My National Park Hostel/Resort

Trip Start May 01, 2010

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Spain La Alberca, Murcia, Spain
Wednesday, June 2, 2010

From Murcia I was now heading for an opposite experience. I randomly found some very cheap accomodation about 10kms South of Murcia, which was located in a national park. I had no idea what to expect as I could barely find any info on it except on its own website. But at $18AUD a night I figured it was worth a try. I was going to walk there, but I just happened to see a local bus stop on the way which mentioned the town that it was next to. So that saved a serious walk with my pack.

Once off the bus, I knew where I was (I took photos of google maps on my camera) but had no idea which direction was which! So I started walking where I thought was correct. There was another friendly looking Spanish girl walking the same way so I asked her. It was quite amusing. All in Spanish of course, an excerpt of the conversation went something like this (with some guessing on my part on what she said):

"Which direction is this?" - me pointing to my dodgy map on my camera
"I have no idea where you're pointing, where do you want to go?"
". . . pardon"
"Where are you going?"
"Aaaaah. I want to go to the youth hostel"
"There's no accomodation around here. Where are you from?"
"Pardon. . . .Aaaah, Australia"
"Australia!"
"Si si"

On one of my walks

This then continued a little bit with me continuing down the hill with her. She seemed to have taken me under her wing and was worried that I was going to be stranded in her small town. So she asked some ladies through their kitchen window (people were super friendly). I'm pretty sure she said, "This crazy Australian here can't speak Spanish and is looking for accomodation, do you know where he could be going?" Then there was some jovial laughter and some more of them talking and me stumbling through conversation. The lady asked me where I was heading. This time I showed her the photo I took of the hostel's website. Apparently that rung some bells as I should have been mentioning 'el valle' which is 'the valley' and is the name of the national park. So then the girl led me back the way we came and I got pointed up the hill. "Arriba arriba", they were some good instructions I could follow.

After a nice walk up into el valle, a quick stop at a very helpful visitors info centre (even with my dodgy Spanish), I arrived at the 'hostel' and checked in. First impressions of the location were, wow! I'm in the middle of national park bushland, sorounded by trees and completly isolated. First impressions on the accomodation itself were, wow! This is a resort not a hostel. I had my own room, with air con, my own bathroom, there was a tv room, a games room and free internet. From my bedroom window I had views over the pool! Yes a pool, wow. It felt like I had found paradise, especially since this was the cheapest accomodation of my trip up to this point!

View from my room

The resort and pool

I stayed here for three nights. I found myself in a great little routine. I would wake up late, eat breaky (nutella on bread), find a nice spot to read my book (usually by the pool), when the peak midday heat arrived I would stay inside in the air con on the internet, later some more reading accompanied by a dip in the pool and made myself a meal (usually sardines on bread). Then once the sun lost its harshness (around 6pm or so) I would go for a serious walk/trek. I had a dodgy photocopied map on which the info lady had marked some points of interest. All of my walks were up and down hills, up rocky slopes, to the tops of hills and all lasted 3 hours at least.

Awesome trails

Upwards I went

The first one took me to the tops of some hills, where I stayed for some time to catch the sunset, which was beautiful, and views of the cities around us. Next one was to the highest point of the national park, I think 800m ish, again fantastic views from numerous look out points along the way. Both times the sun had set once I'd made it back. I was a little worried at some points that I had veered off where I though I was on my map. And it all worked out well.

Sunset from the top

It felt like I had found paradise the those days, except a paradise that no one else had found! For my first two nights I was the only person sleeping in the 'resort' besides from a receptionist! This was truly a hidden gem. I haven't seen it mentioned in any guide book or any travel websites. I'm pretty sure if they just changed the name to 'resort' instead of 'hostel' they could charge 5-10 times the price.