Somewhere between the mountains and the sea
An off-grid villa above the Mediterranean, in a corner of Andalucía most people have never heard of.
An off-grid villa above the Mediterranean, in a corner of Andalucía most people have never heard of.
The road up is two and a half kilometres of unmade mountain track. Our standing line to anyone who asks is that it is worth taking. Once you are up here, it is the million dollar view.
We have spent long stretches here with our family, and it is always hard to leave. Something about sitting in front of that view holds you longer than you meant to stay.
And for somewhere that feels this remote, the beach, the bars and the restaurants are eight minutes down the hill.
Everyone flies to Málaga. Marbella, Nerja, the crowded white villages of the Costa del Sol.
Two hours further east, past Almería, the coastline changes. The mountains come down to the water and the development stops. This is the driest, sunniest corner of Europe.
We have close ties to California, and Mojácar is the first place in Europe that has reminded us of it: the desert mountains, the long wide beaches, villas set into the hillsides facing the sea, and warmth in every month of the year. There are no high-rises here. South of us lies the Cabo de Gata, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of volcanic coastline, crystal-clear water and some of the last untouched beaches in Spain, with hiking trails along the cliffs and diving among the coves.
Alma Azul stands alone on a hillside here, facing the sea.
The road to Alma Azul is unmade, a mountain track winding up from the coast, with the sea opening behind you at every turn. An SUV makes it easy. Any car makes it, driven slowly.
We know this puts some people off, and we have made our peace with that. The road is the reason there is no one else up here. It is the price of the quiet, and it is not a high price.
Breakfast under the pergola. The sun comes up out of the sea directly in front of you, and you may as well watch it.
Then the day turns around. The back terrace faces the mountains, and the light on them keeps changing for hours before the sun finally drops behind them. That is where the wine tends to get opened.
What happens in between has never needed a plan.
The man who owned the house before us made windows for a living, and he put more than thirty of them in, all tinted blue, so from outside the house catches the light and gives it back.
Alma Azul runs on the sun. Panels on the roof, a maintained water supply, and no connection to anything.
This asks a little of you. Being thoughtful with water, not running everything at once. It gives a great deal back, and we think of it less as a constraint than as the reason the place feels the way it does.
It is also why the nights are so dark. Last July we watched the moon come up over the sea, and caught a few shooting stars while we were at it.
The pool went in this August and it changed the shape of the days here. It sits in the courtyard with the mountains behind it, open to the terrace on one side, and nobody overlooking it.
Our two-year-old gets in first and comes out last.
There is one long table, and a living room everyone ends up in. But the house is big enough that people go missing for an hour at a time and nobody minds. You come back together when you feel like it.
Yoga, writing, or a group who need space, quiet, and somewhere to eat together at the end of the day.
Winter here is mild, bright and almost empty. The house works as well for a month as for a week, with room to work and a reason to stop.
A birthday, an anniversary, a family reunion. One long table under the pergola, the sun going down behind the mountains, and nowhere anyone needs to be.
This is the part that surprises people. Villas with this kind of silence are usually an hour inland, a long drive from anywhere.
Mornings in mountain silence. Evenings barefoot on the sand with something cold. You do not normally get to have both.
Mojácar's coastline runs for seventeen kilometres, and the seafront itself for about eight of them. Which means that even in August you walk a little way along and find your own patch of sand. It never feels crowded, because there is simply too much of it. And there are no high-rises anywhere on it.
That seafront is one long run of restaurants and beach bars, close to two hundred of them between the beach and the village. We have been coming here for years and still keep finding places we have never tried, and new ones keep opening. You could eat out four times a day for a fortnight and not get through them.
It is also still inexpensive in a way the Balearics stopped being years ago. You can still find a menú del día for around twelve euros, a glass of wine for three, a cappuccino on the sand for two. Prices vary, but that is the range.
The hills turn green and flower, the walking is perfect, and the beaches are yours.
Long, hot and bright. The sea at its best and Mojácar Playa alive at night.
Our favourite. The water is still warm, the light softens, and the coast stays open without the crowds.
Mild and quiet, and the sunniest corner of Europe. Mojácar is a real town year round, so the restaurants stay open and the fire is lit in the evenings.
Every room, every terrace, and the land it all sits on.
We saw the view before we saw the house, and that was that.
We have travelled a great deal, and most of what we liked along the way ended up here in one form or another. We have close ties to California, and something of that is in it too. Alma Azul is really a house we built to want to rent ourselves.
Getting there took longer than we thought. There is no mains water or electricity here, just a tank we manage and the sun on the roof, and living that way for a while teaches you a lot about what you actually need.
We are Corinna and Oisin, and we live in Berlin, in the middle of it. So the first thing we do when we arrive is sit on the terrace with the view and let the silence be the opposite of the city. Yoga at sunrise on the terrace off the main bedroom, or under the pergola. A cappuccino in the morning looking at the sea. And in the afternoon, the back terrace, in the shade, with a book, or meditating, in complete silence, which is where I (Corinna) go to escape my own family.
People keep telling us Mojácar has a particular energy. We just agree.
We do not live at Alma Azul, so the house is yours completely. Our team in Mojácar looks after arrivals, cleaning and anything you need while you are here, and they are always reachable. We would rather have a few guests who understand what this place is than a full calendar of people who do not, and we would love for you to be one of them.
Alma Azul is available by direct enquiry. Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back to you personally, usually the same day.
villaalmaazul@gmail.com