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Published: March 22nd 2008
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Salobrena - it's no Torremolinos
After four days in Granada we were thoroughly sick of bagels and fancied a change of pace, so we travelled an hour out of the city to the Costa Tropical. Not one of the most famous Costas...it was no Costa del Sol or Costa Brava. But there were a lot of ex-pats wearing socks and sandals and a supermarket that sold HP Sauce and PG Tips (but no Marmite. What's that about?)...
Salobrena is quite a small beach resort with a black sand beach - which is probably why it's not so popular with the package deal tourists. Apparently it is quite popular with the Spanish though. The main part of the town is by the beach, with the old Moorish quarter cascading down the side of the hill behind the town. Like in Granada, the Albyzin is a maze of narrow cobbled streets of small white houses, each on a completely different level to its neighbours. You walk up little flights of stairs, around corners and then up steep hills between two houses. Sometimes the narrow streets pass through an Arabic style archway, or open onto a pretty square, or a
church or fountain. If you lived there I have no idea how you would find you house, it really is a complete maze! At the top of the Albazin looking out to sea is a 10th century Arabic castle, which is lit up at night. The views from the top are amazing, one side looks towards the sea with the town and beach below, the other side looks towards hills of olive trees with the Sierra Nevada in the distance.
Chilling on the Costa Tropical
We stayed in a guesthouse called Hostal San Juan. Strangely they use the term 'hostal' here to describe a bed and breakfast, whereas I'd associate the title with a dorm full of bunk beds occupied by backpackers. This place was a lovely little hotel with lots of inside terraces of plants and flowers. Our room had a balcony and the sun streamed in every morning. We spent two days in Salobrena, which we filled with walks along the beach and up to the Albyzin, eating big meals of Calamari and other Spanish food (and strictly
no bagels), chilling out in our room and having late night drinks looking out
onto the beach.
"I'm on holiday, I'm in Spain, I WILL sunbathe...."
There were no big groups of English blokes in football shirts singing loudly, only one place serving English breakfasts, no one selling time shares and no organised coach trips to the local 'Spanish' night. It was almost disappointing! Calling itself a 'Costa' indeed...!! I do have to say though, there were lots of people slightly inappropriately dressed for the weather. You know, the type who say "well I'm in Spain, I'm going to wear my bikini and get a tan". On the day we arrived it was really windy, the waves were crashing on the shore and it was a bit chilly. We were wearing our jackets and jeans, it was certainly no Thai tropical beach. But as we walked along the beach, battling against the wind, we past groups of people sunbathing on towels in their bikinis and trunks. They must have been freezing! They seemed to be fighting a loosing battle against the wind to lay their towels on the beach in the first place! It reminded me of seaside summer holidays in the U.K as a child where you had a
sunbathe behind a wind break!! I know it's a foreign holiday but you are in Spain, not the Caribbean, and it's only March! I'm not getting my bikini out until at least April.....!
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