Tarifa

Spain sets world record for wind energy

Earlier this week, the weather in Barcelona was very, very windy. Little did we know at the time, but as we chattered our teeth in unison, Spain was about to set a world first.

Spanish wind energy - wind farm near Tarifa

From 3am until 8am on Sunday 8th November 2009, more than 50% of Spain’s electricity was generated by wind – according to the Spanish Wind Energy Association, “For several moments, wind energy had the honor of delivering up to 53 percent of total needs”.

With high winds gusting across much of the country, Spain’s huge network of windfarms jointly poured the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations’ worth of electricity into the national grid.

Driving around Andalucia with my family over the last couple of years, we’ve often found ourselves in discussions about whether the wind farms are actually more of a blight on the environment (at least aesthetically) than a solution to the problem of generating energy sustainably.

Are we generating sustainable energy at the expense of our pristine landscapes forever?

Read more

Stormy weather breaks Spanish wind energy record
Spain’s windfarms set new national record for electricity generation
Huertas Solares (In Spanish – Ben and Marina discuss the use of fields of solar panels to overcome energy problems in Spain, but wonder about the future of our landscapes )

Video: Windsurfing at Valdevaqueros beach, Tarifa, Spain

This is a short video compilation of clips taken at Valdevaqueros beach just outside Tarifa in Andalucia in the South of Spain – the principal destination in Europe for Kitesurfing and Windsurfing. It was a VERY windy day (force 8-9 for the sailors amongst you), which perhaps doesn’t come across as much as it should from the video. The windy girl is my sister, Laura, and the blob at the end is my mother. My, how she loved that wind…

Vejer de La Frontera & beaches, Spain

Firstly, some shameless Vejer plugs:

Having spent a couple of months travelling regularly on the Ave train between Madrid and Barcelona, I headed back down to Vejer de La Frontera in Andalucia to meet up with my mother and sister for a couple of weeks of catching up & ‘recuperation’. Arriving in early September, the weather was glorious – Vejer de la Frontera, like all of Andalucia, can become far to hot for comfort in July and August – and we spent our time on the beaches of El Palmar, Los Caños de Meca, Bolonia and Valdevaqueros, and made a couple of day trips to Seville, Cadiz & Grazalema National Park.

The photo below shows Vejer De La Frontera from the air – The town of Vejer de la Frontera occupies a hill overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar (with views all the way to Morocco on a clear day) and is surrounded by orchards and orange groves. It contains several ancient churches and convents, and the architecture of many of its houses harks back to the period of Moorish rule, which lasted from 711 until the town was captured by Saint Ferdinand of Castile in 1248.

Vejer De La Frontera, Spain: Aerial photo

Recently referred to as Vejer de las Fashionistas in the press, due to the increasing numbers of celebrities (like Jude Law) spotted lurking within it’s walls, the beaches near Vejer are some of the least spoilt and most beautiful in Spain. Lying on the Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light), a section of the Andalucian coast facing the Atlantic, and with building restrictions brought in to combat the kind of development seen on the Costa Del Sol, it’s the perfect place to unwind.

Valdevaqueros, Tarifa, Spain

For those of you partial to your kitesurfing and windsurfing, Tarifa & Valdevaqueros lie only 35-40 KM to the South East. This is the busiest kitesurfing & windsurfing destination in the world. Luckily the huge beaches can cope with the hundreds of kites that descend on Tarifa – on busy Summer days there can be up to a thousand kites simultaneously flying. The downside for sunbathers is that on days that the Levante wind blows, sunbathing becomes a serious exercise in exfoliation. (Watch my video on Windsurfers on Valdevaqueros beach)

Map showing Vejer de la Frontera


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Tourist board video of Vejer de la Frontera

Video: Tarifa in Spain – A kitesurfer’s paradise

This video shows the amazing windswept beaches of Tarifa.

Tarifa in the south of Spain is possibly the most windy beach I have ever been too…I nearly blew away 🙂 But it is also incredibly beautiful. On our Flickr account you can see some of the beautiful pictures Thomas took when we visited Tarifa this summer.

The narrow streets and old castle also makes Tarifa old town a charming place for a walk. Most of the remaining old city was constructed in the 18th Century.

However, it is the 10 kilometres of white sandy beaches, unspoilt countryside and some of the best windsurfing conditions in Europe that have made Tarifa a surfers paradise. Not to mention the crazy wind that makes it impossible to suntan on the beach because you will be eating too much sand…but it does make good waves.

Enjoy