[HOTEL CAMPOMAR CLOSES ON 01.11.11 FOR WORKS] HOTEL CAMPOMAR ***
As announced previously the Hotel Campomar will close its doors on 1st November in order to execute necessary works on the drainage system. The hotel will reopen 30th December - 01.01.12 for New Year celebrations before closing again until 10th February, 2012 when it will reopen for the season with the new name PLAYAS DE GUARDAMAR.
[10th CONFERENCE OF HIGH MEDICAL TECNOLOGIES OF THE 21ST CENTURY]
[VISIT TO THE VINEYARDS AND WINERY MATARROMERA] VIAJE EQUIPO DIRECTIVO
[28.10.11] HOTEL ALAHUAR ***
[15.10.11] POSEIDON COMPLEX ***
[02.10.11] HOTEL CAMPOMAR***
[15-09-11] HOTEL VILLA DE BIAR****
[01.09.11] HOTEL VILLA DE BIAR + ALAHUAR
[01.08.11] HOTEL ALAHUAR***
[01.07.11] HOTEL CAMPOMAR***
[01.06.11] HOTEL CAMPOMAR***
[15.04.11] HOTEL CAMPOMAR***
[Inauguration of the New Elevator for Disabled at Poseidon Complex ***] POSEIDON COMPLEX***
[INAUGURATION VILLA DE BIAR HOTEL****] VILLA DE BIAR HOTEL****
[2011] Hotel Villa de Biar****
[01-03-10.10] Hotel Campomar***
[winter 2010/11] Poseidon Group
[03.09.10] Cardio Tour, Miguel Bose
[August] Regular guest
[26-27.08.10 ] Electro beach Festival
[01.06 / 15.09] Poseidon Complex***
[July & August] Chef´s Nights
[17.06.10] Quality Diplomas 2009
[21.06.10] Reopened Poseidon Complex*** terrace
[Summer 2010] Hotel Alahuar***
[15.06.10] Awarded the silver Medal of HOSBEC
[Top marks........] Poseidon Complex***
Fortunately we are accustomed to receive congratulations from our clients but we could´nt resist showing the opinion of Mr Robert Maiden. Guest lodged at the end of May.
Service : 10
Cleaning: 10
Room : 10
Facilities : 10
Food : 10
In addition, Sr Mario Gaviria a well known Spanish Psycologist and expert in tourism Studies who left us recently after an enjoyable 7 month stay in the Poseidon Complex wrote to say " the hotel works like a perfect machine"
[23-24.07.10] II Low Cost Festival
[01.06.10] Important new services Hotel La Estacion****
With effect from 01 June 2010 it will be possible to book:
1- Half board basis ( Breakfast + Dinner ). Suplement 10 € per person. The system operative in the restaurant will be of Buffet Salads and Desserts whilst main dishes with choice of 2 will be served to the table.
2- Buy hot snacks at the bar area.
ENJOY YOUR MEAL!!!!!!!!!!!
[12.10.10] Hotel Campomar***
[18.09.10] Classical Music Concert in Hotel La Estacion
Last weekend 18.09.10 all guest at the hotel La Estacion**** received a wonderful surprise in the form of a classical music concert performed completely free of charge by the SCHERZO orchestra in the hall of the Hotel.
Unload photo Scherzo Orchestra
[29.04.10 - 02.05.10 ] Article Campomar Hotel
[04.10.2009 ] Championship of Boxing of Spain
[10.08.09 - 21.08.09] Meeting of Tibetan Monks in Poseidon Complex
[30.07.09 ] Bruce Springsteen in Benidorm
[02 - 04.10.2009] V Policemen´s International Meeting
[] QUALITUR
[01.10.2000 ] Basking in Rural Bliss
Travel Writer John Wood goes "Rural", and finds himself in hot water soaking in a huge bath with a view.
Within thirty minutes of arriving at the new Hotel Alahuar*** I was up to my neck in hot water. I was soaking in a 1.7-metre-diameter, circular bath... with a difference. It was surrounded by windows, giving me a panoramic view over orchards of almond, cherry and orange trees, and on to Denia Castle far below on the coast. Had it not been for the heat haze on that glorious September afternoon, I would have been able to pick out the island of Ibiza on the horizon. On checking in, I had been handed the key to one of 12 two-storey villas - each identified by a ceramic plaque bearing a picture and the name of a plant. I had wheeled my suitcase along crazy paving pathways winding through gardens planted with herbs - rosemary, thyme, and salvia - which filled the air with a gentle but inviting fragance.
The villas are all different in design - five have those magnificient circular baths, and all share the same breathtaking view. They are spacious, attractively decorated, and well equipped, with comfortable beds, full bathrooms, television and telephone, and an upstairs lounge with terrace. Rural accomodation at its best. You can't get much more rural than the Hotel Alahuar***, situatedin Benimaurell, a tiny village perched on a mountain top - surrounded by higher peaks - at an altitude of 550 metres, some 25 kilometres inland from Denia on the Costa Blanca.
The village, with just 300 inhabitants, lies at the end of a mountain road - you don't just pass through Benimaurell; you have to go there. It all started as an idea, in the mind of an enthusiastic young man, frustrated with the limitations of life in a village far from civilisation. When "Saoro" Mas finished his military service he worked in construction. Good money, hard work, long hours - none of which he minded - but he needed something more. At 21 years old he mounted his own business - "La Hedrera", a large music bar, which became a remarkable success, drawing people from Denia and other coastal towns. By the time he was 27 his ambition to put Benimaurell on the map widened. He planned to open a hostel, with perhaps, half-a-dozen rooms. Others with ideas for Benimaurell were architect, Juan Antonio Moreno, and quantity surveyor, Juan Miguel Mas.
The three were putting their heads together, when Pere Joan Devesa - President of the Poseidon Group, the Costa Blanca's second most important hotel chain, came on the scene. They formed the perfect team: designers and builders, an experienced hotelier, and a dynamic young manager... all with stacks of local knowledge, and unbounded enthusiasm. The dream became reality; the Sociedad Turistica Benimaurell was formed. They secured a 36.000 square-metre, prime site on El Tossalet, a hill overlooking the village; and, following ten months of frantic construction - and a total investment of some 300 million pesetas - the Hotel-Restaurante Alahuar opened its doors, on 1st July 1999.
Extensive use of stone from local quarries, massive pinewood beams, and Moorish brick arches, give the building a medieval air. Terra-cotta floors and inset ceramic tiles complete the image. A notable feature is the collection of 198 socarrats - unglazed ceramic tiles, produced by an ancient process, and hand-painted using different coloured clays rather than paint - which forms the ceiling of the bar. They recount the history of the Comunidad Valenciana - the very last one bearing the coat of arms of "Ferran", the artist. Another attraction is the panoramic lounge, with huge picture windows, and colourful tapestries - illuminated by effective halogen lighting. But let's not forget the restaurant, with its brick arches, domed ceilings... and exceptional fare, which alone easily justifies a trip to Benimaurell. The accent is on traditional country food.
The kitchen is manned by a village woman - Maribel - and her team, and they work with the finest locally produced ingredients, prepared to time-honoured recipes. Try the Embutidos - sausages - specially made for the hotel by the village butcher. Other starters - many thoughfully served in half-portions - include Espencat - a salad of cold roast peppers, aubergines, tomato and onion - and Cocas - mini-pizzas with various toppings. Or there are locally-produced Pâtés, home-made Croquettes and Meatballs. No less than fifteen tasty options to choose from. Each day there's a specially prepared dish, which may vary from the ubiquitous Paella to less usual offerings such as Arroz con Lentejas - rice with lentils - or the king of all rice dishes, Arroz al Horno - with sausages, spare ribs, potatoes and tomato - gently toasted in the oven. Table service comes from cheerful, young village girls with ready smiles.
They made me smile too, when i saw the other main courses they were bringing forth. Almost everything comes in individual earthenware casseroles - of mammoth proportions. Take Rabbit or Chicken al ajillo, for instance, both with a lipsmacking, meaty, garlic sauce, and accompanied by seasonal vegetables - baked aubergine, roast potato and tomato. Rest assured that no one leaves the table hungry. Much of what comes to the table is locally produced. They already press their own olive oil, and shortly visitors will be able to try their feet at treading grapes from the hotels own 700 vines. Fruit trees - apples, plums and cherries - abound, and there's a plentiful supply of fresh herbs. A kitchen garden is being established with a variety of vegetables. My memories of the Hotel Alahuar include sitting on the terrace, sipping a cool gin and tonic, and soaking up the view. Others preferred lounging around, or dipping into, the swimming pool, whilst the really energetic took to exploring the numerous country footpaths, or rock climbing in the dramatic Barranco del Infierno - Hell's Gorge.
Experienced guides are always available, and one enterprishing character in the village has mounted a donkey excursion service. Something to take home? Souvenir shops have not yet hit Benimaurell, so the best bet is a selection of home-made embutidos. Walk up Carrer del Llop and you'll find the "Rabosa" butchers shop, with a painted wolf at the door... wolfing a string of sausages. Juana is always there, happily dispensing strings of red chorizos, black morcillas, and white salchichas; but don't miss out on sobrasada - an adaptation of a Mallorcan recipe brought by settlers. When fresh it's soft, and can be spread on bread and toasted, but three months in the fridge and it dries out into a delicious cold cut to accompany salads.
The name "Alahuar" i s derived from what the Moors called the valley (today, Vall de Laguar) and translates loosely as "God of Water". Whatever you call it, and however you pronounce it, the Hotel Alahuar presents an ideal opportunity to sample the joys of peaceful rural life, without forgoing a vestige of modern comfort... and at a price that won't break the bank. It's a delightful country retreat
[01.05.2009 ] Hotel Poseidón Playa - Marque of Excellence
[22.04.2008 ] Presentation of the new Hotel Campomar***
Last March the Poseidon Group realized an official Presentation of the newly refurnished Hotel Campomar*** to
450 Spanish Travel Agencies invited to the event, which consisted of a
Weekend stay, an excursion of "Trenet" to Guardamar's town
centre(granted by the Excmo. Guardamar's town hall) and a Gala Dinner
followed by a party in the hotel’s discoteque.
Don Pere Joan
Devesa, President of the Poseidon Group, inaugurated the dinner with a
few words of thanks to the Agencies that could come and seized the
opportunity to introduce the Hotel Campomar*** as a new member of the
Group with all its innovations, before presenting the management team
of the group
[01.07.2002 ] Between Heaven and Hell
TGO - July 2002.
From our hotel veranda we could see right down the length of the Val of Laguar (try la waart) to where the great humpback of Montgo rose in isolated splendour by the shimmering coast. On one side of the valley the jagged ridge of Sefaria rose from the huerta of the Girona and just below the hotel a narrow mountain road ran past the village of Benimaurell before beginning its steady climb to the Col de Carga, over Sierra de Penon and then down into the neighbouring Jalon Valley. Bounded on its northen side by the high ridge of the Sierra Mediadia, the Val de Laguar is protected from the southern winds by the vertiginous crags of the Caballo Verde Ridge and the twin peaks of Penon Roch.
In the 17th century this ridge was the scene of the Moors last stand in Valencia and after their defeat by Christian forces their castle was demolished and every man, woman and child deported to Africa via the nearby port of Denia. The ridge gets its name from the legend of the mystical green knight who was supposed to lead the Moors to Victory. Local legend is that he lies there still, waiting...
There was something therapeutic about sitting here in the scented dusk, muscles still throbbing from a long day's hill-walking. The healing nature of the mountains was working its magic potion. Relaxed and at ease in the enveloping darkness I increasingly became aware of a natural feature that lay close at hand and although I could only dimly discern its outline I could distinctly feel its presence. Inmediately below the ridge crest on which the Hotel Alahuar is dramatically sited is a huge system of deep, limestone canyons. From those darkened depths I was aware of a brooding silence, a curious stillness that rose, overlapped the canyon rim and flooded the carob and almond groves that surrounded the grounds of the hotel.
Deep in those natural trenches lay another world, a bare, hostile world inhabited by wild boar, lynx and fox, beyond the comforts of mankind, although man did once live here, wrestling a living from the uncompromising terrain. Moorish exiles, whose countrymen had been expulsed by the forces of Catholicism, made their home in remote strongholds like this. These "Mozarabes" carried on life as normal, sequestered from the Christian traditions and values that lay outside their isolated world, a culture within a culture, a land well worth exploring.
Two days earlier my wife Gina and I had arrived in Alicante to meet my old friend Jose Miguel García who, through his environmentally-aware trekking company, Terma Ferma, has introduced hundreds of Brits to the delights of the valencian mountains. Weeks earlier, in an excited e-mail, Jose had told me of a new area he had been exploring in the northern hinterland of Spain's Costa Blanca.
Here, beyond the low lying coastal plains of the Marina Baja, lay the limestone peaks and canyons of the Marina Alta. Jose had written of ancient Mozarabic trails that zig-zag in and out of perfumed gorges; high pastures with distant views of the Mediterranean; unspoilt mountain villages where you can enjoy lunchtime beer and tapas and best of all, the all-permeating spirit of place that derives from a crossed-cultural history, the last stronghold of the Moors where Muslim and Christian traditions are still intertwined in an eternal knot.
And finally, as a tempting throwaway, Jose mentioned the Barranco de l'Infern, the George of Hell...
From the little cluster of white buildings that makes up the village of Benimaurell it's hard to avoid the serrated edge of the Caballo Verde ridge that forms the southern ramparts of the Val de Laguart. This would be our introduction to the Marina Alta.
Splitting the jalon and Laguart valleys, the ridge culminates in the limestones crags of el Penon Roch, which overlook the village of Muria. As we left the road by Cullado de Garga we could look south across the hills by Castell de Castells, an area I had previously visited with Jose, towards the broad swell of the Sierra de Aitana. Today it was white with fresh snow, not quite what we expected on the Costa Blanca, even at the fag end of winter...
For weeks the winter weather had been in the high sixties and seventies - now it was on the turn. Jose murmured something about a storm and within minutes the rain started. As we approached the first rocks of the risge the rain turned to hail and soon we were walking in thick mist with only sporadic clearances to allow us to look down on the little clustered villages below.
The walk itself wasn't very strenuous but underfoot conditions were far from ideal - wet limestone can become very slippery. A couple of sections gave us some easy scrambles and we eventually managed to find a dry overhang below a great orange limestone cliff where we had lunch. As soon as we finished and climbed back onto the ridge the wind-lashed rain froze our fingers and faces and we decided the abandon plans of continuing to Murla. Instead we descended north from the col just below the crags of El Penon Roch down to the road and a walk back to Benimaurell. A hot bath, and a view out of the bathroom's panoramic windows down the length of the valley, was good justification for an early finish.
A stay in the Alahuar Hotel is pretty much central to the walking round about here. Such is its central and elevated position you can enjoy a week's variety of walks all starting from the hotel. That's a big bonus. You don't really have to travel anywhere by car or public transport once you're here.
The rooms are superbly comfortable, the big circular bath, with its views down the Valley, iis superb and the restaurant menu is firmly based on local mountain fare. The hotel's atmosphere is very relaxed and informal and the staff are all extremely friendly.
A main feature of the view from the hotel Alahuar is the great bulk of Montgo, the crown jewel of the Parc Natural del Montgo. This is an enormous limestone crag that rears up from close to the coast between the towns of Denia and Javea to a height of almost 2500 ft before dropping down gently to the west in a long limestone escarpment.
We climbed the hill face on, up its steep and rather forbidding looking east face, traversed much of the ridge, in reality a high level limestone pavement, and descended a steep gully to the north to where a good mule track took us back to the start.
With the Mediterranean below us, and the sprawling metropoli of Denia, Javea and Orba around us this certainly wasn't a wilderness experience but there was a real sense of elevation where, on a clear day, you can gaze from Montgo's summit across the sea to the Ballearic islands of Mallorca and Menorca. It was a little hazy for that, but what we did see was the sheer size and spread of the inland sierras, ranging from de Bernia to the Puig Campana, across to a snow covered Aitana and then the ragged outline of the Marina Alta mountains. We could gaze right up the length of the Val de Laguart, to where our hotel sat in proud splendour above Benimaurell at the head of the Valley.
One of Jose's Terra Ferma guides, Toni Barber, climbed Montgo with us. A biologist and botanist Toni works on various university projects between bouts of mountain guiding and his knowledge of the area (he first climbed Montgo when he was 14) is superb. At one point Gina said she was so amazed, every time Toni stopped he seemed to pick up some plant or other and eat it. Wild asparagus, thyme, and some vegetatious looking plant that tasted like lettuce.
The only blight on the day was the great sprawl of the housing development below us. The houses, each with its own swimming pool, were encroaching on the very slopes of the hill. As we descended towards them, hundreds upon hundreds of Dallas-style haciendas, we became aware of an eerie quietness. There was no-one about - this was a ghost town, most of these houses are apparently holiday homes owned by Germans and Swiss.
Tony, who was born and brought up here, told us that all the places where he played as a child are now housing developments. He feels like stranger in a land of Germans, Diutch, Swiss and English. I couldn't help offering up a quick prayer of thanks. If Scotland had a similar climate to Spain, and no midgies, we too would be overrun by vast holiday home developments. And that's not really the problem, the real horror is the size of the communities that have been created in attractive places. While the natural beauty of the coast is still there it has undoubtedly been diluted by the burgeoning developments. Not for the first time I thanked God for the humble midgie...
All thoughts of holiday homes and midgies were firmly banished from our minds as we made our way down the stepped Mozarabic trail into the confines of the chasm below the hotel, en route for the Barranco de l'Infern. These trails once linked the Moorish communities and allowed the farmers to trade in wheat, olives, carobs and wine. The widely spaced steps were designed to suit the stride of mules. On either side, the desperately steep slopes had been cut into terraces, the vertical fields of the mountains.The scents of rosemary, lavendar and thyme fills the air.
In the depths of the canyon smooth waterworn rocks form a boulder hopping highway below the sheer limestone cliffs, walls of pastel shades of blue and pink, oxidised here and there by the eternal water seepage into darker shades of red and orange. The effect of the colours, contrasting with the glaring white of the rockbed, was quite stunning. At one point the riverbed runs below a natural arch, the portal to the inner recesses of the Barranco de l'Infern. Pools of deep water bar onward progress and the way forward is by utilising a couple of iron spikes driven into the limestone walls to help you climb the smooth rocks above the pools. Once through this obstacle the crux of the route boldly presents itself, a large rounded antechamber, with iron rungs driven into a sheer rocky ridge that runs up into the skylight above. A climbing rope hangs down into the cavern, the way for those with rappeling gear.
We hadn't brought any harnesses or ropes so we crept through the subterranean passages as far as our temerity would allow us. The difficult section is apparently no more than a couple of kilometres with about half a dozen abseils but the whole route from the villages of Val de Ebo to Fleix takes about 6-8 hours, a pretty good adventurous day.
I was enthralled by the barranco and continually gazed up at the towering cliffs. The concept of time is never easy to understand in places like this, time as it relates to the slow and grinding process of the formation of a long and deep canyon like this. The eroding properties of running water are well known and I also realised that limestone is a relatively soft rock but I still couldn't conceive of the quantum period of time that was necessary for this Rio Ebo to slowly carve out such a chasm.
Ten thousand years? Ten million years? Who knows? Toni reckoned more than 50 million years. What is certain, unless the weather patterns change and there is a much higher rainfall in the future, is that the power of those cascading,grinfing waters are long gone.
Today the riverbed is dry and parched, a bumpy highway of white boulders and scree. No longer does the Barranco de l'Infern echo to the tumultuous chaos of running water. Nevertheless the place still has the capacity to enthrall and indeed thrill those who negotiate its canyoning experience. today it made me realise, and not for the first time, my own insignificance when compared to the more lasting reality of the natural world that surrounds me. A lifespan that is the merest flicker of time in that of creation, a grain of sand in the vast desert of the life of this planet.
Eventually, free of the tight confines of the barranco, we reached another junction of paths where another superbly constructed Mazorabic trail took us back up the red canyon wall to the village of Fleix. Wonderfully engineered, this trail zig zagged with benevolent gradients up to a large eroded scoop in the wall high above us. To our delight the trail ran right through a hole in the wall and continued up the other side through ancient terraces of almond, carob and oranges trees to the village beyond.
It was a little early to return to the hotel so we opted for an easy descent to the village of Tormos, wandering unhurriedly downhill through scented orange and lemon groves.
After a couple of beers in Tormos we were collected by Sauro, the wonderfully enthusiastic and cheerful hotel manager who drove us back to the Alahuar and the luxury of another scenic hot bath and a delightful dinner. The gorge of hell had, incongruously, turned out to be a day in heaven!.
[16.12.2008 ] Meeting of the Poseidón Management Team
Coinciding with the opening of the new spa area at the Hotel Campomar*** Poseidon Group's management team met at the hotel on the 19/11/08 in Guardamar.
