Discovering the Costa de la Luz
Spain´s southwest coastline, the Costa de la Luz, is booming as the rest of Europe discovers the undeveloped, golden, sandy beaches and authentic traditions and culture of the way of life in the villages and towns of the interior of the province of Cadiz. Jerez, as well as producing one of the most famous of the world´s wines, offers a tradition of breeding of the finest horses, is the centre of the world´s most famous traditional dance, flamenco. The ancient small town of Medina Sidonia, typical of towns in the interior, preserves intact its medieval and Moorish atmosphere, with its narrow streets, its cobbled walkways, and its white houses with their original centuries’ old doors Cadiz city, the capital of the province of Cadiz, lies on a small peninsula, almost in the centre part of the province´s coastline, the Costa de la Luz, the Coast of Light. The town, founded more than 3, 000 years ago by the Early Phoenicians, and showing many signs of earlier settlement by Prehistoric man, is thought to be Europe´s oldest city. Its position at the entrance to the Mediterranean has made it an important port for seafarers, and a main departure point over the centuries for the fleets leaving for the Americas, including Christopher Columbus in his day.
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Now, the province offers some 55,000 choices of lodgings, from hotels to campsites and rural accommodation and in the drive for new visitors the province offers sport, mainly golf and equestrian, with sports like kite-surfing and rock-climbing forming an important part, and on the cultural side includes visits to museums and historical ruins, with castles, vineyards and winemakers, craft factories, large ranches and small palaces, and monasteries mixed in. One of the most popular activities is still just relaxing on the beach or in the countryside, and amongst the wide open spaces in the countryside are five protected areas defined as Natural Parks. Los Alcornocales, with a total area of 170,000 hectares, is regarded as being one of Europe´s last virgin forests, and includes an area of prehistoric woodland some five million years old of great botanical importance, with cork and oak forest dating back at least a thousand years. Amongst the birdlife and fauna, the ever-present eagles soar over communities like Benalup, Los Barrios, Alcala de los Gazules, San Jose del Valle, and to the south, Jimena and Castellar, all within or just closeby the Park.
Further to the west, near Sanlucar, the Natural Park of Doñana covers some 750 hectares made up of some of the most important salt-flats and marchlands and pine groves in Europe, offering a home to many varieties of species and a resting place for migratory birds in transit twice a year to Africa.Beyond Alcornocales, in the Natural Park of Grazalema, a protected area of exceptional botanical interest, and unspoilt by development, are the small towns of Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema, Benaocaz, and Ubrique, on the route of “ los pueblos blancos ”, the white villages. Inland from the coastline, the white villages have the style and charm similar to those well-known in the neighbouring province of Malaga, but with the additional interest of so far being less developed for residential tourism. Medina Sidonia, Arcos de la Frontera, Alcala de los Gazules, Benalup , Vejer, Villamartin are busy small towns which make up the framework of populations some forty kilometres inland.
On the coast the main communities up to Cadiz city are Chiclana, Conil, San Fernando, Puerto Real, Novo Sancti Petri, El Puerto de Santa Maria and, beyond Cadiz, Rota, Chipiona and San Lucar de Barrameda. Close to Cadiz and only some eighty kilometres south of Seville, is the other principal town of the province, Jerez de la Frontera, well-known to the British and famous throughout the world for its sweet wines named after the town, which the British pronounced "sherry". Called "de la Frontera" because it once stood on the frontier between the Moorish and the Christian territories, from those early days the town has developed its traditions and reputation for its pedigree horses and brilliant singers and dancers of flamenco. The production of sherry in Jerez has given rise to the famous dynasties of bodegas; Sandeman, John Harvey, Domecq, Gonzalez Byass and others, which have established strong connections with UK, one of the largest markets for consumption of sherry, and with Scotland´s whisky distilleries which have a strong demand for sherry casks to use for maturing Scotland´s golden liquid.
Access to the Costa de la Luz from the east, from Malaga´s Costa del Sol, can be by road passing by Algeciras and Tarifa, in Campo de Gibraltar, and either run along the coast, or take the new motorway connecting Los Barrios to Jerez. Access from the west by air into Jerez airport is opening up the western end of the province to visitors from the rest of Europe, and although serviced by only one UK airline, Ryanair from Stansted , the airport handles eighteen different airlines from Germany and Austria. Gibraltar airport gives convenient access from the east, but flights only connect from UK.
Demand for new homes in Campo de Gibraltar, the area connecting Costa del Sol with the Costas de la Luz, is experiencing a notable increase in home-buying from the British, especially in zones like Alcaidesa. One local agent, Soluz Estates, explains “the area provides a good base for those of our British clients who want to live close to Gibraltar and its airport, but at the same time have easy access to the unspoilt, undeveloped side, around Tarifa and Los Barrios, and be able to explore for a new home further up towards Jerez.”
Tarifa, at the beginning of the Costa de la Luz eastern end, is the resting point for the hundreds of species of birds in their twice-yearly migration to and from the continent of Africa. Much of the coastline around Tarifa has been declared a protected area within which no more construction will be permitted, to ensure the protection of the migrating birds.
The typical beaches, running along 138 kilometres, on the Costa de la Luz are wide, with in many places high, African-style sand dunes with dense copses of pine trees behind, and a sand colour varying from golden to white. The sand is finer than that of the neighbouring Costa del Sol, the air temperatures are slightly milder than the rest of Spain and the strong Atlantic winds and waves attract wind surfers and board surfers, turning Tarifa into one of Europe´s top windsurfing centres and making beach hotels like the Hurricane, the Dos Mares and Artevida points of pilgrimage for the wave-riders
Development on the Costa de la Luz over recent years has seen most activity by the Spanish community, from Seville and Madrid, with the European presence being mostly from Germany, Belgium and France, with no British presence compared to that on the Costa del Sol. The main centres on the coast around which development has focused has been Novo Sancti Petri and Chiclana, which have a growing number of four and five star hotels, offering some 10,000 hotel beds, and many new residential projects, with more golf-courses planned to match demand. Further inland, developments have been started in Medina Sidonia and Arcos de la Frontera, stimulated by the opening up of the area by the motorway.
In the town of Jerez a new community is growing, made up of those who enjoy the life in a typical Spanish town, with easy access to the countryside, beaches and golf. Among the nearest golf courses to Jerez are the Jack Nicklaus course at Montecastillo, the country estate of Montenmedio, and the course at Benelup, as well as the resort courses at Novo Sancti Petri and Chiclana. The Romans were early settlers and homeowners and, with a Roman presence from 100BC Gades, Cadiz city, was the most important Roman community after Rome and Padua, an importance mostly due to efforts and activities of the Balbo family which built in 45BC the largest Roman theatre in Spain , together with a number of other works, still preserved. Elsewhere in the province, the best preserved of Roman remains is at Baelo Claudia, at Bolonia, near Tarifa. A large community grew up there, based on the thriving trade from the fish factories making garum, the fish sauce exported all over Roman empire. At San Roque is Carteia, a Roman city important because of its location overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, of which towers, walls and streets are on view and can be visited. Early communities perhaps had different ways of life to those of present day, but they certainly shared the desire to have a home with easy access to all the necessities of daily living, and perhaps with a view to sea or mountains to improve their day.