During the months we were settled in Cartagena, we rented a car a few times and took various small road trips. For posterity, here are the places we explored…
Murcia
Cartagena is located in the southeastern region of Murcia, so it only made sense for our first outing to be to the capital city of Murcia. Only about a 40-minute drive inland, this city of around 500,000 people is the seventh largest in Spain. It has a university and the standard nice features of lovely squares, pedestrian areas, and city amenities. We enjoyed our weekend there, but to be completely honest, we much prefer Cartagena. 😉
Altea
When we arrived in Valencia last September, Conor reached out to a colleague from his graduate school days, Paolo, who happens to live there. After visiting with us over a pint, Paolo (who is Italian) and his lovely wife, Rosa (who is Spanish), generously invited us to spend a weekend with them at their holiday home in Altea. Altea is around an hour and 15-minute drive south from Valencia and was about an hour and 45-minute drive north for us from Cartagena.
Altea sits on the beautiful Costa Blanca, and Paolo and Rosa have a perfect location overlooking the sea. We enjoyed long walks along the endless promenade (which even extends into the neighboring town of L’Albir), a beautiful hike up into a natural park with lovely views, and a night out in Altea’s charming Old Town. You have to be willing to climb a lot of stairs to reach the Old Town, but it’s worth it. What we enjoyed most was the company. Paolo and Rosa are such a lovely couple, and given Rosa doesn’t speak much English, Conor and I really got to practice our Spanish. Rosa is also a wonderful cook, and we were very well fed! I even got to have a brief cooking lesson to learn how she makes Spanish tortilla. Yum. 🙂 Thank you, Paolo and Rosa, for the warm hospitality! We can recommend Altea as a lovely, relaxing beach spot.
Cala Salitrona
Ok, this entry is not actually a road trip. It was the one boat trip we made while based in Cartagena as we wanted to take our California friend, Sailesh, out for a spin and anchor out for a night. We had perfect conditions this October day and reached this nice anchorage in just a couple of hours. Beautiful clear water, nice hiking grounds, and a peaceful night full of moonlight and stars.
Alicante
We had actually been to Alicante before by boat, but with a larger airport than Murcia, Sailesh and David (our friend from the Netherlands) were better able to get flights in and out of here. It’s a little over an hour drive from Cartagena and is a city we like for the nice Costa Blanca beaches, Old Town, and city life. We spent a couple of nights here with the lads so they could enjoy it too. I took the opportunity in a bigger city to try and get some shopping done, while the lads climbed up to the medieval Castillo de Santa Bárbara and enjoyed the views. The other thing we did was eat very well. We love having friends who are great at finding great restaurants. 🙂
Beaches of Calblanque
Laura returned with us to the boat in December after all of our US and Irish land travels. She is a beach lover, so in addition to the small beach in Cartagena, we drove about half an hour to the regional park area of Calblanque. It was a cold day, but we still enjoyed a walk along the sea and seeing the general region near La Manga, a popular resort area for beach lovers.
Jaén
Once the kids left us after their Christmas holidays, we ventured on and spent a week in Granada. (We loved this city, and a future blog post will elaborate on this beautiful town.) On the way there, though, we stopped off to stretch our legs in the nearby Andalusian city of Jaén. Lovely in its own right with a notable cathedral, palaces, castles, art, etc., Jaén is likely worth a longer stop. The area is also home to 60 million olive trees and claims to be the world capital of olive oil production. Yum.
Dénia
We had been to Dénia before by boat and really liked this nice, small town. It happens to be the closest mainland point to the Balearic Islands, so ferries leave from here and tourists hang out. When deciding where to spend our anniversary this year, we chose to return here because we liked the vibe and it was only about a two-hour drive north. Dénia did not disappoint. Conor found a really neat Old World yet art deco hotel, the Art Boutique Hotel Chamarel. We rarely stay at hotels, usually opting for AirBnBs, and this place was a treat. Aside from strolling and day tripping from here, we ate really well. (We had already visited things like the castle on our previous trip.) Dénia is known for its gastronomy and night life, and we tried to enjoy. We can recommend Restaurante Ca Pepa Teresa, La Vecchia Roma, Bodega Casa Benjamin, and A La Fresca, which is in the fun food court, Els Magazinos. This weekend confirmed we still really like Dénia.
Jávea (or Xàbia, as it is spelled in Valencian)
From Dénia, we drove about thirty minutes south to visit this quieter, more traditional seafront town known for its natural beauty. The drive through the mountains to get to Jávea was pretty, and it definitely has a lovely spot on the sea. Another beach town worth a visit. We stumbled into an authentic tapas bar for lunch filled with locals, and started dreaming about how fun it might be to open up a tapas bar back in the US. 😉
Lorca
On our way back from Dénia to Cartagena, we decided to make one final detour to check out the Baroque town of Lorca. It sits just west of Murcia, and seemed worth the visit having been declared a historic and artistic site back in 1964. There is plenty to see, and we barely scratched the surface as we just stopped in to stretch our legs.
Southern Spain simply has so many places worth visiting, and we can certainly recommend them as more authentic off-the-beaten-paths for tourists. Grateful we’ve been able to do all this exploring!
Sailing Sabática 