Rural living and items not to forget

Rural Spain Take a romantic break away from it all	Home	Getting Around	Availability		Photo Galleries	Álora	Walks	Our Guests
	Inside	Location + How to get here		Prices / Terms and Conditions	Plunge Pool BBQ	Estación de Cártama	Try Geocaching!	Photos taken by Guests
	Outside	Activities		How to Pay	Made in Cencerrita	Outings	Your Stay	Packing
*Email us at:* casitamaria@ruralspanishholiday.com *or call:* 00 34 600 875 916 (English spoken)

Some Notes of Interest

Shopping List for Self-Caterers

If you don't want to arrive in Spain and immediately start shopping for food, we can provide you with a starter pack of basic supplies - details of which will be sent a couple of weeks before the start of your holiday.

Dinner - especially the first night!

Cooking a meal when you've had a long day travelling isn't a great start to the holiday - for 12 euros a head, we will cook your dinner for you! A basic but tasty menu is available - also sent a couple of weeks beforehand.

Arriving

We always meet our first time guests in Cártama Estación to show the way to Casita Maria - getting lost on the last leg to your holiday destination would not put you in the holiday spirit! For this reason, we ask that you let us know your flight times so that we have some advance idea of when we will be meeting you ... we then ask you to ring us after you have finished your shopping (or getting your hire car if you are not shopping) so that we can be at the rendezvous point at the same time as you.

If you don't wish to hire a car, we can pick you up from the airport for 30 euros each way. Shopping trips can be arranged on the way back too!

Rural Living

You are staying in the remote Andalucian countryside and will encounter a totally different way of life from the towns – but isn’t that one of the reasons you want to visit?! The nearest villages (Álora or Cártama) are 13 kilometres (8 miles) away and takes 20-30 minutes. Please bear this in mind when planning any sightseeing using public transport - don't be too ambitious when planning your itinerary as places like Granada and Seville require lots of time to do them justice - it's no good arriving and then having to turn straight back!

The last leg to the finca is a typical Spanish track, whether you approach from the Álora or Cártama direction. It is mostly in good repair, but a good deluge of rain can change things. For example, we used to run both a Renault Laguna and a Suzuki Vitara. It is rare that the Laguna was unsuitable, but we found the high ground clearance of the Vitara very useful at times. If you are renting a car, particularly in the winter months, a 4x4 vehicle would but nice, but not essential. Do try to pick a car with high ground clearance, if you can!

To Bring

We thought a few reminders of various items to pop in your suitcase wouldn't come amiss ....

Towels for the beach/swimming pool (We provide towels in your rooms, but ask that you use your own outside) Bed linen is provided.

Something warm to put on in the evening - It can get chilly - really!

Sun tan lotions/creams/block to start you off - (on the whole you will find these cheaper in Spain) the mountain air will soon toast you more than expected!

Sunglasses with UV protection - essential in the mountains

On whilst on the subject of protection, don't forget a sunhat too

Mini First Aid Kit - medical items are amazingly cheap in Spain (well worth stocking up here), but your usual headache tablets, insect bite relief etc are comforting to have close by. Also, don't forget any regular pills you have to take.

Form E111 should a trip to the doctor's be necessary. Please note a new version is now required - credit card size!

Binoculars if you have them.

Camera - of course!

Walkers may be interested in bringing a GPS with them ...

If shopping on the way to Cencerrita from the airport, a list may prove invaluable ... brains aren't always working too well after flying! (there are normally a few herbs, salt and pepper, washing up liquid etc). And, of course, there is no handy shops up here!

Don't forget nice large, strong industrial size bin liners (we have no rubbish collection up here and you will need to take your rubbish down to the big public bins when you go out)

Drinking water. Our water is from our own bore hole 150 m down ... so it may come up nice and clean, but then it sits in the storage tanks. Fine for cooking etc, but for actually drinking, we suggest bottled water. We generally start you off with an 8 litre bottle filled from the town supply.

Also plenty of fluids to drink - particularly in the hotter months (and we don't mean wine!!)

There is a coffee machine here if you prefer filtered coffee (Filter papers, size 4)

Tea drinkers are advised to bring their own T Bags ... Spanish tea is variable!!!

Please contact us either by email, casitamaria@ruralspanishholiday.com

or by telephone: 00 34 600 875 916 (English Spoken)

Postal Address: Apartado de Correo 342, 29500 Álora, Spain

Hit Counter since 1 July 2008 Website by Handy-Webs