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