in the surf. I had never seen cows paddle until I visited Bolonia but perhaps even ruminants need to cool their feet in the sea now and again. If you are feeling a bit angsty with the kids get them running up and down the sand mountain at the end of the beach but keep them off the wire fence at the top as it is a military installation and they might end up using your precious off spring for target practise.
Last stop off point is Tarifa, the windsurfing capital of Europe, only some 15km from Bolonia to the south. As you head for Tarifa look out for Punta Paloma on the right with its natural sand mountains. The most important thing about Tarifa is not to be put off by the rather blocky new housing as you enter the town. Press on straight up the main road and head in the direction of the port. Turn right and follow the road a few hundred yards to the promontory where the Atlantic Ocean is on your right and the Mediterranean Sea on your left. They have kindly stuck up signs to keep you right but the different colours of the water alone tell you which is which. The view along the beach is always worth a quick look as the wind surfers fly high in the sky on their boards and there is the odd fracas on the beach as the less experienced get their lines tangled with the hot rods, causing some blaspheming and upset. It doesn’t last long and generally everyone is friends in no time. When you have viewed enough sea, head back along the causeway and in to the centre of the town to explore the little narrow alleys which form the old town of Tarifa with their trendy cafe bars. Have a look at the big castle with it reproduction of a trebuchet and monument to Guthman the Good famous for having saved the town of Tarifa during a seige.
If after all this you still have energy and time to spare then stop on the coast road back to the airport at the viewing area and drink in the beautiful views across the Straights to Morocco, with the sun glistening on the sea and the light mist floating around on the surface of the water.
I don´t know if the couple I met went to all these places in their half day but I hope they managed some of them and if it was all a bit too strenuous then that will teach them to ask a Costa de la Luz nerd for tourist advice!