One of our favourite places nearby is the seaside town of Aguilas (Eagles) – it is a pleasant 25 minute drive from here, ten minutes on from San Juan, and is set on a pretty harbour, has rather a nice beach area and lots of pretty decent shops. My favourite bit, though, is the town square which is just beautiful. It is quite small but if you stand in the middle of it and look on all four sides, you can appreciate the rather grand architecture of the buildings which surround it.
Aguilas architechture
It was obviously quite a rich little port at one stage – the buildings are simply beautiful, and the square has cafe upon cafe on all four sides, and several have large areas outside in the square amidst the lovely garden in the centre of the square. On one of the streets, you will see what was the old Casino in days gone by – you can imagine how glamorous it once was, with its sweeping marble staircase, but clearly it is a long time since there was any action at the tables.
Aguilas is a real mooching about place, slow in pace and you can easily spend an hour or two walking around from the shopping part down to the port and then back up to the nearby Plaza Mayor to sit and enjoy a drink and a snack. There are a couple of fantastic restaurants on the way to Aguilas which I will cover in future blogs but for now, if you come here at whatever time of year, this really is a lazy way to spend a morning or late afternoon for a bit of shopping and a pre-dinner drink. In the heat of the summer if you want a few hours away from the pool or the beach, this makes a nice easy excursion and will only take the kids away for a couple of hours!
Yummy Almeria 