It is Tuesday and Mick has taken the day off, along with every single person in Spain! It is Christopher Columbus day here (and in the States too I think!). It is a holiday for the armed forces and the police (a great day to commit a crime!) and a national holiday. We decide to go for lunch at our favourite beach, Agua Amarga, or bitter waters, about 40 minutes away. You can take a fantastic scenic route along the coast past Mojacar and then go up the scary, but beautiful, mountain road. It takes longer though and is no good for people who don’t like heights and narrow hairpin bends!!
Anyhow, we choose the motorway route for speed and comfort as we have Mick’s mum, Sadie with us – it is still a wonderful drive once you are off the motorway, around 35 kms from the house. Then you have an awesome drive through the Cabo de Gato (Cape of Cats) – a kind of Spanish moors if you like. It is very remote and isolated but quite stunning and the road just goes straight through the middle of it.
After about 15 minutes you arrive at the town of Agua Amarga, a little place which used to be a fishing village, but now I think is a popular place for holiday homes, although you do of course still get some little fishing boats here. It is simply an exquisite place, with a couple of rather lovely little hotels and 4 or 5 restaurants on the beach. A few are still open for lunch well into November so we pick our favourite one, right on the beach and overlooking nothing but a turquoise sea and rugged landscape either side and some beautiful villas. We tuck into red mullet, chips and salad with a glass of vino and a coffee – the menu is vast and full of delicious things, but we have friends coming for dinner so don’t go too mad. Agua Amarga is one of the chicest beaches around us and at this time of year virtually empty apart from a few families out for the day or who have just come out for a long lunch as it is a holiday. Even in season it is too off the beaten track for the coach party crowd and isn’t really on the tourist map but mainly frequented by Spanish people or English, Dutch and German people in the know. It was featured in the film Sexy Beast, and visitors will recognise the villa on the left hand side on the hill as you drive into town.
Reluctantly we get ready to leave wishing we had brought our towels to spend the afternoon lazing on the beach on one of the last days of summer…..but we will be back for lunch again before winter sets in.