21 Oct 2008 11:06 AM:
Well here are my own impressions of the towns we visited. In general we did like the area and it was everything we hoped for. Our goal was to narrow down our choices and I do hope I don’t offend anyone with the ones we're rejecting but here are our thoughts:
El Puerto de Santa Maria: Very old city centre with an abundance of narrow streets and history. Outskirts are modern suburban housing and shopping. Beautiful, well kept beaches and promenades. A practical town but we didn't love it.
Rota, Chippiona and Sanlucar: all different but have some similarities in that they have age and character and again beautiful beaches. We like all of these better than El Puerto (maybe because they’re a bit smaller).
Huelvar Province - we didn't really like the coastal developments. Too "manufactured" for us. But we do want some infrastructure and the inland small towns seemed too rural. (I know we're hard to please). We did though love Ayamonte. It is a beautiful town with some lovely squares. The views from the hills across the river are gorgeous. Yes we will continue to look there. Costa Esturi was not for us though - too much development and it just struck us as a giant building site.
Jerez and Cadiz are both vibrant buzzing cities. Very nice to visit but nor for us to live.
Arcos is lovely. It stays on our short list. The old town will take ages to explore properly and we only had time to glimpse its treasures. But around the old town all the amenities of 21st century living and you don’t need a donkey to go buy your groceries.
Medina Sionia, Librija and Vejer are all nice hill towns too. We didn't get a chance to explore them but they'll be worth another look.
Nova Sancti Petri - again overdeveloped for our tastes.
And then on the last day of our trip we fell in love with Grazelema. It is a stunningly beautiful town and the scenery and hills are breathtaking. Yes it does present some practical issues and you'll have to get used to using small local shops and the market (hey I'm used to Tescos and B&Q!) but we will definitely look closer at it.
So in conclusion, we're ruling out the golf developments and the coastal holiday market builds. We're drawn to the towns with history and beauty. Ayamonte, Arcos and Grazelema head the list. Medina Sionia, Librija and Vejer are possibilities too.
Good luck with your search.
This message was last edited by Lambert2 on 10/21/2008.This message was last edited by Lambert2 on 10/21/2008.
Thread:
New Road
--------------------------------------