| Mention Benidorm and with it, by implication, | | | | being ripped from critical areas. Over the |
| the concepts of package tourism, hotel | | | | years the pay had been good, the pressure |
| buffets, British bars with one euro a pint | | | | significant and, overall, the rewards worth |
| lager, northern English Working Men's Club | | | | the pain. But times change, lives change, |
| turns imitating something neither themselves | | | | priorities change and people reach fifty. |
| nor their audience have ever been, | | | | |
| lobster-impersonating spit-burnt sunbathers | | | | This was the time to do something different, |
| and fried English breakfasts with the bacon | | | | to trade income for quality. We bought a |
| already coated in tomato sauce, and I would | | | | house in La Nucia, just five kilometres from |
| bet that very few punters would | | | | Benidorm's beaches, the town's skyscraper |
| auto-associate the phrase "cultural | | | | hotels visible from our front balcony. Our |
| experience". More likely, perhaps, might be | | | | aim was to establish our own niche business |
| the image of over-revelled revellers spewing | | | | renting the two bedroom garden apartment |
| out from the industrial-sized, garish and | | | | while we lived a modest if sometimes |
| scruffy discos along the strip at nine in the | | | | indulgent life on the first floor. We have |
| morning, seated wavering by the roadside | | | | now been doing this for more than four years, |
| amidst the split, cracked and squashed | | | | have an established clientele and basically |
| plastic waste which these no doubt | | | | have achieved what we wanted to achieve. We |
| environmentally aware individuals seem to | | | | will not get rich from the trade. That was |
| generate by the ton. | | | | never our goal. From the start we wanted to |
| | | | offer simple, clean, affordable accommodation |
| Benidorm, certainly, is not Spain. Like many | | | | at a reasonable price, modelling our pitch on |
| other popular mass tourism resorts around the | | | | the kind of place middle class backpackers |
| world, it has an identity which is quite | | | | like ourselves would find both satisfying and |
| apart from its host country or hinterland. | | | | a little surprising at the price. And it has |
| Benidorm is not Spain in the same way, | | | | worked well. What we had not bargained for |
| perhaps, that Kuta is not Bali, Nice not | | | | was the "culture". |
| France, nor Acapulco Mexico. On the same | | | | |
| scale, Blackpool is Britain! In effect these | | | | For some sixteen of our thirty or so |
| places are melting pots of imported identity, | | | | post-graduation years we had lived in London. |
| usually with a strong flavour of the largest | | | | We were vultures of the cultural type |
| group of visitors. In the case of Benidorm, | | | | whenever energy levels ran to it. We were |
| of course, it's the Brits. A fortnight in | | | | friends of the English National Opera during |
| Benidorm can offer about as much exposure to | | | | its 'power house' years. I was a teacher and, |
| Spanish culture as the experience of | | | | during school holidays, used to walk from |
| September lights in Blackpool informed the | | | | Balham to central London for the lunchtime |
| visitor of the Lancashire cotton industry. | | | | concerts, St James's in Piccadilly being my |
| (The past tense is highly relevant here.) | | | | favourite venue. Then we moved to Brunei and |
| Equally, Benidorm juxtaposed with the word | | | | then to the United Arab Emirates. In Brunei |
| "culture" might vie for a definition of | | | | we were members of the Music Society and |
| "oxymoron", alongside German with humour, | | | | helped to organise concerts. In Abu Dhabi, |
| Ireland with culinary and British with | | | | cultural events were very much in the purview |
| honest. (I may borrow here and there from our | | | | of the diplomatic and private sector people, |
| working Men's Club humour tradition, but | | | | and there was and remains a vibrant cultural |
| perhaps employing a consistently different | | | | life in the city which, after all, is the |
| skin colour!) | | | | nation's capital. So we were able to attend |
| | | | good quality cultural events, comprising |
| Benidorm is known for its seven kilometres of | | | | mainly music, theatre and visual arts, in |
| perfectly kept, clean beaches, its year round | | | | both places. And then we came to Spain. |
| tourism, its millions of visitors. It has | | | | |
| fine places to eat in its old town and | | | | Our initial visit had suggested that there |
| environs. It has nightlife, theme parks and | | | | was more going on in this sphere than a |
| five star golf resorts. It is surrounded by | | | | browse through the package tour brochures |
| mountains, has an island nature reserve. And | | | | might suggest. But if I was to relate that in |
| in a European sense, the area as a whole is | | | | the last eight months we have been to four |
| truly cosmopolitan and increasingly | | | | operas, four full orchestral concerts, ten |
| sophisticated. | | | | chamber music recitals, five local |
| | | | festivities, an international film festival, |
| So when my wife and I came here about five | | | | uncountable art exhibitions and goodness |
| years ago to claim a November base while we | | | | knows what else - and furthermore if I were |
| examined the possibility of a life-changing | | | | to qualify this by saying that not once did |
| shift from work-a-day pressures, our prime | | | | we have to travel more than ten kilometres |
| goal was to investigate whether, near this | | | | from home, would you associate this with |
| tourism megalith, there might be space for a | | | | Benidorm and the Costa Blanca? And, if you |
| small rental business, aimed at those who | | | | are mildly surprised by what I have just |
| might crave proximity to the iniquitous den | | | | claimed, it would probably further surprise |
| whilst also wanting to retain a suburban | | | | you to learn that in addition to this, |
| distance from the rasping motorbikes, the hen | | | | Benidorm itself is building a new cultural |
| and stag parties, the beachfront Harley | | | | centre, that ten kilometres down the road the |
| Davidson pubs, the plastic glass discos and | | | | new Villajoyosa Cultural Centre is about to |
| even the line dancing. Well we found our | | | | open and that this year La Nucia, our home |
| place and took the plunge. What we had not | | | | town, itself opened a 600-seat concert hall |
| bargained for was "the culture". | | | | and a 3000-seat outside auditorium. |
| | | | |
| In that first month, as late-booking package | | | | Perhaps I need to re-state how local is my |
| tourists ourselves, we were making our first | | | | claim. About thirty kilometres down the road |
| visit to mainland Spain for 24 years and we | | | | from Benidorm is Alicante, a regional centre |
| were pleased to find an odd festivity or two. | | | | with a nineteenth century theatre presenting |
| Having lived here for a few years we now | | | | a full programme of ballet, drama and opera. |
| know, of course, that it's actually quite | | | | About a hundred and forty kilometres north is |
| hard to avoid them! The Benidorm town band - | | | | Valencia, where the programme of the |
| symphonic bands are the Valencian tradition, | | | | spectacular new Reina Sofia opera house is |
| we now know - did a free concert in the | | | | coordinated with those of New York's Met and |
| salubrious Benidorm Palace, a place whose | | | | London's Covent Garden. What I have described |
| usual show apes the Folies Bergeres. The | | | | excludes those venues and only includes what |
| local choral society did the Venusburg music | | | | can be found within ten kilometres of where |
| from Tannhauser alongside original | | | | we live, within ten kilometres of Benidorm, a |
| compositions for the band and some populist | | | | cultural paradise. |
| offerings. We sought and found a sub-set of | | | | |
| the band doing a jazz and Latino evening at | | | | You may have guessed that we are very keen on |
| the CAM Bank auditorium where, another night, | | | | music, my wife and I. But we are also keen on |
| there was a chamber music recital. Just along | | | | theatre, dance, painting and the arts in |
| the road at the Cultural Centre in Alfaz del | | | | general. We don't tend to go to pop |
| Pi there was an American pianist who had | | | | festivals, but if we did we have those |
| studied in Barcelona playing Montsalvatge. | | | | locally as well. |
| | | | |
| Similarly, we found a soprano giving opera | | | | Why not check out the listings for La Nucia, |
| arias in Calpe. | | | | Altea, Benidorm, Alfaz del Pi, Villajoyosa |
| | | | and Finestrat? Choose your time of year and |
| And so we bought the place and we were owners | | | | you could attend a superb musical event every |
| of a house with two apartments, a beautiful | | | | night of your stay and I guarantee that the |
| Mediterranean garden, proximity to the | | | | performance standard will be as good as |
| tourist hub, but still very much a part of | | | | anywhere. And if you can also take in Joachim |
| its own town, a place with outstanding local | | | | Palomares and his ensemble playing their |
| services. Our aim was limited, pragmatic and | | | | arrangements of Piazzolla tangos, or Altea's |
| clear. After some fifty-six years of unbroken | | | | April opera week or La Nucia's Les Nits |
| professional employment between us, we | | | | festival, you are in for a real treat. And |
| decided that a change was potentially better | | | | when Benidorm's new cultural centre is open, |
| than a rest. We had already lived and worked | | | | imagine glossy package tour brochures |
| in five countries and had extended experience | | | | offering deals inclusive of stalls seats for |
| of several others, but we had also concluded | | | | Puccini or a performance of Steve Reich's |
| that pounds of flesh weigh the same the world | | | | Drumming! Followed, of course, by a one euro |
| over. Though we had gained a few of these | | | | pint of lager, bacon and eggs and a northern |
| over the years, having them occasionally | | | | comic, perhaps. |
| demanded and extracted ran the risk of their | | | | |