SHARE
The Spanish town of Nerja is sometimes referred to as the Jewel of the Costa Del Sol.
A former sleepy fishing village, over the past few decades it has been transformed into a thriving tourist town. Thriving, that is, until the pandemic hit.
The clifftop Balcon de Europa promenade has been without its usual throng of pedestrians, while on the town’s beaches there has been no danger of failing to find a spot to plant a deckchair.
Gema Garcia, tourism councillor at Nerja town hall, spells out the concerns of many. Nerja doesn t have other industries, she says. Everything is related to tourism. If the hotels don t have guests, there s no one to go to the ice cream parlour or the fruit shops.
Airelles Château de Versailles
“For the first time the third estate can stay at France’s grandest palace, Versailles – or at least in the château’s former, equally lavish finance ministry in the grounds,” says Susan d’Arcy in The Times. Guests can explore the 2,500-acre site out of hours with the aid of electric boats and golf carts, as well as join palace tours to see Louis XVI’s dressing room and Marie Antoinette’s private library. The hotel’s 14 bedrooms are so excessive “they’d bring a smile to Louis XVI’s face – four-posters, antique furniture, authentic chandeliers”. Chef Alain Ducasse is producing “suitably OTT menus” for when the Airelles Château de Versailles opens later this year, “including a Marie Antoinette afternoon tea with plenty of you know what”. Rates start from £1,525.
We all have a lot of living to do next year. Places to go, pools to swim in, room service on which to dispose income. One of the few great experiences of 2020 for me was a stay at the Sant Francesc Hotel Singular in the old town of Palma, Mallorca, during that weird, late summer period when going on holiday was a roll of the dice, with arbitrary changes brought in at the stroke of midnight to make life immensely inconvenient, and flights violently expensive.
My stay was glorious â everything was perfect, from the high ornate ceilings to the best croquetas on Earth, served next to the rooftop pool overlooking the basilica. Iâd been looking forward to visiting its sibling property in Santanyi, Can Ferrereta, but opening plans were put on ice around the same time we all put our masks on, in spring. I still stayed in Santanyi on that trip, but in an Airbnb. My favourite beach in the Balearics, Cala Llombards, was close by; a quiet cove with water as clear as Vichy Catalan, and