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TARIFA , spreading out beyond its Moorish walls, was until the mid-1980s a quiet village, known in Spain, if at all, for its abnormally high suicide rate - a result of the unremitting winds that blow across the town and its environs. Today it's a prosperous, popular and at times very crowded resort, following its discovery as Europe's prime windsurfing spot. There are equipment rental shops along the length of the main street, and regular competitions held year-round. Development is moving ahead fast as a result of this new-found popularity, but for the time being it remains a fairly attractive place. If windsurfing is not your motive, there can still be an appeal in wandering the crumbling ramparts, gazing out to sea or down into the network of lanes that surround the fifteenth-century, Baroque-fronted church of San Mateo (daily 9am-1pm & 6-8.30pm), which has a beautiful late Gothic interior. Also worth a look is the Castillo de Guzman (Tues-Sun 10am-2pm & 4-8pm; ?1.20), the site of many a struggle for this strategic foothold into Spain. It is named after Guzman el Bueno (the Good), Tarifa's infamous commander during the Moorish siege of 1292, who earned his tag for a superlative piece of tragic drama. Guzman's nine-year-old son had been taken hostage by a Spanish traitor and surrender of the garrison was demanded as the price of the boy's life. Choosing "honour without a son, to a son with dishonour", Guzman threw down his own dagger for the execution. The story - a famous piece of heroic resistance in Spain - had echoes in the Civil War siege of the Alcazar at Toledo, when the Nationalist commander refused similar threats, an echo much exploited for propaganda purposes. A new attraction in Tarifa is popular whale and dolphin spotting excursions to the Strait of Gibraltar which leave daily from the harbour. The trip is a fairly steep ?27 (reductions for under 14s), but this includes another trip free of charge if there are no sightings. Places must be booked in advance from either of two non-profit-making organizations: Whale Watch, Cafe Continental , Paseo de la Alameda (tel 956 684 776), or FIRMM (Foundation for Information and Research on Marine Mammals; tel & fax 956 627 008, or mobile tel 919 459 441) at c/Pedro Cortes 3, slightly west of the church of San Mateo, off c/El Bravo.
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