Next to a whitewashed house, hundreds of disorderly boats sigh and hanging clothes shake in the breeze. The bougainvillea spies on two lovers, the horizon is interrupted by the mermaid’s tail that only a child sees, and a salty aroma permeates white curtains, air conditioners, and seafood tavern terraces. There are some travelers with her camera, but this was a secret, so overshadowed on the maps by concrete monsters and all-inclusives.
Throughout the Spanish Mediterranean there are still refuges where you can succumb to that coastal charm that we came to look for in the form of narrow streets where the sound of the sea acts as a perfect guiding thread (or even climbs to the mountains).
Between coastal paths, colorful botigues – or barracks – and cliffs that Josep Pla once fell in love with, lies camouflaged El Port de la Selva, a small town in Alt Empordà with a great fishing heritage guarded by the church of Santa Maria de les Neus. Additionally, in this town we can visit the Taula dels Lladres dolmen, the Sant Pere de Rodes monastery and beaches where you feel like the first person to arrive.
The name Banyalbufar comes from a combination of Arabic and Catalan which means “nestled in the sea”. A sincere and quiet hideaway, with cobbled houses and green windows that evoke a secret poem between the Mediterranean and the Serra de Tramuntana to induce us to a blue meditation between secret coves, pine tapestries, hiking routes such as Sa Volta des General or the tower surveillance tower known as Torre de ses Ànimes.
Away from the overcrowding of other towns such as Cambrils and l’Ametlla de Mar, Altafulla still preserves part of that genuine charm of the Costa Daurada where the boats still wait at sea and the magic revolves around various postcards: from the Roman villa of Els Munts, UNESCO World Heritage Site; to the Botigues de Mar road, a promenade overlooking various white fishermen’s huts built in the 18th century where you can lose track of space and time.
Overshadowed by the Benidorm skyline, Finestrat was a former privateer stronghold that today shines like a chromatic jewel on the coast of Alicante. Cool neighbors in the middle of the square, narrow streets and hermitages like that of Santíssim Crist del Remei, make up this little town between the mountains – the brand new Puig Campana peak – and the sea – the old Cala de Finestrat, today Cala Morales – where you can succumb. to that unique Mediterranean customs.
To say that La Algameca Chica is a town would perhaps be going too far. We can call it an oasis, a surviving bastion or, as many say, a “Shanghai in Cartagena.” This group of barracks born in the 19th century next to the Benipila boulevard, just 4 kilometers on foot from the city of Cartagena, evokes an eternal summer in the form of solitary boats, colorful houses and a legality that still floats in the atmosphere, but with a lot of pride.
If you are in Murcia, you cannot miss a visit to the urban art of the town of Los Alcázares, near the Mar Menor.
The desire to reach the popular town of San José and such dreamy beaches as Los Genoveses or Monsul, often deprives visitors of a stop at Pozo de los Frailes. This district near the coast has a tiny old town around a restored 14th century waterwheel that has become the great sensation of the town. Only then, surrounded by the pitas and whitewashed structures, does the whisper of Cabo de Gata seem more intense here than anywhere else.
On the Tropical Coast of Granada we find icons such as Almuñécar and Salobreña, unknown gems such as Otívar, the gateway to the exuberant Verde River; or serendipity like Vélez de Benaudalla. A town trapped in the mountains where the presence of its “Generalife Chico” stands out, or the mini version of the Alhambra gardens with which it shares history and design. In fact, they are the last two examples of this type of urban space in the entire province of Granada.
Its location on the second line of the beach is one of the main allies of Benahavís, a small white town between the Serranía de Ronda and Marbella that once delighted Michelle Obama herself. No wonder: the Guadalmina, Guadaiza and Guadalmansa rivers flow through this pocket of small houses surrounded by golf courses, reservoirs like La Leche and several watchtowers like La Leonera to create a timid icon.
