THE SOUTHERN OF HUELVA (www.spainsouthwest.com)

The Huelva section of the Costa de la Luz has many resorts that have wide, sandy beaches backed by pine woods and nature reserves of marshland and dunes.

Ayamonte is a border town with a Portuguese feel about its streets. The nearest beach is the newly built Isla Canela resort. East from Isla Canela, across an area of marshland known as the Paraje Natural Marismas de Isla Cristina, worth a visit for a spot of birdwatching, is Isla Cristina. This resort, with an impressive choice of great beaches and a busy fishing port, is popular with Sevillanos in summer.

Ten kilometres east is the more low-key resort of La Antilla. This is the beach for the village of Lepe, the strawberry growing capital of Europe. La Antilla beach on the eastern edge merges into the spit of El Rompido, which has virtually deserted beaches and sand dunes. From the spit across the Río Piedras estuary are views to the small fishing village of El Rompido.

Punta Umbría is the largest resort on the Huelva Costa de la Luz and in summer is full of beachgoers enjoying its numerous lively bars and restaurants. If you want to get away from the crowds, visit the Paraje Natural Marismas del Odiel, a large wetland reserve full of birdlife that borders the northern edge of Punta Umbría.

East of Huelva is the small resort of Mazagón and its bigger neighbour, Matalascañas. Between these two is one of best beaches in Andalucía, the Playa de Castilla, backed by fossilised dunes and pine woods.

Matalascañas is the nearest village to the entry point of the enormous Parque Nacional de Doñana. Eighteen kilometres north of Matalascañas is the curious Wild West hamlet of El Rocío, scene of a seething mass of pilgrims at Pentecost for the village's renowned Rocío Pilgrimage.

A WALK THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN RANGE OF HUELVA (www.spainsouthwest.com)

Part of the rugged Sierra Morena mountain range, the Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is a protected natural park of extensive woodland dotted with small whitewashed villages.

The rolling hills have a network of footpaths, which make it excellent walking and horseriding country. In the spring, the area is awash with wildflowers, while in the autumn the landscape is splashed with bright changing colours of the trees.

The area's main town, Aracena, has a distinctive hilltop ruined fortress and a Knights' Templar church. Deep underground in the hillside are some spectacular limestone caves, the Gruta de las Maravillas.

The Sierra is home to the renowned cured ham delicacy, jamón ibérico. This comes from the black Iberian pigs that feed on acorns underneath the holm oak trees that colonise the Sierra. The ham is produced throughout the area, but the biggest producer is based in Jabugo, a village whose name has become synonymous with jamón ibérico.

Autumn is the best time to visit the Sierra for its other famed gastronomic treat, the wild mushroom. The Sierra also is well known for its sweet chestnuts, which you can sample when they are harvested in the autumn. The area has many chestnut trees, which give their name to the village of Castaño. This beautiful village has some of the Sierra's oldest and best-preserved houses, clustered around a tiny square.

Many places have hilltop monuments including Cortegana, with its impressive medieval castle perched high above the town and one of the best views of the Sierra.

Almonaster la Real is a charming village situated below a 10th-century former mosque, which has an arched interior reminiscent of the mezquita in Cordoba.

Aroche is set in a dramatic position on a hilltop with its bullring situated, strangely, within its castle's walls.

Towering above the pretty village of Alájar is the Peña de Arias Montano, a clifftop hermitage dedicated to Alájar's patron saint, Nuestra Señora de los Angeles and the site of a well-known annual pilgrimage in September.

The small village of Zufre is tucked away up on a hill. It has the best square in the Sierra, with attractive tiled benches, lovely gardens and stunning views over the surrounding countryside.

Castaño del Robledo is a village in the Sierra which has remained largely unchanged for centuries. It boasts an impressive church and produces half of Huelva province's chestnut output.

Higuera de la Sierra has a famous Three Kings procession, when everyone in the town takes part in playing out Bible scenes. It is the only one of its kind in Spain, and is also one of the oldest.

Corteconcepcion has a spectacular hilltop bullring, as well as superb local ham and views over the Aracena reservoir.

Puerto Moral is a hill town known for its picturesque location next to the Aracena reservoir, a great place for fishing, watersports, swimming and walks.

Los Marines, just outside Aracena, is famous for its chestnut trees and its many fiestas. Santa 

Ana la Real also has festivals aplenty, but take your umbrella - it is known for the abundance of its rainfall.

Further south in the foothills of the Sierra are the mines of Río Tinto, which have been exploited for five thousand years for silver, iron and copper. Today, you can find out about the area's fascinating history at the Rio Tinto Mining Park in the town of Las Minas de Rio Tinto, with its museum, mine visit and train rides.

The town of Nerva is located just south of Minas de Rio Tinto, and shares its mining heritage.

SCUBA DIVING IN HUELVA


The best areas of immersion of the Huelva province are between two mouths of the Odiel River, near the capital, and the Guadiana River in the town of Ayamonte. So the contributions of materials from both river systems will reduce the visibility of marine waters, whose funds are constituted mostly by sand. Only one of his five dive sites, is restricted to experienced divers. In all, the best diving season is summer.
Golden Stone: about a mile from the coast, facing the lighthouse of El Rompido, is this immersion that takes its name from the most abundant fish in the area. A large number of specimens of gold are sheltered in the hollows of the rocky bottom, like a rib, perpendicular to the coast has. A small underwater mountain range about 15 m.wide, three high and one hundred feet in length. If we want to explore it fully, we need to do several dives. At certain times of the year, a large number of rays and torpedoes or tremors meet here to spawn. The dive to a depth not exceeding 12 m., is suitable for beginner divers.
Willy is a rocky area consists of many small flat slabs and about 150 m. height, which is four miles from the coast, off the bat house to a maximum depth of 16 m.The slabs are on a sandy bottom, separated from each other and, if we explore one by one, discover conger and moray eels, lobsters as well as large, between the cracks and crevices of your outline. The dive is suitable for beginners.
The Corvinus: it is a rocky area of ​​wide slabs, five miles off the town of Isla Cristina Huelva. The rocks are very interesting corridors for wildlife in them blanket. The most striking species are sea bass and red gorgonians and white. With the help of a flashlight, we can also see conger, moray eels and lobsters. Immersion, which does not exceed 22 m. deep, is suitable for beginners.
Warrior Empire: ideal for those who want to dive on wrecks, and that immersion is carried from the wreckage of the merchant ship that gives its name to the point of immersion and lying on a sandy bottom at 18 m. deep, 2.5 miles off the coast of Ayamonte, opposite the mouth of the Guadiana River, seven miles from the marina of Isla Cristina. The ship, the English flag, sank in 1941, following an air attack by the Germans. Can still be seen remains of the artillery, gorgonians and fish with the rocks themselves as urtas, bream, eels and large schools of grunts and croakers from. It takes some experience to undertake this journey.

The economic downturn affects all sectors. 


This year without Christmas lights in the streets but it doesn´t 


matter becouse the light is inside the people of this place, in 


the excited eyes of the children and in the stars of this 


beautiful place called "Huelva".




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EL PORTIL VILLAGE

El Portil is a well-known tourist centre, located six kilometers away from Punta Umbría, in the Huelva province. El Portil was declared a Centre of National Touristic Interest in the 1980s. Situated approximately 640 km away from Madrid by highway, on the Atlantic Coast, the area is an area of natural beauty, with many pine trees and serene ocean views. El Portil is located close to several important towns: it is 16 km from Huelva, and an hour's driving distance away from Seville and the Portuguese city of Faro.

The name of the zone was taken from the name for the Reserva National protected Laguna del Portil, a coastal lagoon nearby the town, which is also a chameleon reserve. El Portil is also a wetland, serving as a transitory home for birds migrating from the North of Europe to Africa during winter. The town is popular with tourists due to both its seascape and its environmental landscapes and national parks. The most important of the Spanish national parks, Doñana, is located 40 km away. During the migratory season, it is also popular with birdwatchers from home and abroad.

Among the areas of importance are:

• Paraje Natural Marismas del Odiel: considered the best preserved wetlands of Andalucia, it was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1983. Herons and harriers are known to nest there.
• Río Piedras Wetlands and El Rompido Arrow.
• Paraje Natural Enebrales de Punta Umbría, a unique sabine forest on the Andalusian coast.

From a political and administrative standpoint, El Portil belongs to two municipalities, Punta Umbría and Cartaya. The zone belonging to Punta Umbría is named El Portil, whereas the Cartayan zone is named Nuevo Portil. One must note that despite this administrative division, it is the same town divided by a street.

Climate in Huelva.


To analyze the climate of Huelva can start location. This province is located between 38 º 15 'and 36 º 45 "latitude. Generally oriented at noon (South) area of ​​maximum solar exposure in the Northern Hemisphere.


 It has 3,000 hours of sunshine a year or so, which is to say that in this province enjoys 300 days cleared annually.

We must take into account a factor as is its proximity to the Atlantic, whose influence is manifested in the oscillation between the average maximum temperature and average minimum, the province has also smooth topographies that are increased to the north, temperatures also influence this factor (decrease from south to north, with increasing altitude).

Usually has a little cold winter, mild, where no month low of 10 degrees and a hot summer, whose warmer months are July and August, reaching forty degrees in the shade some days ..

These features define a Mediterranean climate with oceanic or Atlantic influences, which can be divided into two zones: the Atlantic and Continental submarítima attenuated.In the Atlantic subregion submarítima in the lowlands of the sheltered valleys, summers are hot, while the highlands enjoy mild temperatures. In winter, continentality is noted as one moves inland. The summers are hot, clear skies.

The attenuated Continental subregion is characterized by the smoothness of its winters, where occasional frosts. In summer the thermal contrast is high, with July the warmest month.As for precipitation, are around 500 mm per year (in the mountainous interior can increase up to 1,000 mm per year). The maximum rainfall is late autumn and winter, while in the summer season the rains, particularly in July just does not record rainfall.




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The mark of the Discovery of America

In Andalusia so steeped in history, Huelva is the area which is very closely related to the Discovery of America. It was from the long-gone docks of the minicipality of Palos de la Frontera that the caravels set sail on 3rd August 1492. It is also the location of La Rábida Monastery, which is a Gothic-Mudéjar church featuring one of the oldest crucifixes in Andalusia, the beautiful Mudéjar style cloisters and 20th century murals by Vázquez Díaz.

Palos is a srpuce, lively village. In this, the home town of the Pinzón brothers, the visitor may admire their House-Museum and the original brick Mudéjar Church of San Jorge, with its historical Bride and Bridegroom Entrance. The nearby Fontanilla, a delightful place which has been recently renovated, supplied the water which Christopher Columbus used on his voyage of discovery.

Further is Moguer, which boasts the Monastery of Santa Clara, perhaps the most oustanding moment of the province in size and artistic value. It is Gothic-Mudéjar style par excellence of the era of the discovery of America. Not far away are the convent of San Francisco, the Coprus Christie Hospital converted into a theatre, the Town Hall in a resplendent Andalusian Neoclassical style, and the huge Church of Nuestra Señora de la Granada, which has a tower reminiscent of the Giralda. Platero no longer trots through the streets of Moquer, but the Museum of San Juan Ramón Jiménez evokes his creator.

Gastronomy in Huelva

No only the clime and the beaches, but also an important and savory varied gastronomic offers any of the towns that participate in this coasts; Ayamonte, Isla Cristina, Lepe, Cartaya, Punta Umbría, Moguer, Palos y Almonte.

To run over the gastronomy of the province of Huelva is to run over its history and its geography. There where we go will brink to our pass news forms to understand the wonderful art of the firesides and in any side we will meet many gastronomic deliciousness to degust and enjoy.

Huelva has two stars that bright with own light: The jam and the shellfish . Two authentic luxuries that perhaps aren't too well known.

If the hams of the saw have fame and quality , no it count with less the shellfishes that diary arrive to the ports of Isla Cristina, Huelva, El Rompido (Cartaya), Ayamonte, Lepe o Punta Umbría. The proceeding from this coasts has some characteristics that it becomes different of the any other. Are prawns retaken to the foot of the debouchment of the rivers, it are feed where the mantle that adduce the fluvial drippings is rich and adequate for this little shellfish. The well known white prawn of the coast is unmistakable by the pink color of it loin at the boiling and the immaculate white by the which detach its gambs. Strokesman, locust, crawfishes and one mollusc with gustative properties truly incommensurable, the cockle.

Its certainly obligatory attack in all its fresh the fishes that proceed from the ports of these places, to the grill or fried. The shellfishes cannot default never in a good meal in all these coasts. And you must retain in the memory a popular cephalopod in all the province: the cuttlefish. With this cuttlefish, that give name to the inhabitants of the capital, "choqueros", and the cockles and shellfishes its prepared a rice plenty of broth more appeared to the portugueses than to the levantines, that raise the kitchen of Huelva to levels of great height. Also this cephalopod, the cuttlefish has been tied traditionally to the kitchen more humbles with the fresh beans of the season. Now is typical plate in the onubense menu. In places of the coast like Ayamonte or Isla Cristina we will meet tunny-fish, bluefish, corvine and other species cooked in a traditional form, combining the savor of the fresh fishes with the aromas of the spices, very good used and the qualities that gives the nearly fruit-garden

In material of confectionery, the sweets fried and honeyed are, of course, a great deliciousness. They are in all the province, especially in those places that are rich in honey, as El Andevalo. We don't forget the sweets elaborated with the almond, the strawberries that are cultivated in the onubense littoral, in Palos and Lepe. the sweets of quince from Moguer.

Over the wine, exists a Denomination of origin that is controlling the production of some frutescent and young wines, that are added to the traditional offer of wines with more body, fine, odorous with great quality. You can may liquors as the brandy of La Palma or the "aguardientes", aniseed with high graduation, very digestive for after a good meal. Also detach the liquors of cherries, with less graduation and excellent savor that are elaborated in La Sierra, Cuenca Minera y El Condado.  


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