Within Walking Distance

Swimming Pool : 1 min
Swimming pools are located all around Las Ramblas, your closest one is never more than a few minutes walk!

Las Ramblas Clubhouse : 5 mins
Serves excellent food and has a terrace overlooking the fairway.

Tranvase Tajo – Segura : 5 mins
Irrigation Canal running through the golf course and on through Villamartin, against a backdrop of orange groves. This is the perfect place for walking, running or cycling on the tow-path.

Campoamor Clubhouse : 30 mins
The excellent clubhouse and hotel on the neighbouring Campoamor golf course has a terrace offering spectacular views across the golf courses of Campoamor and Las Ramblas towards the sea, with the Mar Menor and the La Manga strip in the background. This facility is open to all and, whilst it is only a couple of minutes drive away, it is well worth walking and enjoying the scenery en route!
 

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

Within Driving Distance

Villamartin Plaza : 5 mins
Some 20 or more bars and restaurants offering a wide selection of international cuisine. Also shops and boutiques.

Many excellent restaurants are within 5 minutes drive from the apartment. You will find details of these within the apartment…

Shopping

A large Mercadona supermarket is situated at about 5 minutes drive from Las Ramblas (turn left out of the gates of Las Ramblas, up the hill past the Magellen Estate Agents and its on the roundabout).  This is a brand new large supermarket where you will find everything you need.

For last minute needs or emergencies, there is a small supermarket (open 7 days a week) within 3 minutes in the car. Turn left out of the gates of the Las Ramblas complex and drive up the hill towards Villamartin. The supermarket is on the right immediately after Magellan’s Estate Agents.

There are also a number of small supermarkets and specialist shops at Villamartin Plaza (5 mins) and at the Los Dolses shopping centre (5 mins).

Another very good local supermarket is the Consum at La Zenia. Open Monday to Saturday and closes at 10:00pm. Here you will find everything you need, including a very full range of fresh ready prepared foods - - great things for the BBQ!

Carrefour in Torrevieja is about a fifteen minute drive north on the N332. Follow the signs for Alicante and take the Crevillente exit (just past the El Parque de las Naciones/Garden of Nations), left at the roundabout and you can’t miss Carrefour! It’s enormous and worth a browse around. Security is of ludicrous proportions, however, so don’t try and go in with a rucksack or other shopping bags or you’ll be sent off to the Left Luggage…

On a Saturday morning, there is a very interesting market at Playa Flamenca (about ten minutes drive). This starts early and finishes at about 2.00pm. You will find everything here from fruit and vegetables, clothes, CD’s, homeware, local goods, gifts to cooked chickens to take away. It gets very busy indeed and seems to go on forever…

Torrevieja town centre can be reached in 15 minutes by car and there you will find numerous designer boutiques specialising in fashion for all ages.

For a real shopping experience, go to either Alicante or Murcia. Both have fantastic shops including El Corte Ingles, Mango, Zara, Adolfo Dominguez and a whole range of designer outlets.

If you want to combine shopping with some time on the beach, go to Alicante, as the beach is within minutes of the town centre and is very pleasant, with some excellent restaurants along the promenade.

For a more cultural day out, try Murcia where you can wander along historic lanes, contemplate wonderful baroque architecture and have a traditional lunch in a beautiful square or in front of the truly awe-inspiring cathedral.

In both cases, we recommend that you park in the El Corte Ingles car parks, as they are easy to find - - just follow the green El Corte Ingles signs when you arrive in each city!

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

Cities & Towns

Alicante : 40 mins
Alicante is the provincial capital and is the main city of the Costa Blanca. It is an easy drive from Las Ramblas.

It is a prosperous and bustling coastal city, which in spite of its many foreign tourists, remains truly Spanish. It dominated by the ruins of its ancient castle of Santa Barbara and has everything you would expect of a Mediterranean city: baroque buildings, churches, museums, excellent restaurants and very interesting shopping.
 

Alicante's palm-lined avenues, seafront paseos, excellent beach and marina, surrounded by quality restaurants and bars, make it perfect for a day trip.

For further information on Alicante please click here

Murcia : 25 mins
Murcia is the capital city of the province of Murcia. Much of the province is planted with fruit, olives, rice, nuts and vegetables . Inland lie arid and beautiful mountain ranges, vineyards, historic towns and forgotten villages – where few tourists venture.
 

Murcia is known as the “capital of Baroque”, as no other Spanish city can equal the number of monuments built in this style. Everywhere can be found churches and civil buildings with exuberant facades. The many palaces and stately houses are mostly situated around the lively and bubbling streets of the old quarter.

Murcia is a truly Spanish city which makes few concessions to tourism and apart from its excellent restaurants and bars serving local cuisine and tapas, offers excellent facilities for shopping.

For further information on Murcia please click here

Elche : 20 mins
Elche is Europe’s greatest palm grove and is approximately 20 minute’s drive from Las Ramblas. More than 300,000 palm trees grow in Elche, in verdant parks and shady squares and lining streets and gardens. Elche was originally an Iberian village – Illici – colonized later by the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. It is thought that the palm groves originated in Phoenician times and today they are protected against felling by law.
 

Elche stands on the Vinalopo rive and is Spain’s shoe-manufacturing capital. It is a stronghold of the Valencian language and one of the most historic towns in the region.

Elche is famous for the Cleto-Iberian Dama d’Elx stone bust, found in 1897 and now in Madrid’s archeological museum. The elegant headdress of the bust shows her to have been a woman of power and standing. The Dama d’Elx is is thought to be of a high priestess carved from limestone by Iberian sculptors around 475BC. A copy may be seen in the Huerto del Cura gardens in Elche.

For further information on Elche please click here

Orihuela : 15 mins
Orihuela is a town of ancient lineage , unswamped by tourists, with a mix of historic monuments, crumbling palaces and a gentle pace of life. If you would like a taste of untouched provincial Spain, it is well worth a visit. A trip to Orihuela can be easily combined with a trip to Elche.

For further information on Orihuela please click here

Torrevieja : 15 mins
Torrevieja is a place where once sailing ships from Cuba anchored in the docks ready to load salt from the local salt flats in the 19th century. Consequently their influence can still be felt around the town.

Torrevieja is a much more exciting place than some would think!  Due to a substantial earthquakes in 1828 and 1829  there is little historic architecture worthy of note.  However, there is plenty of local colour and atmosphere to compensate for this.

The town centre is bustling, with numerous boutiques and street cafes.  The seafront is pedestrianised and you can stroll along the paseo past the casino and many bars, cafes and restaurants.  Initially, the bays are rocky, with steps down into the sea for swimming, but sandy beaches follow.  There is an "ethnic" market stretching down from the town centre to the seafront along a tree lined marble floored walkway.  This is open every afternoon until late at night and is very busy on Friday and Saturday evenings, with lots of ambience.  Behind the market is a funfair.  At the end of the market, before the seafront paseo, is a large marina.

For late nights, Torrevieja boasts many cosmopolitan nightclubs including Casablanca, Besame Mucho Pata Palo and, for a really late and lively night, there is even a Pacha niteclub!!

For further information on Torrevieja please click here

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

Food & Drink

The following is taken from the AA’s Essential Costa Blanca:

Mar y Tierra
Rice is the culinary king: paella valenciana springs to mind at once, but much more typical are dishes such as arroz abanda and caldera on the coast, arroz con costra and paella huertanos on the plains and arroz serranos in the hills. These truly local dishes combine rice with tiny fish, with pork and vegetables and with game and wild herbs. Traditionally only part of a meal, these are followed by fish dishes, robust stews or spit-roasted meat. Look out for gazpacho de mero, a fish stew served with flatbread, grilled emparador and lenguardo, swordfish and sole and large whole fish baked in a salt crust – dorada al sal.

Succulent cochnillo, suckling pig, the inland gazpachos, highly spiced meat stews eaten with flatbread, or trigo picado, a traditional cracked wheat dish, are all excellent. Winter country stews include olleta and giraboix, based on dried beans and meats cooked with mountain herbs and saffron.

In Murcia the freshness of the local produce spills over into the cooking: green garlic and sweet pimenton flavour dishes inspired by the huge range of fruit and vegetables.

Pictures below are examples of meals from restaurant local to the apartment (Las Cuevas in San Migel de Salinas and Picasso in Campoamor).

Desserts and Sweets
Local oranges, lemons, peaches, cherries and other fruit appear alongside the ubiquitous flan (caramel custard) and feature in tarts and glace fruits. Almonds are everywhere; popular in the ultra-sweet Moorish-inspired biscuits, sumptuous puddings and cakes, often flavoured with local honey. Sampling turron – a nougat sweetmeat traditionally eaten at Christmas – is a must.

Snacks
Main meals apart, there is still plenty to try. Tapas, the small platefuls of food served with drinks, can easily substitute for lunch or dinner. Fish, shellfish, olives, slices of ham and sausage, vegetable specialities and local almonds are just a few of the local offerings in many bars.

Do as many natives do and have breakfast out – what could be more heavenly than churros, the long sugar-coated fritters, dipped into a cup of steaming of coffee or thick hot chocolate?

Thirst-Quenchers and Wines
The Costa Blanca produces some excellent wines from the main areas of Monovar and Jumilla – the red from the latter region with an astonishing 18 per cent alcohol content. Monovar makes deep reds and delicate roses, as well as a famous desert wine, Fondillon. The lesser known Pinosa and Ricote wines are good and Moscatel is the region’s distinctive desert wine. Alicante has its own herbal digestive, Cantueso. Sangria, cava, fresh orange juice, horchata - a nut-milk drink made from almonds or tiger nuts – and granizada, a fruit slush, will all slip down well at different times of the day.

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

Flora & Fauna

Flora
In this area, the vegetation is made up of pinewood of halepensis pine trees (Pinus halepensis) and thickets of kermes gall (Quercus coccifera), lentiscus (Pistacia lentiscus), juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus), black hawthorn (rhamnus lycioides), esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima), and palmetto (chamaerops humilis), which is the open European palm tree.

In addition, there are also a large number of aromatic plants, such as thyme (thymus hyemalis), rosemary (Rosmarinus oficcinalis), phlomis (Phlomis lychnitis), teucrium (Teucrium capitatum), sideritis (Sideritis leucantha) and lavender (Lavandula stoechas). The chives (Globularia alypum) show their blue flower in Winter, but the majority of the other flowering species, the Spring is the best time to appreciate their beauty.

In Spring the countryside is covered with a myriad of colours: white-leafed rockrose (Cistus albidus), rockrose (Cistus monspeliensis) and an array of helianthemum (Helianthemum spp) and French lavender (Thymus longiflorus). During this period can also be witnessed the flowering of the everlasting flower or immortelle (Helicrysum stoechas) and Leguminosae such as the anthyllis (Anthyllis cistoides), the genista (Retama sphaerocarpa) and an abundance of coronilla (Coronilla juncea).

In the sandy beds of the watercourses, it is possible to observe the star-shaped daisies (Pallenis spinosa), thistles (Cirsium pyrenaicum). Oleander (Nerium oleander), Moorish tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), thorn apple (Datura stramonium) and fennel (foeniculum vulgare). And when the land is wet, can be found rushes (Scirphus holoschoenus, Juncus maritimus) and reeds (Arundo donax).

For a large part of the year, much of the land is covered with daisies (Asteriscus maritimus). The rocks are covered with sedum (Sedum sediforme) and umbilicus (Umbilicus horizontalis). In the woods, can be found ruta (Ruta angustiflora), runner thicket (Eryngium campestris), spurge laurel (Daphne laureola) and centaurium (Centaurium quadrifolium), which produces bunches of small pink flowers.

Due to the number of flower, there is an abundance of butterflies in the area, especially around the flowers of coris (Coris monspeliensis), white southernwood (Doricnium pentaphyllum), ditrichia (Ditrichia) and teasel (Scabiosa altropurperea). The following butterflies are renowned for their outstanding colours: papilio machaon (Papilio machaon), Vanessa (Vanesa Atlanta) and gonepteryx (Gonepteryx rhamni).

The area is also well known for two types of creepers: the sarsaparilla (Smilax aspera) and wild madder (Rubia peregrina). These creepers can be seen trailing amongst the kermes gall, lentiscus or black hawthorn.

Fauna
Amidst the fauna of the area are many harmless reptiles that contribute greatly by consuming many of the insects. Amongst these are the Iberian lizard (Podarcis hispanica), ash-coloured lizard (Psammodromus hispanicus), red-tailed lizard (Acanthodactylus erythrurus) and ocellated lizard (Lacerta lepida). The most difficult reptiles to spot are the common tarente (Tarentola mauritanica), bastard snake (Malpolon monspessulanus) and spiral snake (Elaphe scalaris).

The most common mammal is the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). In addition, there are also the following species: the hare (Lepus granatensis), foxes Vulpes vulpes), common hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), small weasels Mustela nivalis) and several types of mice, such as the field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) and the Mediterranean mouse (Mus spreatus). At night the bats (Rhinolophus spp) devour all sorts of insects.

The species found in the greatest numbers are the birds, including the linnet (Carduelis chloris), goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), cuckoo (Cuculus canorus),green woodpecker (Picus viridis), blue titmouse (Parus ater), greater titmouse (Parus caeruleus), phyllocopus (phyllocopus) and whitethroat (Sylvia curruca).

In addition, we can see and listen to the songs of the millclapper (Saxicola torquata), common lark (Clandrella brachydactyle), crested lark (Galerida cristata) and the unmistakable and sonorous birdcall of the hoopoe (Upapa epops). On the banks of the dry watercourses, where there are fewer people, colourful breeding colonies of bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) have been established, together with small rooks (Corvus monedula), swifts (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) and sapper (Riparia riparia).

Amongst the birds of prey, one of the highlights is the sparrow hawk (falco tinnunculus). Nocturnal birds include the barn owl (Tyto alba), the little owl (Atene noctua) whose call resounds at dusk during spring and summer nights. Sometimes buzzards (Buteo buteo) can also be seen flying high above.

The easiest birds to spot all year round, due to their size and behaviour, are the common partridges (Alectoris rufa), the wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) and the turtledoves (Streptopelia decaocto).

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

Further Reading

The following books have been used to prepare this website and can be found in the apartment for your reference during your holiday. They can also be ordered from Amazon by clicking on the title:-

AA’s Essential Costa Blanca

The Globetrotter Golfer’s Guide to Spain by David J Whyte

Insight Pocket Guide – Costa Blanca (Alicante and Murcia)

Insight Compact Guide – Costa Blanca

Landscapes of Costa Blanca (Landscape Countryside Guides)

Walking ~ Driving ~ Cities & Towns ~ Food & Drink ~ Flora & Fauna ~ Further Reading
 

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