Mocajar: Whitewashed Town & Beach
Winter Sunshine on Spain's Mediterranean Coast, Sea, Sand & Culture
Feb 16, 2008
For some winter sunshine the Almeria coast boasts the warmest year-round temperatures on the Spanish mainland. Mojacár between Alicante and Almeria airports on the Mediterranean coast offers beach and tradition as two towns in one.
Mojacár Playa is a rather typical but less developed package-tour destination, with a wide sandy beach ideal for relaxing but head just 2 km inland to the white hillside town of Mojacár Pueblo and you’re in for a treat.
The part of Mojacar has typical Moorish narrow winding streets and small neat cube-like houses. Flowers trail brightly from wrought iron rejas and views of the sparkling Mediterranean sea peek between vivid bougainvillaea and gaps of lime-washed buildings.
The most touching spot in this up- and downtown is the public fountain – a Moorish work of practicality and beauty. It’s not hard to imagine in its heyday: the work and camaraderie of the women at work, kneeling and rubbing the washing in the picturesque plaza while the babble of their unceasing chatter mingles with the running water. High up an inscription on a large plaque tells the speech of the last Islamic governor.
“Though my people have lived in Spain for more than 700 years, you say to us: ‘You are foreigners, go back to the sea’. In Africa an inhospitable coast awaits us, which will surely tell us as, as you do – and certainly with more reason – ‘You are foreigners, go back to your own land’….
This is two destinations in one, a beautiful little very Spanish town to meander in and buy some souvenirs and just a walk away the long sandy beach for an all-over tan or a foot-paddle in the Med.
It’s a spot where winter sunshine abounds and the records say this corner of Spain gets over 300 days of sunshine a year, that can’t be a bad bet that you’ll get some good weather here.
Mojacár Playa has s modern 4* Parador and in the town is the tiny Hotel Mamabel’s or the Pensión El Torreón where Walt Disney is said to have been born!
Trains run twice daily from Madrid, or what about hiring a car for a long and scenic drive along the coast road from Malaga airport or and inland mountainous view from Granada airport.
See here for more on Andalucia.
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