It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

VERNON GRANT WRITES 

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Christmas is a coming!

Now i don't DO Christmas. So if, like me, you spend all your time in December being compared to Victor Meldrew, where should you go in Spain to avoid the nonsensical festivities and all that goes with it?

Avoiding Christmas in Spain is a far more difficult task than it was only a few years ago.

Once upon a time even finding a Christmas tree here was a challenge. Today all the usual suspects are there for the Spanish to enjoy. Inflated prices on wine and food, supermarkets that are full to bursting, traffic congestion in City centres, children demanding a toy they will discard within an hour. Even Santa can be visited in my home City of Granada and along the nearby coastline.

With apologies to all those people who have invited me for a traditional Christmas day lunch, I expect to be avoiding the festivities if at all possible. As usual.

For the past two years I have found myself on the beach at Motril. Eating Paella for two (for one!)

On December 25th 2005, the only people I saw were two anglers trying to catch their lunch. As I enjoyed the tranquillity, I thought of all the stress that friends and relatives were experiencing back in the UK. It was bliss.

On December 25th 2006 things were busier. Granted the sun was out but what was this? Children were out showing off and trying out their new toys. Bikes aplenty but this appeared to be the year when the Quad dominated proceedings. Did dad buy it for the child or for himself? Regardless, children of all ages were racing along the beach on gleaming new quadbikes. And to think, the best Christmas present i ever received was a Chopper bike!

This year I will again stay in Spain but will likely stay close to home, However, if i want to avoid children with their noisy quads and festive fayre, where should I go? Is there a place in Spain where Christmas just does not happen?

May i suggest the Cabo de Gata. Three years ago, I stayed in Aqua Amarga. Fake Santa’s climbing up houses were non existent and I hope they still are.

Aqua Amarga is small, peaceful and a splendid place to go if you want to avoid the dulcet tones of Noddy Holder uttering those dreaded words, "Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall"?

For the record, I am not!

Local restaurant worker Miguel Casarez will be working over the holiday season but there will not be a paper hat in sight. He says: "We expect to be busy the week before and the week after Christmas. We cater for senior citizens from the UK and from northern Spain."

Last year a scandal over the building of a large hotel in Carboneras saw the area feature in national news bulletins. Usually the biggest event to happen here is when a hole in the road is filled.

It is with good reason that many environmentalists are seeking to protect the 38.000 hectares of The Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park. Established in 1987, it is seen by many as the last area of Spain that has retained its raw charm. Campaigners want to prevent the kind of over development that has been prevalent in other parts of Spain.

Superlatives were invented for areas such as the Cabo de Gata. If you need to see how most of rural Spain looked forty years ago then head for this often ignored region. Locals don’t mind being overlooked, apart from when it comes to what they see as a lack of financial investment from the authorities.

Paco Ramirez, a resident of Aqua Amarga says: "I once asked a tourist officer in Almeria where the Cabo de Gata was and she didn’t know. I had to tell her it was just 30 kilometres from where we stood. We welcome tourists from all over the world here, but most of them come independently. They read magazines and books in the UK or in Germany and get to know about this area."

In the days when the Berber pirates sought a hiding place on the Almeria coastline, it was in the coves of the Cabo de Gata that they sought seclusion. Today the region may still be remote but improved road and air links have ensured that Spaniards know all about the area. For six weeks in the summer 30.000 of them invade the Cabo de Gata to enjoy consistent sunshine. There is not a birdwatcher among them.

The region is packed with goodies. Bill Oddie himself would relish seeing birds such as ospreys, peregrines, eagles, the dupont lark and the avocet. At San Miguel de Cabo de Gata a four kilometre wetland, created by a saltwater lagoon, attracts wintering flamingos and herons. There is even an observatory for the many British ‘twitchers’ who holiday here.

The area is also a magnet for scuba divers. A substantial marine zone of over 12.000 hectares is home to a colourful array of corral reef and fish.

As Paco Ramirez remarks: "The British come in vast numbers and are lovely. We have never seen a drunken Brit here. The birdwatchers are always too busy with their binoculars to get drunk and the divers are more concerned about taking underwater photographs. We get the best kind of tourist down here. I don’t understand those British men who come only to look at our many lighthouses, but they are very nice people."

Movie fans also visit this area to pay homage to the locations where Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lawrence of Arabia and many a Clint Eastwood western was shot.

If a film director is seeking desert like conditions then they head for the province of Almeria. If they also want true "silence on set" then they drive that extra kilometre to the wild and isolated landscape of the Cabo de Gata.

There are rules enforced to ensure the land and all its inhabitants live largely undisturbed by other facets of modern day life.

Firstly, a speed limit of 30 kph is enforced. Secondly, fishing from shore is prohibited. Thirdly, no free camping is allowed.

Finally, no loud music is permitted – it disturbs the flora and fauna apparently.

There are 1000 species of plants to see, including yuccas, the prickly pear cactus, the pink snapdragon, wild olives and esparto grass; which is often used for making basketware gifts. The symbol of the park is the dwarf fan palm - Europe’s only native palm.

The control on decibel levels might explain why villages such as Aqua Amarga are so peaceful. This is a memorable seaside hideaway that appears to be constantly in need of a lick of paint. The high salt content in the seawater means that this village can be more greywashed than whitewashed.

The beach and crystal clear water here make up for the fact that some of the nearby housing – unoccupied for the majority of the year – looks sad.

No such concerns for those lunching on the beach at the La Paloma restaurant and hostal. They could be forgiven for thinking they are on a small Caribbean island. Unlike at other Spanish seaside locations, there are no hawkers offering you the latest copied CD’s and DVD’s. Just the local residents and a handful of travellers who know that this is possibly the most perfect spot on the Cabo de Gata coastline.

The housing in Aqua Amarga is a mixture of ageing low level apartments and new, grand houses. There are some impressive villas on the road from Aqua Amarga to Carboneras.

Drive inland and you will notice many cortijos up for sale. The owners are hoping to capitalise on the increasing interest in the area from European buyers.

En route to the more famous San Jose, be sure to stop off at the tiny fishing hamlet of La Isleta del Moro. Whether this little slice of perfection can remain that way once planned developments have been constructed, only time will tell.

First impressions of San Jose can be deceptive. Arrive in the summer and the place resembles high season at Blackpool. In winter it has all the life of Cleethorpes in December.

David Meyer is the most famous Brit living in San Jose. "David the Bookman", as he is known, arrived in the Cabo de Gata area 10 years ago by pure chance.

"I was on a plane flying to Malaga and seeking a quiet life in Spain. The man next to me leant me his rough guide and I read about San Jose. I got in the car and drove straight here. I fell in love with the place immediately."

He trades thousands of second hand books in his shop that is two minutes from the beach. He doesn’t need to go out and meet people; all nationalities come here to buy a book or to give it to David once they have turned the last page. He rents his property and confirms that only a few other British people live in San Jose.

"There are still only nineteen permanent British residents here, ten years on. I am the second longest survivor. The Cabo de Gata in general is a place where thousands come to visit but very few put down roots. Perhaps, for the future of the park, that is just as it should be.

"San Jose is becoming more of a town than a village. We have a new shopping complex being built on the outskirts. The full time population is 1000. It was 287 when I arrived. The benefits of this growth are that we now have our own doctor and a bank.

"Property prices have increased enormously down here in the past few years. I have always rented this property and the rental market here is also very strong. There are developments popping up in surrounding villages but potential buyers should be warned that the infrastructure is not in place to support the new homes. For example, a development of homes for the elderly was built at Las Negras. The senior citizens moved in only to discover that, while Las Negras is a beautiful location, there was absolutely nothing there to entertain them. If you don’t like to be isolated I suggest you don’t buy in the Cabo de Gata."

Leanne Cole and Kathleen Dale run www.almeriapropertyonline.com and know the area well.

Leanne says: "A 30 minute drive inland from the beaches of the Cabo de Gata will take you to a village like Lucainena de las Torres. It is a lovely place where only minor modern development is taking place. The town hall provides residents with free baskets of geraniums each spring to ensure the village is full of colour when visitors come to see the 18th century church."

Back on the coast it is easy to find a quiet beach. A place where you can truly forget about jingling bells. The beaches at Playa de Monsul and Playa de los Genoveses are superb. Once the sun has set on the month of August you will have little or no company. On December the 25th you may not see another soul.

"People come here for many reasons," says David Meyer. The chief attraction is the beautiful weather. When it rains here it is an event. For most of last winter I could sit on my balcony and enjoy the sunshine. You can sunbathe on the beach in December and not see another soul."

The Cabo de Gata is possibly the most distinctive area of Spain. This is the south-eastern tip of the country. It is in every sense of the phrase, out on its own. Its very remoteness appeals to some and is a negative factor to others.

Who better then than David the Bookman to ask what type of person would most relish living here?

"Someone who likes to watch birds by day and the stars by night. They must enjoy heat and not like rain. If it is the other way around they will be miserable here!

"Someone who can appreciate the landscape. They should enjoy solitude and not need to drive further than Almeria, for any reason. Of course, if they like to read that will also help pass the time."

What with much of Spain already beginning to look a lot like Christmas; a good book and a winter beach sounds like an excellent idea to me.