Barceló Cabo de Gata

The country of Spain is located in southwestern Europe.

Mainland Spain has a surface area of 493,486 square kilometers, while the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands cover 4,992 and 7,447 square kilometers, respectively. The Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the African continent account for an additional 32 square kilometers.

The World Tourism Organization rates Spain as the second most popular tourist destination worldwide, with 49.5 million visitors annually.

The region of Almería, situated in the most easterly part of Andalucía in south-eastern Spain, on the shores of the Mediterranean, holds the title of Spain’s sunniest region, with a total of 3,000 hours of sun a year.

Almería owes its personality to the wide variety of natural spaces. The perfect combination of landscapes, the isolation of the Tabernas desert, the beauty of its virgin beaches and its enchanting white villages. Traces of Islam, the Romans, prehistoric finds and the prehistoric caves with cave paintings will never cease to amaze you. Golf, beaches, rural tourism, natural spaces. Almería has skilfully combined economic development achieved through intensive farming with quality tourism. From the coast to the mountains, the landscape changes from the blue of the Mediterranean to the rural landscapes interrupted by the mountains.

Almería is, first and foremost, a land marked by contrasts.

Cabo de Gata
Cabo de Gata-Nijar is a volcanic-origin maritime-land natural park and is the largest maritime-land protected space with greatest ecological relevance throughout the whole of the Western European Mediterranean. It was classified by the UNESCO in 1979 as a Biosphere Reserve and includes the Cabo de Gata Mountains, part of the Bay of Almería, the Cabrera Mountains and the seabed.
At Cabo de Gata, visitors can admire a stretch of coastline marked by cliffs, small and isolated coves, vast beaches and even reefs. The dry weather conditions identify this area as the most arid part of Western Europe. Despite this and its apparent desert appearance, it contains highly specific forms of animal and plant life that have learnt to adapt to extreme arid conditions.
It offers the perfect conditions for discovering beaches and taking a stroll full of light and colour. The Cabo de Gata Natural Park has become one of the natural gems for tourism in Almería, Andalusia and the whole of Spain. It still retains the spirit of its origins, as it is one of the few places on the Spanish coast where you can enjoy wild beaches without a trace of human presence. At Cabo de Gata, discover the deserted beach, dunes and the vast beach. There are beaches to suit all tastes, including the Los Genoveses beach at San José, the Playazo de Rodalquilar beach, La Cala del Plomo at Aguamarga and La Cala de San Pedro at Las Negras.
An inestimable reserve of beauty, a landscape that invites interest in the soul, contemplation and deliberate movement submerged in the origins of all creation. A place to lodge at and experience the entirety of its hugely powerful light. Dominance and vastness of the air and latitude, leaving the view intact.
The park is ten minutes from the hotel and covers 29,000 hectares, from Retamar to Aguamarga, and has more than 12,000 hectares of protected maritime area. Its flora is unique, with wild olive trees, prickly pear, oleander and palm hearts as its main plants. There is also a wide range of fauna, including the common gecko, Dupont’s lark and heron.

The city of Almería
The history of the city of Almería dates from 955 AD. It was in this year that the Caliph Abd al Rahmán III ordered the construction of the Alcazaba Fort, the Great Mosque and that a wall be built around the existing settlement, making it a Medina. Following the seizure of the city in 1489 by the Catholic Monarchs, the Christianisation process began. The convent walls and church bell towers gave it the appearance of a conventual city, transforming the ancient Great Mosque into the first Cathedral.
La Alcazaba is a palace of Arabic origin. The palace in Almería has 3 areas. The first included living quarters and baths. The second area contained palace outbuildings. The third area contains the remains of a castle built by the Catholic Monarchs after the city was seized in 1489. Its interior is laid out around the Patio de Armas courtyard. The main features of this area are the Torre del Homenaje, Nora del Viento and La Pólvora.
Spanish Civil War Shelters. In the Plaza Manuel Pérez García, next to the Puerta de Purchena. These air-raid shelters were built between 1937 and 1939, according to plans by architect Guillermo Langle. The aim was to provide shelter for the city’s 40,000 inhabitants, to protect them from the bombings that occurred during the Spanish Civil War. The entrance area offers audiovisuals with witness accounts by people who lived through the drama, where they relate their experience as a target of the indiscriminate bombings. Through images, materials from that era – toys, documentation, utensils – visitors will see how life continued both inside and outside the tunnels. One of the most memorable moments is when you reach the spaces used for the kitchen and operating theatre. The walk helps visitors appreciate the tension felt by people, from the moment the alarm sounded and the subsequent hope as they left the shelter. Meanwhile, they had to live crowded together in the grey darkness of the tunnels, dimly lit by weak lamps while all around them, the earth shook from the impacts. Open every day, except Mondays.

Cinema
Lights. Camera. Action… These three magical words rang out in Almería throughout the twentieth century and are a sign of true devotion to film. Film productions illuminated by the privileged and natural settings provided by the geography of Almería. An enjoyable tour through the memorable outdoor sets that Almería has provided the film industry with, such as westerns, directed by Sergio Leone, was quite a milestone, but the region did not want to focus solely on one genre and skilfully “sold” its charms to directors and actors working in other types of film, even transforming the Alcazaba at the request of Steven Spielberg for the shooting of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the Rambla del Búho de Tabernas to act as the setting for the battle of El Guettar in Patton.
Deserts and areas with wild landscapes, as in Tabernas, soaring mountains with leafy vegetation, coasts, cliffs and virgin beaches at Cabo de Gata - Níjar. Not many provinces in Spain can boast such a varied mountain geography and, at the same time, one of such bold contrasts. And it is without a doubt this that made Almería one of the world’s leading centres for film production.

Tabernas Desert
The Tabernas desert was declared a Site of Natural Beauty in 1989 due to its geomorphologic landscape and complex ecological environment. Thanks to its rich birdlife, it was declared a ZEPA (Special Protection Zone for Birds). It is a unique setting in Europe, one of the best in which to observe the arid climate that is peculiar to the province of Almería. Its ecological interest is based both on the vegetation and fauna and the outline of its mountains, with unique and suggestive forms.
The Tabernas Desert is, in fact, Europe’s only desert. A truly unique complex of weather, pedological, geological and anthropological factors have all combined to shape this awe-inspiring landscape.

The Alpujarra Almeriense
The Alpujarra Almeriense faces south, towards the Sierra de Gádor, on the spurs of the Sierra Nevada. Less famous than the Alpujarra de Granada, it retains the rural flavour of the Alpujarra among its vineyards and pine trees.
The water that rises in the Sierra Nevada runs through the heart of this pretty village, creating over twenty fountains that spring up throughout its winding streets. The fountains are known as “pillars” and some of the more well-known include those on the Plaza Mayor, in San Antonio, San Blas, the Pilar Seco and Cuatro Caños.
Alpujarra villages of the province of Almería cling to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada: Ohanes, Padules, Almócita, Beires, Fondón, Canjáyar, Benecid, Paterna del Río and Bayárcal.

In the city of Almería, the Pescadería, El Alquián and Cabo de Gata districts, to mention just a few, are the perfect place to try fresh fish, a diet, seasoned with the excellent oils from Tabernas and La Alpujarra, also shared by the villages along the entire coast, although always deliciously combined with products from the kitchen garden. However, in the villages of the hinterland and on the coast, visitors wishing to try traditional homemade cooking will find all types of hot tapas, such as migas, las patatas a lo pobre and, of course, cold cuts and pork loin. And to round off a good meal, what better way than pastries of Moorish origin.
The truly exceptional red prawn also deserves a special mention.

Tapas
Tapas in Almería are a popular institution. Having a beer accompanied by a tapa, included in the price of the drink, is very typical in Almería. Increasingly common, after tapas, is eating a few raciones, which makes for more informal dining and helps you enjoy a whole variety of fried or hot dishes: cuttlefish in sauce or griddled, fried whitebait or dried and salt fish, tabernero (a variety of pisto vegetable stew or the traditional Almería fritaílla fried dish), chérigan (tapa originally from Almería), which consists of a thin slice of bias-cut baguette toasted with a layer of alioli and something on top, such as tuna, York ham or morcilla blood sausage, boladillos (small cod or prawn fritters), fish in adobo (soaked in vinegar, herbs and wine and then fried in batter, such as dogfish, grouper, mackerel and fresh anchovies), caracola (seasoned sea snails without the shell), original Almería patatas bravas (large potatoes cooked in oil with added tomato), offal in garlic, pigs’ trotters and snails (in garlic or with pepper and tomato frittata).
Other tasty tapas include handcrafted cold cuts, meat in sauces or chargrilled and bowls of homemade fare: wheat or migas.

When choosing a gift, remember the wealth of La Alpujarra handcrafts, created through its cultural and tradition-rich legacy. Of particular interest are the ceramics (pitchers, pots, dishes, etc.), hand-woven Jarapa rugs and tapestries, baskets, embroidery, esparto handicrafts, etc. Fabric from the Alpujarra region has been famous since the age of Arab domination, and was possible thanks to the great abundance of sheep, silkworms and linen. Hand-operated Islamic textile mills still exist in villages such as Mecina-Bombaron, Ugíjar, Valor Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira.
The town of Níjar has been one of the great centres of Andalusian pottery-making and is characterised by its pitchers with multi-coloured glazes cascading over the surfaces of earthenware bowls, serving dishes, fruit bowls, pitchers and other pieces. The village has a whole number of shops selling everything from pitches and dishes, colourful ceramics, figures made from esparto grass to hand-woven Jarapa rugs.
Once in Níja, it’s almost compulsory to buy a piece of ceramics, or whatever catches your eye, as there is so much to choose from.
In the municipality of Albox you will find the Los Puntas potter’s workshop, declared a Site of Artistic Heritage because of its age, maintenance of its facilities and continued complete traditional pottery-making process.
Although work in Macael marble, which is mined from the Sierra de Los Filabres, is highly industrialised, there are workshops that create many decorative pieces by hand using this raw material.
The municipality of Níjar is also home to one of Almería’s most famous handcrafted products: Jarapa rugs; and in Mojácar, as well as in other villages in the province, necklaces, earrings, cameos and other pieces of jewellery made from the red coral extracted from the area around the Isla de Alborán.

Local Time: UTC + 2 in Summer. UTC + 1 in Winter.

Official Currency: The currency used is the Euro.

Official Language: Spanish.

Population: Approximately 39 millions inhabitants.

Health Information: No vaccine or medical certificate is needed to travel to Spain.

Electricity: 220 V. Plugs are rounded and double-pronged.

Types of payment: Most shops accept cash and major international credit cards, such as VISA, MasterCard and American Express.

Banking hours: Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m..