ANDALUCÍA - ALMERIA - MOJÁCAR - CHIRINGUITO MANACA

CHIRINGUITO MANACA

Drive past the Hotel Indalo on the road from Mojácar to Carboneras, bare right inland and take a left at the third roundabout onto Playa Macenas where you will see the Castillo de Macenas, just before the Macenas golf goes inland.

From here, drive past Chiringuito Macenas (you can stop here for a drink or tapas) and onto a very basic dirt road, which is not in great condition, and initially runs along a precarious cliff edge, overlooking the sea and then winds through canyons inland,

past the Torre del Pirulico, winding around the Big house on the mountain top. You will see stunning scenery on the drive and with due caution, it is perfectly passable by car.

It is quite a rough and bumpy track but eventually, you will come to see a beach below on your left, keep driving although this is also a nice beach to swim at, it has no facilities.

When you get to the end of the road you are at Playa del Sombrerico and Chiringuito Manaca. (it is about 4km from Playa Macenas to Playa Sombrerico). Most visitors here will find this beach via the same road. It will be reasonably full of cars in July or August and very empty at other times of the year.

Chiringuito Manaca dates from 1972 and is the remains of a hut built for the filming of Treasure Island by John Hough and starring Orson Welles. Because it is a hard-to-access area, it represents the opposite side of the bustle of neighbouring Mojácar, to which it belongs. It occupies a corner of the beach with a small average rocky, dark sand cove.

Open from 10 am to 8 pm, the thing to eat here is

Seafood paella

Arroz a Banda

Fideuà (similar to a paella, but made with fideos (pasta noodles) not rice.

The locally caught fresh fish like Dorada (gilthead bream) and Gallo San Pedro (John Dory)

When in the season the red Gigantes are very good, which means they sell out very quickly to the locals.

The only item remaining from Treasure Island is Salada Orson Welles (Lettuce, fruit and pink cocktail sauce). In summer it gets very busy for lunch (which starts at 3 pm) with the mostly Spanish clientele and you will need to book paella and fideuá in advance.

Finish with a carajillo (a Spanish drink combining coffee with brandy).

or café cortado (coffee solo with a dash of milk)

The Chiringuito is surrounded by cactus and native vegetation, which hide the animated crickets warning you of the looming heat. From its large windows, you can see the sea and coast.

After lunch, it's time to hit the beach for a couple of minutes walk away from the bar and take a nap or a dip in the sparkling blue Mediterranean. Beware there are quite a few nudists here.