Tag Archive | "Spanish tourism"

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Hotel Central Marbella


hotel-central-marbellaSituated on the middle of the town, the Hotel Central Marbella enjoys a privileged location just a few metres away from the beaches. This cozy and charming hotel, taking its proximity to some popular sightseeing and those of beaches, is now one of the preferred accommodation options among tourists.

Hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers who come to this resort town prefer this small hotel for its luxury rather the beauty of surrounding location which includes the Old Town to experience a typical Spanish holiday. Decorated with antiques, the hotel represents a true Andalucían character.

The hotel is, in fact, situated in a pedestrian street and not on the main street as every map shows it. So, it is virtually impossible to see the hotel from the road. However, just a few minutes on foot and you are on the beach, or at the Orange Square (Plaza de los Naranjos) which is the historic centre of Marbella.

Just moving out of the hotel for a leisure walk, you can feel the nature of an Andalucían street alive with roadside shops, restaurants, cafes and many activities of leisure, including flamenco music & dance. Whether it’s the Town Hall building or the 15th century chapel, you will get to see some most visited historical monuments of Spain.

Rooms & accommodation: The hotel complex has 15 double air-conditioned rooms all; are exterior facing, spacious, tranquil and enjoy lots of natural sunlight. The rooms are well equipped with all basic and modern amenities and round the clock room service. There is also a private garden so that visitors will have their best of time in a personal way.hotel-central-rooms

Services & amenities: Here in the rooms, you will find internet Wi-Fi, hairdryer, direct dial telephone, safety deposit boxes, individually controlled air conditioning, central heating, lift to floors, front desk – fax service, coffee and tea maker, etc.

Other facilities offered to visitors include: special service for disabled people, beach umbrellas and deck loungers, luggage room, English speaking staff, reading and relax lounge, and non-smoking rooms on request.

The Hotel Central is a just a 100-meter walk from the beach “El Fuerte” and so it’s a must visiting spot, which offers a fantastic family vacation stay. You can easily walk down to the beach with your spouse or children to have a pleasant evening and enjoy some delicious cuisine specializing in fish and seafood at some attractive beachside eateries. There also you can enjoy sunbathing, water sports and some other beachside activities.

Hotel Central is no doubt a good place for a family holiday, but if you search for lodging with appetizing food option then this is not the right place. The hotel doesn’t boast its own restaurant or bar, although it offers breakfast. The other off-putting factor is the absence of parking space; guests will have to use the car parking outside the setting and that might be bothersome.

With all modern facilities and services, tourists would find this hotel a wonderful base from which it is quite easy to explore some of the nearby attractions along with numerous excellent restaurants, bars, shops and the magnificent Old Town surrounded by the ruins of Moorish wall with narrow white washed streets.

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Villas in Marbella


Marbella-VillasThere are a range of accommodation options and selection of holiday homes for rent available in Marbella, located in the province of Malaga. Most of travellers prefer cottages, apartments, villas and rural country houses for a holiday package to this coastal resort. However, the sumptuously established villas in the Old Town and other areas of Costa del Sol offer a charm of its own – ensuring a great holiday experience in this part of world.

Many privately owned luxury villas are available for holiday and vacation rental, and some of them are even placed next to any golf course or attractive sandy beach, making it a quite comfortable stay amidst a host of world-class facilities and services. Marbella boasts a wide selection of rental villas of which some are located in the coastal town, those provide a good option of sightseeing and travel around.

Right from the design and location to the facilities inside, a villa in Marbella is nothing but well-appointed apartment built with an ancient or medieval feeling while equipped with all modern urban amenities for a relaxing holiday. The weather of this coastal resort, i.e. mild and pleasant, further makes it the right place to find some of the best villas, where neither summer nor winter is harsh enough to drive away the inbound tourists.

In fact, all year long, villas in Marbella attracts holidaymakers for its ample accommodation multiple bedrooms, Jacuzzi, bars, restaurants, and everything that is essential for a luxury living. Why live in a five star hotel or an expensive apartment when you have the option of living in a marvellous villa which guarantees an ideal holiday retreat? These days, the affluent tourists also like to rent stunning villas as those comprise marvellous tourist spots in their vicinity.

Almost all villas in Marbella offer easy access to some exotic beaches or golf courses which are two of the prime attractions of Marbella. A beachside villa in Marbella offers great sea views from its outside terraces, and keeps its guests or tenants busy in a range of recreational activities such as pool, billiard and various other indoor sports facilities for entertainment.

In some villas, you will find separate outdoor pools for children and adult; the gardens and areas around pool are nice places for chilling out and relaxing while enjoying a choice of room amenities and appliances. However, the best part of villas in Marbella or Costa del Sol is its places of interest within the region. A short walk from most of the villas can either guide you to some of Marbella’s historic monuments, local markets, and traditional eateries or to a coastal village where you can sense a true Andalucían lifestyle.

If you desire to stay in one of the most luxurious Marbella villas, during a family or group vacation, all authentic information can be obtained from a dedicated website where you can even book your stay in one for the highest level of comfort. Now, villas in Costa del Sol play an important part in the tourism industry of Spain and considering the business prospect; it too holds a sizeable fraction in Spanish property market.

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Spanish Cheese Fair in Galicia


Spanish-Cheese-FairDeep in the heart of “Green Spain” is Galicia, renowned for its ancient forests high atop mountains and green pastures as far as the eye can see. Hence, it is no surprise that Galicia is the largest producer of fine cheese in all of Spain. Galicians have proudly flaunted this for the past three decades in their annual cheese fair, Feria de Queso de Arzúa, held the first Sunday in March.

Grand festivities converge on this charming town with this gastronomic springtime celebration, playing tribute to the wide range of rich and creamy cheeses produced in this area attracting everything and anything to do with food and drink on this special day, and anything and everything to do with a good time! Great music and dancing fill the streets of Arzúa late into the night.

The lovely village of Arzúa is located in the centre of Galicia in the province of A Coruña. Arzúa is one of the many stop-overs for the inspired pilgrims travelling the historic Road to Santiago de Compostela. Here, as in all of Galicia, the rich and fertile land offers unbeatable conditions for livestock breeding, especially cows, which greatly benefit from the climate and the green pastures for its grazing.

The most notable Galician cheeses from cows milk are: Tetilla, Arzúa-Ulloa, Cebreiro, San Simón and cheese from Nabiza. Each are creamy and delicious and stand alone, all you need is a nice glass of wine or cider to add to the decadence! Each traditional cheese is either industrially produced, made on farms, or cured. The different processes contribute to the distinct taste of the cheese. The artisan production process of cheese still exists in Galicia and is usually just sold at fairs, local markets and directly to the consumer.

Many Spaniards may argue that their region is the most renowned for fine cheese production. The diversity among the different types (and price) of Spanish cheese is vast, but one thing is a given….. all are ripe with rich flavour and are fantastic. Depending on your palette and preference of goat, sheep or cow cheese….cured or uncured, there will be one to your liking and the search will be worthwhile.

In true Spanish tradition, you can count on the fact that each region has their own cheese fair and will boast featuring the best cheese of Spain.

Here are a few other fairs featuring fine cheese:

Feria del Queso Artesano de Pesquera (Cantabria)
Feria del Queso en Miranda de Ebro (Near Bilbao)
Feria del Queso de Euskal Herria & Feria Europea del Queso Ordizia (Basque Country)
Semana del Queso artesano San Telmo (Ibiza)
Feria del Queso Artesano (Madrid)
Feria del Queso de cabra de Acehúche and Freia del Queso de Trujillo (Extremadura)
Feria del Queso de Cangas de Onis, Feria del Queso de San Lorenzo de Ribadesella, Feria de Queso de Taramundi (Asturias)
Feria do Queoxp de Betanzosa, Feria del Queso de Friol, Feria del Queso de San Simón da Costa (Galicia)

Yet, Arzúa is hands down the most popular fair of them all. Thousands of cheese lovers go there each year to taste the many varieties of highly valued rich creamy cheese delicacies in a day devoted to cheese tasting and celebration.

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Dia de Andalucia


Flags-of-Spain-and-AndaluciYou may well see all over Andalucía new streets and urbanisations called 28 Febrero. This is the “Dia of Andalucía” and is a holiday all over Andalucia. The history of Andaluz autonomy dates back to the beginning of the last century. In 1918 Blas Infante, the founder of modern Andalucían nationalism, drew up a charter for Andalucía and the current flag and coat of arms were adopted.

In 1936 Blas Infante wrote a separate statute of autonomy for Andalucía and it was approved by parliament in June of that year. However the civil war intervened and Infante was assassinated in August. Incidentally, Blas Infante was a local lad from Casares near Manilva and his home there is now a museum.

Andalucía was not recognised as an autonomous region in the new post Franco constitution of 1978 but there was a referendum vote on the 28th of February 1980 which achieved the overwhelming majority needed for an autonomous government- but the Andaluces still had to wait two more years for their autonomy to be ratified. The statute was again reformed in May of this year.

Spain actually has seventeen autonomous regions. They each have their own parliament, president, government, administration and Supreme Court. Obviously, they all have their own flag and capital city, Andalucia’s flag is known as the “Bandera Blanca y Verde” and is the basic subject of the Andaluz anthem (Himno de Andalucía).

Seville is the Capital City and a very beautiful one too! Regional parliament elections are held in Andalucía every four years and the current president, Manuel Chaves is from the socialist PSOE party. He enjoys a very high level of support from the Andaluz public.

Andalucía has 8 provinces (Cadiz, Almeria, Málaga, Huelva, Seville, Jaén, Granada and Córdoba). These provinces have responsibilities in all areas including health and education. However there is a centralised curriculum for all schools and the SAS (Servicio Andaluz de Salud) is also centrally organised as well to make best use of resources. Incidentally, the SAS is a fantastic health service and has a higher ranking in the league tables than the UK!

As an autonomous region of Spain Andalucía is of great importance. Over 22 million tourists arrive each year and contribute greatly to the national coffers. An ever growing population due to immigration from the more Northern EU states means that the traditional problem of population loss is being reversed and the working population is expanding too. Finally, the Andaluz lifestyle is one of the healthiest in Spain with women expected to live to 82 and men to 75.

So what happens on the Dia de Andalucia? The children at primary school spend several days preparing flags and learning the anthem, perhaps even preparing a play. The last day of school before the holiday they may well have a national breakfast of hot chocolate and a tostado (well as close to Andaluz as there is) and spend the morning playing friendly matches of all sorts of games and singing the anthem. A fun day!

Inevitably, Town Halls all over Andalucia also celebrate with official acts and presentations. This is the day when many towns name their “hijos predilecto”, people who have performed services for the area. Celebrations also occur in Seville and Manuel Chaves, the President makes an address.

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Aloha Golf Club


Aloha-Golf-ClubAs in case of other holiday resorts in Costa del Sol, Marbella houses a range of sophisticated golf clubs those remain open for all year round in a wonderful weather. Most of the clubs are open both for professionals and holidaymakers; one of the much loved golf courses to mention here is the Aloha Golf Club.

Founded in the year 1975, the Aloha Golf Club was designed by one of Spain’s acclaimed architect Javier Arana. Javier, who died just before the inauguration of this course, is responsible for creating such a wonderful view of this 18-hole course with uneven greens and well placed obstacles.

For those who have ever been dreaming to try golfing in one of those numerous golf courses in Spain, Aloha is indubitably the best one that suits golfers of all levels. Furthermore, for its easy accessibility from Marbella city centre, and just few minutes’ drive from Puerto Banus, Aloha is a straightforward stop for golf buffs.

Unlike many other golf courses, which are not open for public and only reserved for professionals, Aloha is quite different in that sense. Even locals or general visitors can hire golf equipments from the club and play some shots while learning few lessons from the onsite instructors.

However, it is always a place for those serious professionals who find it comfy to practice and mastering their shots in those varied holes. All holes are not so distantly placed except very few like the 1st (par 5, 545 metres), 4th (par 3, 207 metres), 10th (par 5, 513 metres) 16th (par 5, 481 metres) and the 18th (par 4,410 metres), those need both powerful shots with great precision.

Facilities & Services

Beside the 18-hole golf course, Aloha has a 9-hole par 3 course in company with two putting greens and a practice chipping area. The club has a sauna and swimming poll, but those are restricted for the use of members only.

The restaurant inside the club, with a well-established reputation for serving the finest food amid a luxuriously decorated setting, is open for visitors while a special area reserved for members. There is also a Pro shop inside the club with all sorts of golf related products, available at an affordable price.

Aloha Golf Club in agreement with some other clubs has also been offering its premier members an opportunity to play in any of the corresponding golf courses once in a month. The club management will arrange reservation for each Aloha member in golf courses such as: Los Naranjos, Las Brisas, Sotogrande, San Roque and Guadalmina.

The following address will guide you for more information about the golf course.

Aloha Golf Club
Nueva Andalucía S/N
29660 Marbella
Málaga, Costa del Sol, Spain
E.mail: office@clubdegolfaloha.com
Web: www.clubdegolfaloha.com

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