Thomas
Barns in the Liebana Valley of the Picos de Europa mountains
Last Tuesday I was honoured to be invited to speak at a sustainable tourism event being hosted by the Quebrantahuesos Foundation in the Picos de Europa.
The subject of the talk was essentially a British perspective on the market for holidays to the Picos de Europa.
The first thing to say is that the quality of the product itself is absolutely first class. The offering of small hotels, restaurants, guides, activities, landscapes, gastronomy are all just amazing.
Really it’s a wonder that the Picos de Europa are not better known in the UK market for anything from active family holidays to walking holidays.
As I was scratching my head wondering how somewhere so stunning, accessible by plane, car, train and ferry from the UK could retain such a low profile.
I decided to call the Spanish Tourist Board.
Posing as an interested tourist, I asked for information on the Picos de Europa.
A nice lady called Maria told me to go to the Spain.info website, then find the section on the Pyrenees where I would find everything I needed to know about the Picos de Europa.
The Picos are several hundred kilometres to the west of the Pyrenees and bear absolutely no relation whatsoever to the Picos.
If the staff of the tourist board are not familiar with the oldest and most significant National Park in Spain, what hope is there!
I started to look at the national tourist board advertising campaigns. I have to say that most of these over the years have been poor. At least from the point of view of someone…well, I was going to say more but I have tried and failed to understand with whom the adverts might conceivably communicate.
I see that the latest “I need Spain” campaign is aimed at the usual markets plus the emerging markets in India, China, etc. A total expected audience of 400 million people. That’s not targeted communication, it’s a massive scattergun.
This is never going to favour a place such as the Picos which would be of interest to a small slice of the potential pool of tourists. More sophisticated travellers interested in a more authentic experience involving meaningful contact and interaction with the local population.
An additional challenge is the problem of regionalism within Spain. The country is divided into 19 autonomous regions. Each has its own set of laws and regulations which are at varying degrees of discrepancy from the central state.
These regions have cultural, historical, linguistic significance to Spaniards (some more than others!). However, to an outsider, they are generally without meaning.
And yet, all public money, including the tourist board, is directed along the lines of these regions.
The Picos de Europa National Park, being a geographical rather than political construct, rather inconveniently sits at the confluence of three autonomous regions: Asturias, Cantabria and Leon.
In the past there existed the apparently sensible situation where National Parks were treated as such and were controlled by the state. In 1995 a legal challenge was mounted by the autonomous regions in which they won control of their own National Parks.
This means that the Picos, since 1995, has had not one park director but three. It means that there are different objectives and regulations affecting different slices of the park.
It also means that you will never see the Picos de Europa promoted per se, only perhaps a glimpse of the mountains in an advertising campaign for Asturias, or Leon or Cantabria.
My proposition yesterday was that this was a complete nonsense to an outsider and that if the government (national or regional) was not doing a good job of the communication, it is time to take control.
It seems very simple to me – if you are on the wrong road, stop and get on the right road. What was interesting is that most of the people in the room were so used to their current trajectory that most objectives started with the line “But the administration won’t let us…”
It was a real struggle to have some people think outside the current structures of funding. What is interesting and surprising to me is that a group of people would allow themselves to be so cowed by a system of governance which is not doing them any favours at all.
Of course there is no reason in the world not to take control of the communication of the Picos de Europa to the UK market. It’s a matter of picking up the phone, getting to work on a suitable website, setting up a dynamic membership association. But it needs to be a private initiative.
I like to think that we can make this happen and I would like to be involved. The model for sustainable, responsible tourism which is being built in the Picos deserves to be broadcast to the world.
It presents an exciting opportunity since what the Picos de Europa has in spades is fantastic and well run services in arguably the most beautiful setting in Europe.
Combined with the careful stewardship of organisations such as the FCQ, the Picos deserve to convert from a ‘hidden gem’ to a ‘must see’.
See our full range of walking holidays, self drive holidays and family holidays to the Picos de Europa.
A suite at the Harmony Hotel in Nosara, Costa Rica
Almost everyone likes to finish their Costa Rica holiday with a bit of time on the beach. Apart from anything it’s nice to have time to process all of the extraordinary things you will have done and seen over the previous week or two.
The Pacific coast of Costa Rica is the obvious choice. There are all sorts of options out there, from marina/golf course type affairs, to the more low key. On our holidays, we forget the former and plump for the latter every time.
The Harmony Hotel in Nosara is a great example of the sort of hotels we like. It’s in Nosara which is a pretty relaxed, surfy type village. The hotel is set around lush tropical gardens but has its own path (1oom or so) down to the beach. And what a beach. Very long, very golden, very sandy and very sunny. In fact, watch out because there’s nothing much by way of shade to be had.
The Harmony pretty much epitomises barefoot luxury. It’s not luxurious but it is very comfortable indeed. It is very barefoot.
If you are going, I’d say spring for a suite. These are detached bungalows spread throughout the gardens. They are a very good size and well done. The photo above is one of the suites.
I personally thought that the standard, Cocos, rooms were not where I would want to be. They are actually all in a line, somewhat like a motel and were just a bit too dark for my liking.
The food is very, very good. They major on fish, sushi in particular. Wash it down with one of their genuinely top notch smoothies/juices and you have a healthy diet which really complements being out on a beach. For me it works.
I would say that you are likely to feel a bit out of place here if you are in your 50s or more – the median age is somewhere in the 30s I suspect.
Surfing is definitely the activity of choice and this is a cracking spot if you want to learn a new skill or if you are an old hand. There’s a surf board rack at the entrance to the hotel, and it’s always full.
If you are minded to, they have daily yoga classes and some quite ‘out there’ sounding dance classes. Personally I would stick to having a go at standing up on a surf board, sunset walks on the beach, visits to the Ostional Reserve to see turtles and exploring some of the tiny villages and beautiful coastal landscape all around.
Looking for Costa Rica holidays? Our Costa Rica self drive holidays generally end up at Nosara or nearby Samara. Call us on 01273 676712 if you would like us to tailor make a holiday for you.
Views from the Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica
The Arenal Volcano is one of the most visited areas in Costa Rica. It’s easy to see why – there’s a colossal volcano sticking up out of flat farmland. And it explodes, a lot. In fact I think it is considered the world’s most consistently active volcano.
The image of red hot lava pouring forth into the night sky is a staple of Arenal tourist promotion. And yet, you can only see this from one side of the volcano. The crater tantalisingly changes shape periodically to expose the lava flows to different directions.
Its first eruption in recorded history or memory was 1968. Until then, the locals thought it was just a big hill. In fact they called it ‘El Cerro’, the hill. Presumably they got an almighty shock when it suddenly erupted in their midst.
The scars from that first, most major, eruption are still very much in evidence in the immediate vicinity of the volcano. Black sand, lava fields and very patchy vegetation. This despite Arenal being basically in tropical lowlands where, if you threw a peach stone out of the window in the morning you’d be harvesting peaches by the afternoon.
The way things are set out at Arenal is that there is one main road which loops around the north side of the volcano. To the south is more or less national park, very little in the way of population.
At the moment, and for the last 18 months or so, the crater has been exposed to the south. There is just one hotel to the south of the crater, the Arenal Observatory Lodge.
To get that priceless view of red hot lava against the night sky, you really have to go to the Observatory Lodge. The hotels to the north of the volcano can’t wait for a big explosion to clear their view of the lava!
The Observatory Lodge is very close to the volcano as it was originally created as an observation point for the Smithsonian Institute. It feels somewhat like a scientific institute still – certainly the older rooms do. You don’t come here for luxury though it’s comfortable enough. Rooms are en suite and the service is friendly.
You do come here for the views at night. I should say the possible views at night since Arenal volcano is so often coated in cloud.
You also come to the Observatory Lodge to look for birds, it has an extraordinary list of species.
You might also come here because it is significantly higher than the town of La Fortuna and the other hotels in the Arenal area. Something like 600m higher. That makes all the difference in terms of temperature. While La Fortuna sweats, the Observatory Lodge enjoys cool evenings and night times.
This photos probably sums up the Observatory Lodge quite well. A couple sitting out birdwatching, the enormous volcano ahead, covered in cloud. The peeling paint on the decking (it’s due to be repainted right around now).
What the photo doesn’t capture is that the volcano is very, very active at the moment. This means that every hour or so, there was a very large explosion. Much like thunder, at times far louder than that. While I was here there was an explosion loud enough that even the local guides ducked.
Just after the explosion, you would see boulders cascading down the blackened slopes of the volcano. During the day they just look like large grey boulders. At night, you see that they are in fact glowing red.
It really is spectacular.
I should add that the Observatory Lodge is in fact several miles from the volcano so you are very safe. I should also add that you don’t necessarily have to stay here to enjoy the nighttime pyrotechnics.
You can pay a few dollars to come into the Observatory’s grounds. There are lots of self guided trails through the forests. You can then stay for dinner at the restaurant before heading back round to your hotel on the north side.
A word or two of warning and advice:
1) It’s really only worth going there if it’s likely to be a relatively clear night.
2) Go mid-afternoon to enjoy the grounds and surroundings. The lodge lies just beyond the Arenal National Park and other places you should visit when in the area.
3) The Observatory Lodge is 9km off the main, paved, road. That means 9km of dirt road. If you stay for dinner, you’ll be driving it in the dark. It’s not a problem per-se but you really do need to be cautious when driving on dirt roads. Doubly so after dark.
If you would like to know more about our Costa Rica holidays call us now on +44 (0)1273 676712.