Self Catering Villa with private pool. Holiday in Moraira,near Calpe,
Javea and Benidorm.
We recently returned from a lovely holiday, which was spent
on the northern Costa Blanca, just 40 minutes from Alicante
and 20 minutes from the infamous Benidorm. Driving down from
the North of England to the Costa's was in itself an
adventure, albeit muted by the aid of GPS navigation, highly
recommended by the way, whether in built sat nav or via a
hand held pc.We set off and left England via Portsmouth by
overnight ferry, on the day Cornwall was flooded! so much for
British summertime eh...we were glad to escape to the sun.
Driving through France is a joy, quiet roads, although these
are toll roads of course and lovely scenery. This gave us the
opportunity to break up the long drive to Spain by spending a
few days in a French Gite. Just south of Poitiers the
accommodation was luxurious, friendly, tranquil and needless
to say, perfect. The problem was we we stayed longer than
expected. We found this gite and indeed the villa by doing
some research via 24hourholidays
http://www.24hourholidays.co.uk/country.htmla travel and holiday guide for the UK, Europe and further
afield.
The villa was located near the town of Moraira, itself is
situated between a coast with both sandy beaches and rocky
coves and mountains of the Marina Alta. The climate is ideal
both for holidays. We had average daily temperatures of
around 32 degrees, around 92F. We love the Costa Blanca,
a near ideal climate combined with the blue seas of the Med
and Spanish culture and custom. Average temperatures range
from the mid-eighties (26-29C) in the high season to the low
sixties (15C) in the middle of winter, and even in winter
the average number of rainy days is around only five per
month so we are told.
This once peaceful fishing port of Moraira has become a
quite busy yet pleasant resort, which is getting larger
and busier by the year. However, there are no high-rise
buildings, no large hotels, no package tours, and no large
and noisy nightclubs, no drunken loon's running around.
Close by there are places that have these, Benidorm and Javea,
which are only a short drive away are examples of these
places if they are your cup of tea. Moraira where the villa
was is simply a small yet busy town with many shops,
restaurants and bars, surrounded by whitewashed villas
nestling on the tree-covered hillsides. It has a many resident
northern Europeans who have become part of the population, and
therefore remains lively throughout the year. Its popularity
can be judged by the very large number of visitors who return
year after year, this includes ourselves. You can get the usual
English bits and pieces like bread, breakfasts so don't worry.
The villa was lovely, a car was a requirement though. A new
construction, built in 2002 we had a jacuzzi, private pool ,
electric gates, maybe a bit too swish for us, 3 bedrooms with
en suites, one of which has its own balcony overlooking the pool
area as well as having great views of the sea. There were two
other bedrooms, one of which contains one king size bed and bunk
beds too, the other room contains two singles.
There is a large living room combined with dinning room with
large television and video player. The villa has a fully fitted
kitchen with dishwasher, microwave etc. The whole villa was
only built in 2002, so every room is clean and brand new with
ceiling fans numerous and all windows including mosquito nets
and blinds.. A large patio area surrounds the 8m x 4m lovely
and warm heated swimming pool which is private and for villa
use only, another mplus point is that nobody can see into the
pool area. There is a hot tub jacuzzi spa and pool table plus
two outdoor showers, the only thing missing was internet
connection so we could catch up on emails while away. We did
this via one of the numerous internet cafes in Moraira, we think
Cyber Moraira was perhaps the best one. All are pretty cheap and
Cyber Moraira seemed to have the fastest broadband connections,
although as usual in most internet cafe's the pc's have spyware
or adware to get around before starting to use them.
We did not just stay by the pool, water sports are numerous
nearby and we tried pretty much all of them, snorkeling (this
is fantastic in the Med), scuba diving, jet skiing, windsurfing
or sunbathing of course. The three main beaches are all blue
flagged with life guards so that various activities and water
sports can be enjoyed.
Shopping, well there is a huge choice and supermarkets in almost
every direction and on any road. Our favorite was the largest
one around 10 minutes from the villa along the coast road from
Moraira towards Calpe. It was Pepe-le-Sal, excuse the spelling
if not correct. There are many smaller shops and every evening
an outdoor market selling bits and pieces, which after a nice
meal on the square was delightful to walk around. There is also
an outdoor fair every night too for the kids, including dodgems,
darts, trampolines and more.
All in all a lovely town and an incredible villa, perfect for a
self catering family orientated holiday as outstanding for
children or idyllic as a base for some great water sports and
perhaps an adults only or romantic getaway. If you go you won't
be disappointed so enjoy and see you next year.
(c) James K. 2004
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