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Aljaraque
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This is a brief description of Aljaraque and Huelva and what you can expect to experience here. Yes Idiomas is in the village of Aljaraque.

Huelva City is a ten minute bus ride from Aljaraque. You can choose to live in Huelva or in Aljaraque itself.

Aljaraque is situated in the South West of Spain. It is a small Spanish village with typical white painted buildings. Here you have a link to the local council’s website: www.ayto-aljaraque.es

It is 30 minutes from the Portuguese border and the Algarve and one hour from Seville and ten minutes away from beautiful empty beaches with golden sand.

Aljaraque has various facilities such as parks, bars and restaurants.  The nearest large town is Huelva. The coast of Aljaraque is called ‘La Costa de la luz’, The Coast of Light.

There are 2 big primary schools, a high school, swimming pool, two sets of padel courts (similar to tennis), and cycling/running or walking areas.  You will find a beautiful cycle path running from Aljaraque to the beach through pine forests.  There is a small library, a theatre in the nearby village, or there is the main theatre in Huelva, both of which regularly hold shows, plays, concerts and sometimes films.  There are four chemists, a big health centre with 24 hour emergency facilities.  There are supermarkets, some small shops including hairdressers, fruit and vegetable shops etc. You will be able to buy most things you need here but if you want more options regarding variety and price then Huelva is only 10 minutes away on the bus and there are various shopping centres and high street stores including Zara, H&M and Carrefour.

The open-air flea market In Aljaraque is held on Wednesthere are various high street days.

Festivals

Aljaraque has many festivals, for example, the Medieval Festival, the Literature festival, the local festivals (Fería) and (Romería). As Aljaraque and Huelva are in Andalucia, local people dress up in typical Flamenco dress and dance and sing Flamenco. It is quite normal to see people riding horses in the street or driving their horses and carts around, mainly during fiesta time but also at the weekends.

Food and Drink

The local specialities are prawns, cuttlefish (known locally as choco), cured ham, pork, fish and sea-food. In the autumn, the mosto season begins (young wine) and you can enjoy this in many places. In Aljaraque; Casa Ignacio, Basilios, San Barlodemera, La Gui Gui, La Policia are all highly recommended restaurants and El Pollito for cheaper, but delicious Portuguese meals. For takeaways there is also a Telepizza, a Chinese restaurant, a roast chicken and chips bar and lots of tapa/ montaditios (snack, sandwiches) bars and cafes available…

Activities

Art classes, book clubs, salsa dancing, sewing classes, painting classes, 3 gyms and other sports areas offering Zumba, aerobics, kick boxing, padel, swimming classes etc.

Average prices and cost of living

The cost of living is relatively cheap:
The bus will cost you about 1-2 € and you can buy a savers card.
Average price of a good bottle of wine: €2,50 – €5.00, a glass of wine in a restaurant €1,50, a beer (half a pint) €1 / €1,50. Average tapa € 1,50plus, average menu of the day (2 medium sized main dishes, a dessert, bread, a drink) €8.

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Wildlife

Storks, flamingos, a variety of birds (Hoopoes, Jay magpie etc) Aljaraque is in the migration line between Europe and Africa. If you go to Doñana National Park you can go on a safari and see the  Lynx (cat), this is the most protected animal in Andalucia.  Also there are wild deer, horses and many types of birds. You can find out more information if you go to the Coto Doñana
National Park website http://www.donanavisitas.es If you want to visit el Coto de Doñana, the wildlife that you see depends on the time of year that you visit; the spring and autumn are best. You can only visit this reserve by guided tours and using their transport. It is possible to have a guided tour in English.

Nature

Nature reserves: Coto Doñana National Park: Amazing scenery and wildlife, lakes: in El Portil, a lovely one hour walk.

Nearby beaches

The area boasts beautiful white sand beaches with warm water. The town of Punta Umbria is surrounded by beautiful beaches, but has more tourists (mainly from Spain) than other areas nearby. It also has a river, small harbour, lots of bars, cafes, shops, pedestrian areas and it really comes alive during the summer and the weekends. La Bota beach (no tourism) is very easy to get to on the bus too. El Portil is a relaxed place with some bars and cafes, hotels and flats (some tourism). El Rompido is a small fishing village and harbour with bars and cafes, it is nice to watch the sun set here. A pleasant one hour’s walk around a nature reserve and a posh (fairly expensive) area to shop or drink. Matalascañas village is quite hard to get to unless you have a car but has miles of unspoilt beaches and nature reserves.

Cities and places to visit

Huelva is a University city, with a small student vibe that is made up of  bars, restaurants, parks, and an industrial port.  There is an Art Gallery, Casa Colon with cultural events and many small independent shops. There is a huge old-fashioned flea market on Fridays and a big football stadium home to Recreativo Huelva (nicknames – Recre/Decano). It was the first football club in Spain as the British introduced it during the peak of mining activity here. Here you have a link to the local council’s website:  www.huelva.es

Seville is a beautiful, orange tree filled city with many historical and delightful sites to see, eg. The Palace Gardens, la Plaza de España, the river walk etc.

Cordoba (3 hours train/bus ride away) is a beautiful small village which is perfect for visiting at the weekend.  It has an amazing Mezquita, botanical gardens and areas to explore.

Granada (3 hours train/bus ride away) is a must see! It´s surrounded by the Sierra Nevada snowy mountains, perfect for skiing and snowboarding. There is a beautiful Moroccan market, the famous Alhambra and lots of winding streets to explore.

Madrid (either 4 or 6 hours away by train) or  there is an overnight bus. Madrid speaks for itself, but has countless interesting places to experience such as Art museums, science and history museums, a palace, Theatres, parks.

Portugal: The Algarve (30 mins from the border, one hour from Aljaraque) includes the fascinating towns of  Albufeira, Laos , Tavira and  Lagos. Portimao, Sagres and  Lisbon (3 hours drive, or go by plane) are wonderful places to visit in Portugal.

Nightlife

There are some bars in Aljaraque ( although it is very quiet in winter), bars and clubs in Huelva, and plenty in Seville.

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Places to visit

Christopher Columbus statue, museum and the 3 ships ( las caravelas) , Celestine Mutis botanical gardens, Niebla Castle, Huelva museum, Doñana National Park, The Rio Tinto Mines, The Aracena Cave, Portugal- only 30 minutes to the border, an hour to Faro airport and shopping centre.

There is an excellent monthly magazine with events in Huelva and Huelva province:-
http://territoriohuelva.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Revista-TERRITORIO-HUELVA-JULIO-2013.pdf

Airports: Faro airport (one hour drive), Seville (one hour drive), with lots of choices of airlines:  Easy Jet, Ryan Air, Jet 2 etc.

You can find out more information at the following websites:

www.VisitHuelva.com

http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres/ciudades-pueblos/provincias/huelva.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Spain/Andalucia/Huelva-265897/TravelGuide-Huelva.html

www.tripadvisor.com

Aljaraque is very small and hardly anybody speaks English, but people will soon get to know you and are very friendly. A good investment would be a Spanish dictionary and a good phrase book.

We will provide you with bus timetables on arrival.