There is currently a debate raging about the future of Mojácar’s tourism.
To understand the debate, you must understand that Spain attempts to quantify tourism into neat little socio-economical blocks, which academics can then pigeonhole into whatever half assed plan the politicos come up with.
So we have many different types of “theoretical” types of tourism, such as turismo rural, where people go and stay in a rural hotel; turismo gastronomico, which are tourists attracted by the cuisine of a place – you can break down these budding gourmands into such categories as Neo-alimentación, where the gastropod travels far to go to a nouvea cuisine restaurant (think of the sort of person who goes to Barcelona just to try out El Bullí) or Tradicional, where people travel to Garrucha just to try the gambas, or Los Gallardos for the gurullos. Or you may have Ictioturismo, anglers; turismo social, where people go on holiday to help the less fortunate; etc. All attempts to work out why you spend your money travelling, in an attempt to lure you into a certain resort. The best, to my mind, is turismo residencial, residential tourism: people who buy holiday homes here for their holidays.
Minister of State for Development José Blanco (known to his friends as ¡Peeepe!) together with an assortment of VIP’s and hanger-on’s, visited Almería yesterday to oversee the switching on of the tunnelling machine that is building the 7,5km tunnel from Sorbas to Barranco de los Gafarillos. The tunnel will be the longest in Andalucia once finished, and in the top 5 nationally.
Rumours that they had to ask the Ministry of Defense to locate Almería for them on a map are, I am assured, unfounded.
The tunnel is 7,5 km long, costs 251 million (and a few cents), and Europe’s largest tunnelling machine is making the hole. Special protection measures are being taken to locate and remove tortoises in the works area, according to the Ministry (ie, two moros have been told to take a walk under the blazing sun and pick up any they spot), and special care is being taken to not penetrate or disturb any natural aquifers in the area. (Portalmeria.com)
The fact that the ADIF, the railways infrastructure company building the line, has asked for (and received) special dispensation to pour all water into the local Rio Aguas with no environmental checks was not mentioned.
Meanwhile, the AVE line past Los Gallardos remains paralysed while arqueologists pour over what little remains of Cadima, the Roman Villa that was there.
Pepe used his visit to assure locals that the AVE line will be completed on time, and announced in Sorbas that his ministry will be shifting its attention away from roads to completing the railways. “We have finished with motorways” he said. “We are building trains now and our train projects are guaranteed”. The A7 motorway project is likely to be cut back, and no news on the Almanzora project. (El País)
And so it takes place.
ZP’s massive cutting of public expenditure will affect the Almería AVE line, Minister of Development José Blanco announced last night.
6,400 million euros of public spending on public works is being slashed. The Ministry will be announcing in a few days which contracts, even ones already signed, will not be honoured.
As funds initially earmarked for the project will be reduced, the completion date for the line will be put back by one year. So instead of taking the train from Vera to Murcia in 2016, it’ll be 2017………..???
No news yet on whether this also affects the Almanzora motorway, on which works have stopped “pending a technical review after terrain issues” according to the Ministry of Public Works (they promised that work will restart in two months).
Also, Granada townhall claims that the cutting of public funds has sent it into bankruptcy, saying that 75% of the funds it was expecting have “vanished”. (El Ideal).
Cadima is an ancient Roman villa site with associated buildings around it near Los Gallardos. It´s assumed that it was the base of a local farm that grew esparta, which the Romans used to make sandals out of. The stuff would have been carried down to Villaricos or nearby for shipping elsewhere for sale. It’s never been properly surveyed or excavated, and it’s all buried underneath farmland, anyway.
The site is technically a BIC (Bien de interés Cultural) and was believed to have been inhabited from around 200B.C. until 700 A.D. The original Latin name is lost, but Cadima is supposed to mean “the ancient”.
The best description I have ever seen of Cadima is this:
On the banks of the Aguas River sits the remnants of the Roman town of Cadima. Tourists are welcome to view these remains.
From a website which is trying to sell houses in the area. Ah hem. The same site continues to declare that:
It makes sense that Los Gallardos follows the same historical path as other areas. The Romans entered the area, waged a battle, and banished the current culture. The Romans had their glory days, but, in a funny turn of events, found themselves driven out by the Moors. The Moors shaped much of Los Gallardos until they were driven out by Christian armies.
In the 1500s, Christian kings overtook the area, most likely banishing Moors (Arabs) in the process. Once the population had been increased, the Christians worked hard in mining and agriculture. Even today, many woman hold firm positions in local fields harvesting tomatoes and similar crops.
This was necessary, as it was not until after the French revolution in the 20th century that electricity, telephone, sewer, and paved roads were established in Los Gallardos. Though it took some time for modern conveniences to reach Los Gallardos, they are making up for lost time!
What’s the French Revolution (which wasn’t in the 20th century) got to do with the price of kippers? Since when did the Romans fight the Moors? Since when did Moors visit Los Gallardos? (It was founded in the late 19th century). But I digress. Don’t believe everything you read on the net.
The site is, I understand, controlled by Granada Uni who don’t have the funds or interest to look into it, and won’t let anyone do it for them.
Anyway, the AVE goes over part of the site. Rumours have reached me of children playing with skulls unearthed from an ancient cemetery, although Juan from the Policia Local didn’t know anything about this. A large amount of earth has been moved and local historians are annoyed.
In response, the AVE construction company has, it appears, paid for a number of archaeologists to unearth all remains from the works, and remove them for later analysis. A number of tents have been pitched by the works, and a source in Turre townhall said that works on that stretch have been stopped until the historians finish their work. Time is pressing, but it is to be hoped that most of the work will be finished before the machines return.
Mid August, our Lords and Masters deigned to let us know that they would be installing a high speed train line through our area. Like it or not. As part of the information campaign, and as ordered to be under Spanish law, Mr Chaves’s sign making company put these two up:
Jan 15th – We had a rather breezy night. Result?
Let’s hope they build the AVE better than they build those signs. Bits from here to the beach.
It will, no doubt, be a miracle of engineering. If we go in a roughly straight line via Marquesado de Zenete (which is in Guadix) and then down the A92 to Almeria, it’s around 125 km. Total cost is 2,500 million euros. Roughly… 20 million euros a kilometer. That ain’t too bad. Just watch out for the windfarms.
On the same day, the new Almeria – Seville air route has been announced, starting next Jan 15th. It costs us €100, plus an addition €12 million in public money each year. Twice a day on weekdays, “to allow citizens to do what they must in Seville” according to Griñán, who came down to Vicar to announce it. Air Nostrum got the flight, presumably to stop them complaining about Griñán setting up his own airline called Air Andalus, which gets lot of public cash to… fly between Andalucian capitals, Madrid, Barcelona and, for some reason, North Africa. Again, watch out for the windfarms.
ADIF say (no idea if it’s true, let me know) that they have an information point in the Murcia del Carmen train station for the Almería AVE. 9-14 and 16-19 weekdays, it seems.
I was going to call this post “Work starts on the AVÉ”, but two signs does not a high speed railway make. Although a few red posts have been stuck in the ground at random. I’m tempted to move one about a meter to the right, just to see what will happen.
The signs were put up yesterday (I’ve only just found the cable for my camera phone to download the photo) by a construction company that had “especialistas en fiestas y grupos de musica” on the side of the lorry. I originally thought they were going to have a concert there.
The signs have gone up where the AVÉ will pass the old Turre – Los Gallardos road. From there you can see up the valley to where they are digging the Sorbas tunnel, near La Herreria. I’m working on an interesting article for the next edition of The Reader, so stay tuned for the story behind the rails.
Madrid has suddenly become coy about stating a date for when the Almería – Murcia AVE line will be operational, according to a strange piece in La Voz. Strikes me the writer was dying to say something, but his editor, with an eye on his political masters, held him back. No doubt the brave boys working at out local version of Pravda will slip something under the censors at some point.
The National Ministry in charge has promised a final date for a number of rail connections, such as Alicante in 2012, Murcia 2014, and all of Galicia by 2015 (Mr Minister is from Galicia, it seems). Almería is not in the list.
La Voz says that a document states that until the soterramiento is finished (the railway tunnel from the station near the docks to the outskirts) the AVE to Murcia can’t be connected as the new lines can’t get to the estación intermodal. Currently, it doesn’t look as if the soterramiento is going to even start before 2015, so that’s the AVE line to Murcia out of the window. Almería townhall says -in their own words – “optimistically it will be 5 years plus to sort the soterramiento paperwork and financing out”.
BUT, Mr Griñán from Seville says that all Andalucian capitals will be interconnected by AVE by 2013. Which means the Granada – Almería line will be finished and running before the Almería – Murcia line even gets going.
So – why have they just announced that they are going to start the Los Gallardos – Vera line work later this year? And then Vera – Cuevas / Los Gallardos – Sorbas? Plus the Níjar bit? Will the line terminate in Níjar or will it connect directly to Granada bypassing Almería? Or will the line just sit there, empty? And how will the Granada – Almería bit get to the station without going underground or ripping up a large piece of the city?
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