You had promised yourself that this year you would be proactive, that you would plan your trips and getaways ahead of time, but once again, time has caught up with you. At the gates of Easter, you seem to wake up from a lethargy feeling an irrepressible urge to pack your bags and leave home for a few days, but the world opens up in front of you and you are unable to make a decision. A question rumbles in your mind: where?
It is not necessary to travel to the other side of the world to disconnect for a few days and have a good time, and it is not essential to invest a large sum of money to enjoy a getaway. The secret to a good choice is to be honest with yourself and think about what you really want at the moment. You have the time of year in favor: at this point, the days are getting longer and the temperatures more pleasant. For our part, we will try to provide some ideas that could inspire you to design your own journey.
The first of our proposals takes us to visit one of the most impressive places on the Galician coast. From Cabo de Fisterra - known for centuries as the cape at the end of the world - to Malpica de Bergantiños, the coast of the province of A Coruña offers a succession of dizzying cliffs, old lighthouses, wild beaches and fishing villages. There are 70 kilometers that make a getaway to the Costa da Morte a unique experience. Although the route could be done in one go, forget about the clock and take your time; savor the landscape, let yourself go.
Our advice is not to stay anywhere. Experience the sensation of sleeping in one of its lighthouses, lookouts that have safeguarded sailors for centuries, guiding them to a good port on dark nights and in the midst of storms. Built in privileged locations, they offer unique views over the Atlantic and, at night, the sound of the waves accompanies sleep. You can do it at O Semáforo, in Fisterra, or at the Faro de Lariño hotel, in Carnota
O Semáforo occupies a remodeled 1888 building attached to the lighthouse that has five rooms, a restaurant, a cafeteria, terraces with endless views and several exclusive corners in which to disconnect from the world. The Lariño hotel, on the other hand, is located in the original lighthouse building, has nine exclusive rooms and a gastronomic space, terrace, garden and direct access to the beach. A trip to the Costa da Morte would not be complete if it did not take gastronomy into account, since it is here where the Roncudo barnacle is born and dies, one of the most appreciated crustaceans in the world. The best place to try it? Without a doubt Corme, a town whose life revolves around it.
Did you know that the highest dune in Europe is just over two hours -215 kilometers- from the Spanish border? Don't look for it in the south, it's in France and discovering it seems like a more than justified reason to travel this Easter to the Aquitaine coast. The Dune of Pilat, one hour from Bordeaux, is an amazing desert landscape next to the Atlantic of 90 hectares and more than 60 million cubic meters of sand with a crest that rises up to 150 meters high.
The dune extends three kilometers in front of the coast, with a width of 500 meters, without a doubt a spectacle that surprises those who come to contemplate it, which are not few. And it is that it has become one of the most visited sites by the French themselves. Access is free and parking is paid after the first half hour of parking. From the top, the views over the Arcachon Bay, Cape Ferret, and the Landes pine forests that flank it are exceptional, however reaching it is not easy for people with reduced mobility.
In addition to panoramic views, the surroundings offer many other attractions. Bird lovers can visit the Teste ornithological reserve and lovers of paragliding and soaring will find excellent wind conditions to practice both specialities. In any case, traveling to the Dune of Pilat is a perfect excuse to get to know a historic tourist destination already frequented in the 19th century by aristocrats and bourgeois, attracted by its spas. The Arcachon center still preserves elegant buildings from the period. You can stay in one of its establishments and taste its oysters, accompanied by a good Bordeaux wine.
Its situation is privileged -it is half an hour from the mountains and the sea-; its size -one hundred thousand inhabitants- make it accessible; she is pretty; enjoys a pleasant climate, and has an interesting heritage, cultural and gastronomic offer. With this cover letter it is inevitable to include Girona in our list of proposals. Those who visit it for the first time may discover corners in its old town that are distantly familiar to them, since the city served as the setting for film and television productions. This is the case of the Call -the Jewish quarter-, the stairs of the cathedral or the monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, in Game of Thrones, or the Gómez bridge that crosses the river Onyar, in the film I feel like you, starring in 2011 by Mario Casas and Clara Lago. And it is that the old town -the barri vell- is in itself a marvel.
Those who wish to delve deeper into local history can choose among the many museums, from Archeology to Jewish History, through the History of Girona, the Rafael Masó house-museum or its various art centers. Manaies (armed) parades, processions or Holy Week exhibitions; concerts within the framework of the Strenes Festival, a benchmark event for Catalan artists, or guided tours to different corners of the city complement a highly varied offer.
If you wonder about gastronomy, you can rest easy. The local restaurant proposal is excellent, with a good number of 0-kilometre establishments, which cohabit with starred establishments such as Massana or Celler de can Roca. Nor should you worry about where to sleep: you can choose from a good assortment of establishments in the city or by the sea. And it is that the proximity to the Costa Brava is, without a doubt, quite a temptation to enjoy the first rays of sun of the season in its coves and beaches.
Declared a biosphere reserve by Unesco, the Sierra de Grazalema, located halfway between the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga, is contrary to what many might assume, the area with the highest rainfall rate in the entire Peninsula, with an annual average that exceeds 2,000 liters of rain per m2. This information could be a deterrent for many travelers, but the situation of drought that a good part of the country suffers makes this circumstance very attractive.
But he's not the only one. This natural park with its karstic landscape and limestone terrain, dotted with grottoes, caves and gorges, and with nearly 20 peaks over a thousand meters high, is a perfect setting for trekking. It has perfectly signposted routes of different difficulty and duration -suitable for beginners, families and advanced hikers-.
Nestled between its mountains, Grazalema stands out, a picturesque white town with an enviable architectural richness, with a historic center of narrow streets with an Arab pattern, houses with pots of carnations and geraniums, gabled roofs, and monumental buildings. The town, like the rest of the sierra-Ronda, Ubrique, El Bosque or Benaocaz, among others-has a remarkable offer of rural accommodation and an interesting gastronomic proposal. Chickens, stews, soups and especially cheeses, accompanied by local wines delight travelers.
Our list would not be complete if it did not include some typical Easter proposal. On this occasion we opted for the Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo, a tradition imbued with passion that has as its epicenter the Terolense region of Bajo Aragón. Until Easter Sunday, Albalate del Arzobispo, Alcorisa, Andorra, Híjar, Puebla de Híjar, Samper de Calanda, Alcañiz, Calanda and Urrea de Gaén are flooded with acts, in which the deafening roar of drums are the protagonists.
The moment of greatest ecstasy is reached on the night from Thursday to Good Friday, with the Rompida on the hour in most towns, although the best known is Calanda, the birthplace of Luis Buñuel. The filmmaker said that it was enough to put your hand on one of the walls of the town to feel the vibrations that shook the houses caused by the brothers, dressed in their habits and drumming when they went out into the squares to break, in unison, the silence.
Traveling to the Turolense region to witness this festival listed by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity is an excellent excuse to get to know the area and connect with nature. Mountains, olive groves, rivers, astronomical viewpoints and small cobbled villages dotted with historic buildings will dazzle you. Sure!
