 The Costa de la Luz is the western part of the Andalucian coastline and our base for the weekend is the beach resort of Costa Ballena, not far from the seaport of Cadiz.
The environmentally friendly resort is centred around an 18-hole golf course designed by Jose Maria Olazabal and surrounded by lakes, orchards and parks and you will find shops, bars and restaurants close-by.
In the middle of Summer Andalucia is hot, dry and arid but in late Spring the climate is perfect with enough heat in the sun to warm you through and make you forget the cool British weather. The magnificent Andalucian horses and the black bulls bred for the bullring are reared here but the area is best known for sherry. Acres and acres of vineyards as far as the eye can see produce the grapes for the fortified wines created in the many bodegas in and around Jerez. It is drunk in restaurants like any other wine to accompany the dry smoky hams, meat courses with rich sauces and strong cheeses also local to the area.
Gypsies originated here too and their folklore lives on and is celebrated in the traditional music and in the fiery, colourful flamenco danced by everyone – young and old, male and female. The real Andalucia stimulates all the senses and is well worth a visit!
The circuit is approximately 35km from Costa Ballena. Built in 1986, it hosted its first Grand Prix in 1987 and has since become one of the most popular MotoGP circuits and is regularly used for testing. The circuit can accommodate up to 250,000 spectators and the range of grandstands provide excellent viewing. In 2007 Dani Pedrosa looked set for a race win starting from pole in front of his home crowd but it wasn’t to be as he was eventually passed by Valentino Rossi who claimed his first win of the season to put him back at the top of the championship table. |
