Spain is beaches, food and great promenades!
Also sun, a lot of sun, even in winter, and rocks instead of mountains) Vegetation, alas, there is very little. A lot of red clay... Just like India) Spain is definitely a beach country, but with a few BUTs ... Do not expect there to be palm trees, conifers and mountains. It is dominated rather hills of granite, which crumbles and turns into dust. Instead of trees, mostly prickly shrubs. The soil is clayey, with no hint of black earth. As a result, vegetation simply has no place to grow, there is no base underneath and everything on top is scorched by the sun. So all vegetation, in the form of fruits and vegetables, grows in numerous greenhouses. Hence the exports all over the world. However, these greenhouses look, to be honest, not very aesthetically pleasing... It looks more like an agricultural area than a place for relaxation. So the feeling is ambivalent after visiting the sunny country of Spain. But some of the cities here are so beautiful that not every country can boast such places. But this is rather a merit of local people, who have skillfully disposed the gifts of nature! Below is a picture of a map of Spain with the regions, taken from the Internet.
Costa Brava region (rocky wild coast) - Lloret de Mar
So, entering from France, we are greeted by the Costa Brava region, with the most famous tourist town of Lloret de Mar. The region also includes towns from the French border to Blanes, namely Tossa de Mar, Playa de Aro. About the Costa Brava we can say that the mountains are closest to the water. From here, the shores are precipitous and picturesque. Along the water there are "cardiological" trails for walks.
Lloret de Mar is a promenade and wide beach, on both sides of the beach there are trails along the water along the rocks. The town is very cozy and beautiful! You can safely come here from 2-3 days or more. Between the two points on the map and is a promenade. The extremes are the fortress, seemingly without historical value (Castell d'en Plaja), on the one hand, and the bronze statue on the rocks "Dona Mariner (Virgin of Lloret)" on the other.
From the fortress there is a path that, according to the signs, goes to the village of Tossa de Mar for about 15 km. In fact, it suddenly ends with a precipice and steps upwards. In total, the trail from Lloret de Mar from the fortress, along the water is only 1 km. Back the road goes through the "private sector" with local villas. Locality that reminds walk in Sri Lanka) There is a lot of vegetation and high humidity.
From the statue of "Don Mariner" in the direction of the beach "Playa de Fenals" is also a trail, but it is not all along the water. In fact, from Lloret de Mar beach to Fenals beach is about 2.5 km.
Barcelona region - the city of Barcelona - beautiful architecture
In Barcelona we drove around the city as a walk, saw the Temple of the Holy Family, the House of Mila or Balho) The temple is really chic and huge! You have to walk around the city, just like in Rome, Paris. The city is beautiful and comfortable enough, unlike the same in Rome!
Valencia is a typical Spanish city with a huge beach!
However, to say that it is beautiful and cozy is not. At the entrance to the city around the agricultural area, the city itself is unremarkable, the promenade is boring, the views on the beach are dull... The beach is almost rivaling the length and width of Bulgaria and Asian countries. The promenade is just a road paved with tiles - no views, no entertainment. Travelers don't even have to come here...
Costa Blanca region is the best beauty in the south of Spain!
The most popular resorts are Benidorm, Alicante, Torrevieja. It is also worth visiting Altea and Calpe, they are located close by, not reaching Benidorm from Valencia.
Alicante is the next tourist city on the Costa Blanca.
As an option, you can drive here and see everything in half a day. Staying in the same Benidorm.
What to see in Alicante:
- Santa Barbara Fortress is the best thing to come here for! Before reaching the fortress, there are two free parking lots, though not large... The fortress itself is quite large and well preserved. But most importantly, of course, are the views that open from the fortress to the whole city of Alicante. The arrow on the photo below shows the location of the fortress from afar.
- The promenade "Passeig Esplanada d'Espanya" is pure PR! In fact it is 500 m of stone-paved walkway with street trays. It's not even by the water itself, but across the road directly to the promenade of the city. The promenade is first a port with boats, and then the beach.... There are no cafes or stores along the water and what's more, there's a highway right there!
- The Outlet Stores Alicante is a fiction! It's a regular mall with stores and not well-known brands.
Nerja is a city in the Costa del Sol region of Malaga / Andalusia
Here it is recommended to visit a local landmark, namely the Balcony of Europe... It is not worth going especially because of it! You will not see anything new here. In fact, not a big town, with views of the water from this balcony. There is a big parking lot for a fee, it seems that even in summer you can find a place here).
Outlets in Spain
You should not pay attention to the information in Google about what is an outlet in Spain. For example, near the French border there is supposedly a Spanish outlet "Gran Jonquera Outlet & Shopping" - in fact, it is a regular shopping center, and not a big one. On the plus side, there is a large supermarket and you can buy groceries.
The next outlet "Outlet La Roca Village" is located on the way from Lloret de Mar, a 40-minute drive from Barcelona. So this is a full-fledged outlet, like all the outlets in Italy. It is worth a visit. There are a lot of brands and the area itself is very large. A quick look around a couple of stores is from 1 hour visit!
Another pseudo outlet is located near the airport of Barcelona - Viladecans The Style Outlets. In fact, there seem to be some famous brands, but most of the stores here are unknown, with cheap things, not of the best quality. Definitely do not go here especially.
Near the city of Alicante there is also a pseudo-outlet "The Outlet Stores Alicante". There are some stores, but it is not clear what kind, made in China, Turkey... and a couple of brand-name shops. And the area itself is not big. It is not even worth stopping by.
In Madrid area there are sort of outlet stores, but we were not there. There are no more outlets around the country, according to google) We only considered those establishments where google wrote 10,000+ reviews. If it said outlet and 50 reviews, we didn't even consider them.
The food, wine and fruit in Spain are local attractions!
The food is of course far to France) But the wine is for the amateur, some people do not like the wine of France and Italy, but Spain and its neighbor Portugal - is exactly what I like! "Women's Cognac" or Madera strong wine (Madeira Island - Spain) - this is the most beautiful wine and cognac bouquet! Fruit - there is plenty of variety here even in winter! Because of the large number of greenhouses there is a range of fruits and vegetables, and they are cheap.
This is what Spain looks like - the photo above. Spain surpasses Bulgaria in beaches and competes with Asian countries (Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.). The lack of vegetation is similar to Cyprus. In clay and dusty roads is similar to India (Goa, Hampi, etc.). On the rocks with bushes - remotely like Turkey (Turkey is much greener). The color and clarity of the water is a mixture of France, the Adriatic and Mediterranean Turkey. It is definitely worth to go here for sunny days and beach rest. But it is worth remembering that there is almost no vegetation - it is impossible to find shade in the heat... The old cities, special architecture, including castles and fortresses are few per square meter, compared with Italy and France. But nevertheless the country is cozy and the people are nice. Travelers should come here, but first carefully consider the route. Between the interesting objects is quite a long distance. It is convenient to move only by car!
A huge plus - when it's snowing or raining everywhere, it's overcast and cold - in Spain the thermometer doesn't go below 15 degrees! The region of Malaga / Andalusia these figures are close to 20 degrees Celsius!!!
Lifehack on wintering in Spain (the same applies to all Europe, the same situation in Italy and France) - take with you heater! Most apartments that are rented in Spain are simply big on square footage. The owner turns on the heating only at the moment of your arrival and the apartment has time to warm up completely only on the second day! Or heating is turned on only at some time during the day, either during the day or at night - for the rest of the time it is very cold in the apartment...
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