News from Little Hotels, Edition 11

It’s been a long time since the last newsletter, so I do apologise. Anyway, that should leave me with plenty of material to put into this one.

Recent New Hotels

First of all, we've added two luxury hotels in two of the Balearic capitals. In Palma de Mallorca, there is Palacio Ca Sa Galesa, an impressive house dating from 1576 that is now a 5 Star hotel boasting the only swimming pool in the centre of Palma. And what a pool! Then in Ibiza Town we have the Torre del Canónigo, a charming hotel close to the cathedral which even has a few Roman stones remaining in its foundations.

As a contrast, in the spectacular Guadalest valley just inland from Alicante, we have Cases Noves. This is a cosy little traditional village house with five bedrooms is presided over by the charming Toni. He will be delighted to give you his best advice of how to see Guadalest.

We have so many visitors to Granada that we had no hesitation in adding another hotel there, a traditional “granadino” house in the Albayzín (the mediaeval district opposite the Alhambra). Not only is the Hotel Santa Isabel La Reina a lovely place to stay, but the family owners are equally lovely.

Not every hotel we feature is a restored old house, so why not take a look at the Marisol Park. Every bedroom in this modern hotel in Calpe has a view of the Peñon de Ifach rock, one of the characteristic emblems of the Costa Blanca.

The north coast of Spain is a popular holiday destination for the Spanish themselves. You'll see why if you visit the Casona De Pantaleón de Arás. It's a beautiful country house set in the countryside between the spectacular Cantabrian coast and the equally spectacular mountains.

Villas in the Canaries

Our Villas of Spain website hasn't yet reached a size where we need to separate out the mainland and the islands, but we have just added our first properties in the Canaries. Casa El Drago and Casa El Caqui are two typical Canarian country cottages on Gran Canaria. Each is ideal for a couple or a small family to enjoy a really peaceful and relaxing holiday.

Carnival Time

We’ve frequently mentioned that the Spanish need very little excuse for a party. Springtime means carnival time, and the carnivals in the Canary Islands are probably the most famous. The Aguilas Carnival is nearer to home for us though, so we went there. There are events going on every day for two weeks, and I took part in the Carnival Regatta. The second race took place the day after the main procession, and there were local crews turning up to race, still in their procession outfits and having not been to bed the night before. How do they do it? Anyway it was great to get out on the water and enjoy a lively and competitive sail up and down the coast between Puerto de Mazarrón and San Juan de Los Terreros.

Spanish Wildlife

Spain is a big country with vast areas virtually devoid of human population. This has enabled a number of large mammals to survive and even to thrive where human encroachment in other countries has driven them to extinction. For instance, this is the only country in Western Europe with a population of brown bears. The biggest group is in the mountains of Asturias where there are thought to be about 120 bears, a figure that is reported by naturalists to be “viable and self-sustaining”. There are also bears in the Cantabrian mountains and the Pyrenees, where the smaller populations need a little help from environmental and welfare organizations to keep them going. However, bear news in recent years has been mostly good; the birth rate is rising each year and the humans living in those areas are becoming more sympathetic to the bears' cause.

The Iberian Lynx is even more unique: a “big cat” living in Europe.The numbers are desperately low though, so that active management on the part of conservationists is essential to keeping breeding groups together. The only remaining territory of the Iberian Lynx is the Coto Doñana in the western corner of Andalucia.

Fortunately, wild boar are much more numerous and are to found throughout the sparser populated areas of Spain. It is amazing that such a large animal is able to live in such numbers and yet be so rarely seen. For instance, we know that they live on the mountain all around our village yet I have only seen them once, plus a set of footprints passing up the side of our garden. Probably the best place to see wild boar is in the Sierra Espuña where the boar are relatively “tame”, having worked out that picnicking tourists are an easier source of food than ploughing the ground with their nose.

Travel Insurance

I have a feeling that rather a lot of people travel without travel insurance these days. This probably reflects our casual familiarity with travel, so that it seems less exotic, and the gross over-pricing that was rife a few years ago. Today though you can buy travel insurance at a reasonable price, and it conveys a number of significant benefits. Of course the policies list all sorts of reasons why you might claim but the two that stand out to me are for the costs (loss of deposit, un-used tickets) of cancellation and medical costs. Those two on their own make the insurance look like a small price to pay.

Something Out-of-the-Ordinary

All the houses and villas in Cabrera are built in a very distinctive Moorish style that is both attractive and sympathetic to the landscape. The owner of Casa Medina has gone one step further and decorated the inside in a highly distinctive manner. The house is full of bright colours, Moorish arches, exotic materials, prints and pictures and hand-made Moroccan lamps. It may be a little OTT for a full-time home, but it’s a great place to spend a holiday.

Happy holidays!
Paul Melhuish  

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