Driving southeast Spain

Here are some notes on Spain from a trip my wife, Betty, and I took to the Costa Blanca area for a week and a half in April ’08 before continuing on to Greece. It was our first trip to either country.

We found southeast Spain to be very beautiful. We stayed with our friends Bob and Maryann, of Connecticut, who had rented a villa for a month, and our friend Jan, of Kansas.

The villa was very high on a hill outside of the village of Moraira. The view of the Mediterranean up and down the coast was absolutely spectacular, but the weather tended to be on the cool side, with moderate winds that occur that time of year. From this point, we took daily driving trips into the hills and visited coastal communities.

We had flown Delta Airlines on frequent-flyer miles from Los Angeles through Atlanta to Madrid and then connected with a Spanair flight from Madrid to Valencia, where we met Jan.

Spanair is, I would say, the Spanish equivalent of our Southwest Airlines, serving many Spanish cities and other European points primarily as a low-cost carrier. For two persons, the Madrid-Valencia fare was €18 plus €46.74 airport taxes and €12 service fee, totaling €76.74 (near $110)!

In Valencia we rented from Hertz a mid-size car, a Holden Astra. It was a little snug for the five of us. It cost €257 ($367), which included a fee of €50.75 for an additional driver and a 10% discount for referring to our AAA club membership. From the airport, we drove the A7 down to the village of Moraira to join Bob and Maryann.

In general, the roads were in excellent condition and well marked for self-drivers. The main highway (A7) is a tollway connecting Barcelona to the north down through Valencia and on southwest along the Mediterranean Sea.

Much of the countryside of Spain looks similar to that of Southern California, having moderately high hills and mountains plus seaside plains broken with orange groves. We found rural villages as well as old churches that were worth the trip and exploration.

We stopped for lunch at sites which looked interesting, being mindful of the afternoon closures. Breakfast and dinner were at the villa and consisted of foods we found locally or bought in supermarkets, such as bread and hams.

We found prices in supermarkets and restaurants similar to those in the US, but the variety and taste quality of some products, such as hams, were better. Farmers’ markets that we visited gave us both freshness and variety in local products.

One highlight of our trip was a day in Valencia, which in architecture and customs is a wonderful blend of old and new worlds.

We drove about 30 kilometers to a small village with a rail depot and local commuter-type service and were able to park our car for the day free of charge. In Valencia, we got off of the train and walked across the street and up the main avenue to the square, where we found the tour and bus staging area.

We used a local sightseeing service that had an English-speaking tour leaving soon. The bus was equipped with earphones that had three language options. After the tour, we walked in the major downtown area and had lunch at a sidewalk café.

We recommend taking the train into these old cities inasmuch as streets are narrow and sometimes restricted to autos and very limited for parking. The other issue about which we were warned by locals was theft.

We returned to the village in late afternoon and drove home to the villa. By the way, anyone who rents a villa, condo or apartment should be prepared to drive in very constricted streets in some of these old villages. The calle leading UP UP UP to ours had several one-car-at-a-time zones.

We would be glad to answer questions from readers. E-mail xpprmkr@sbcglobal.net.

JOHN L. THOMPSON
Yorba Linda, CA