We spent the next 2 days of our Spanish vacation in Playa Honda, in the Murcia region, which is a beach town alongside Mar Menor nearby the Mediterranean Sea. This area is a resort spot, but primarily for Spaniards, and not so much for foreigners.
What’s interesting about Mar Menor is that it is the largest salt water lagoon in Europe, and has only a narrow strip of land (La Manga) separating it from the sea. Since its separated from the sea and only 8 meters deep maximum, Mar Menor is warmer and saltier, and you can swim in it almost year round. We spent our mornings running along Mar Menor while the girls searched for seashells.
During our stay in Playa Honda we rented a room in a house from a friendly and kind gentleman named Pierre. Pierre is fantastic. He is knowledgeable, outgoing, and has outfitted his home with a trampoline, blow darts (!), a small pool, and bikes to ride. He was a wealth of information on where to visit, swim, hike, and eat. Also, he has a lovable, adorable dog (or actually it is his neighbor’s dog but it stays at his house) named Fox. This last detail meant my 8 year old never ever wanted to leave. That and the blow darts.
Nearby Playa Honda is the Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas, y Peña del Águila Regional Park, where you can hike, swim, ride horses, and hunt for seashells. We spent a day here swimming and relaxing on the beach, and on our last day in Playa Honda we took up a suggestion from Pierre and went horseback riding on Playa de Calblanque with him and Fox the dog. It was incredible. My kids, they freaked out. This is something I know they won’t soon forget. And I rode a bit too, reminiscing about my time riding as a child. My thighs were sore for 2 solid days following, hahaha :/.
thecloudsarelowerhere 