La Manga del Mar Menor

Following in the footsteps ...

"First the Phoenicians and then the Moorish kings, chose this "small sea" as the site of their summer residences. Today, this area attracts all those who seek a quiet place to rest and relax, with ideal weather conditions all year round"
taken from Wikipidea

La Manga del Mar Menor:  see below map.

Oh La Manga Mar Menor, we've stayed with you for over two months now and have yet to sing your praises.  Here's a brief vignette of our stay with you.

We arrived here at La Manga on 7th November delighted that we had reached our final destination. We planned this trip and made our reservation way back in early 2012 and now we were here.

Camping La Manga is a village of many nations and has its various areas like the German quarter, the Spanish the Dutch and of course the English. Not just a mixture of nations but a mixture of caravans, camper vans, chalets of all shapes, sizes and conditions.

Wendy and I are not 'mixers' or 'joiners in' so we selected a site away from the English Quarter and in the Multi-National Quarter. Around us are Spanish, French, Germans and a couple of English, all of whom like us, are probably not 'mixers'or 'joiners' also, avoiding there own National Quarters.

Camping La Manga One kilometre in length from the entrance to Mar Menor and 400 metres wide the site is laid out in grid form.  Running North to South it is divided into pitches of varying sizes. Each pitch has mains electricity, drinking water supply and grey water drain.  We just connected the caravan up to these utilities and settled down for a two month stay.

On the majority of days we rose around 8 to 8.30am, showered then breakfasted out when not windy.  Washing up done and all put away we would make coffee and sit in the sun for an hour or so, reading or just appreciating the warmth of the sun.

Lunch was a snack at home or perhaps we'd wander down to La Mirador, the restaurant and Tapas bar on the waters edge. Tortilla and the occasional plate of chips then a stroll along the beach after which we would make our way back to our site and indulge in a little more sun and paperbacks.

Before our evening meal we would walk the 3 km path around the site.  Always something interesting to see as we passed a variety of nations spending their days in the warmth of Costa Calida.  The Spanish were noisy, their speech and laughter carrying on the ever present breeze.  The Germans were abrupt but friendly and the French talkative. I spoke to a near neighbour of ours who was French often during our stay and it was only yesterday he asked me whether I was German!

We planned to get a 'decent' walk in twice a week but the plan was thwarted when Wendy got a cold that developed into a chest infection which necessitated a visit to the Centro de Salud. Here she saw a doctor who prescribed a course of antibiotics plus a Vitamin C capsule. Just as she was getting better my hip took a painful turn following a four hour Christmas dinner spent on a hard wooden seat. Oh the joys of our latter years.

Our site is directly opposite a Nature Reserve The Calblanque, and this caught our attention straight away.  Up a dirt track we found a Visitor Centre and came out weighed down with maps and leaflets.

We managed several walks in The Calblanque. A strange barren landscape, pitted with the remnants of a long ago mining industry.  There are pictures on the links under Calblanque.

Cartagena is the nearest large town and we fell in love with the place. A long and sophisticated history to the town, it was its narrow streets, its palm lined harbour and its architecture that delighted us. There are pictures on the links under Cartagena.

From St. Nietos, a short drive north from here, we were able to catch a train into Cartagena and for the miserly sum of just €5 - for the two of us - return - terrific value.

We also had a day out taking the coast road north to Alicante.  Just before the town we pulled onto a beach and shared a picnic. Alicante was smart.  Clean and very up together. We walked the back streets, marvelling at the number of restaurants, their tables spilling out onto the narrow streets and full of loud happy Spanish.  The Spanish love their food and preferably out of doors. Even on a chilly evening in Alicante they were sat out, wrapped up inside big coats with big hats and big boots.  Boots seem de rigueur for the Spanish female.

We found a restaurant along the harbour side, had a delightful meal then made our way home.

One of our walks from the site here was south along the Mar Menor and through the heavily shuttered holiday lets and homes into Cabo de Palos, our nearest town. Built on a peninsula it has at its tip a simply stunning Lighthouse or Faro. Only the locals inhabited the town now, summer was over and almost everywhere was deserted. We had the place to ourselves. We picnicked in the shelter of the lighthouse then climbed up to its base before making our way back, through the streets and little harbour of Cabo de Palos.

Another day was spent in Murcia.  Far too much to see here in one day, perhaps we may return. See pictures on the links.

So that's pretty much how we've spent our 78 days here at La Manga.  We've enjoyed (almost) every minute. It's Wednesday 23rd January now and tomorrow we say goodbye to La Manga, to Mar Menor in fact to Murcia.  I've booked almost all our sites for the journey back.  Our first night is back in Valencia, although at a different site to the one on our journey down. Then we head across Spain to Zaragoza for two nights then to San Sabastian possibly for three nights as we would like to see the town. We cross the border into France and stay in Bordeaux.  From there we head north to Nantes where we stay another two nights. Caen and finally Calais see our Extended Trip come to an end.  Just the 200 miles to Clevedon and come Friday 8th February we will be home.

Wi-Fi permitting I will endevour to get something down on this blog as we journey home otherwise it may be the occasional email.