Sometimes the basics are the best

“There’s only one place I’ll go on a regular basis: Spain. Now Spain is lovely. Because we turned up in the mid-70s and we conquered the Spanish. We said ‘We like it here, but we want a couple of changes. Because there’s no bingo in the evening, and we’re struggling to get a roast on Sundays.” - Micky Flanagan

So I find myself in Spain for a few days, a half-term break a couple of weeks before I return for the annual telecoms industry shindig in Barcelona. Think of February as Tapas Month - and there’s been plenty of that here in the Valenciana region.

This has been a new experience for me - a) taking a holiday, at all, this close to a trade show but b) a Mediterranean holiday in February. But I’ve liked it. A lot. Staying in Dénia - a small port town halfway along the Med coast between Valencia and Alicante, it has bustle, despite the out-of-season feel. This is, perhaps, in no small part due to the healthy British, German and Dutch expatriate community that keeps the Costa Blanca in business all-year round.

Spain is, for many of us Brits, our first foreign holiday destination, and continues to be an enduring attraction. A record 18 million UK tourists came here last year, benefitting the still less-than-healthy Spanish economy at the expense of countries like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, and their bloody brushes with international terrorism. 2018 could be set to be another record-breaking year for British visitors to Spain, with travel companies predicting hotel price rises as high as 10% over 2017 rates, as demand puts a strain on the number of available rooms. However, this might be offset by lower airline prices, as demand forces competition.

All this comes amid a local backlash against tourism, an industry which contributes some 55 billion euros to the Spanish economy, of which 26% - 14 billion euros - comes from the UK alone, the single biggest contributor to the tourist industry. Last year, an anti-tourism movement gained momentum in some of the popular Spanish tourist destinations, with graffiti on walls in Majorca’s capital Palma, as well as Magaluf declaring toasts “go home” and “tourists not welcome”, but in Dénia and its environs, locals could not be any happier to see visitors, especially at this time of the year.

The restaurants are happy for the business, and the cafes of nearby Xàbia welcome the opportunity for holidaymakers and expats alike to soak up the warm, early spring sunshine. All of which comes back to the basic premise of this post: Spain still has everything you want from a Mediterraneon excursion. I’ve been accused before of being unadventurous, but I’m somehow drawn to this part of the world. Perhaps its the southern European way of life, the salads you could eat forever, or the always present bowl of crisps when you order an ice-cold cerveza. Or perhaps its the informality of tapas, the creamy joy of Iberian ham, or the fact that cities like Valencia, despite their age and their economy, manage to combine heritage and modernity with impressive ease. Or, perhaps, it’s the simple fact that sunshine is guaranteed, a delightful infusion of Vitamin D in February. Yep, I’ll take that all day long.