Costa de la Luz – sunny coast for the end of November

When in Polish ports, shipyards and factories after almost three months of autumn labor most have forgotten how warm air smells by the sea, a week above Andalusian "Border of Light" Costa de la Luz becomes not a whim, but a sensible investment before the December marathon.

Costa de la Luz at the end of November: the southern coast of Spain, which still smells like summer

Costa de la Luz is a piece of the Atlantic that stubbornly pretends to be late in the summer, when we had November long ago taken the sky with a gray sheet. Between Cadiz and Huelva there are wide, bright beaches, behind the back of white towns, before the eyes of the horizon to Portugal. During the day, thermometers show around 19–21°C, the water is about as much as the Baltic in July, and the sun can shine a few hours a day as if nobody told him the season was over.

But in our country, for almost three months, there has been a whole different world. The cranes have been walking since dawn, there is no day on the docks without welding, and there is another burning sheet in the schedule. On terminal change chase change, offshore wants everything "for yesterday" and the Navy keeps its schedules. This is similar on land. In the mills the furnaces go full power, in the production plants the next orders enter one after another, and on constructions there is a race before winter.

After vacation, there were single photos on the phone and ice cream bill at the seaside bar. Most of us have long since entered the "robots are so much that there is no time to miss the beach".

Read more: October by the sea: 5 quiet places for a short trip

And yet somewhere in the back of your head is this thought that comes back right now. The day has gotten so short, we leave the house in the dark and come back at dark as if someone turned off the light 24 hours a day.

In addition, the first frosts came — Over the last two nights the temperature in many places of our country has fallen below zero, grasses creaking under shoes, and in the air already feel the winter announcement. December hangs on the calendar like a "heavy, cold" cloud.

And then this thought comes up: maybe it's worth jumping out for a while where the Atlantic still smells like warm air at the end of November.

Instead of spending another weekend between work and duties – a few days on Costa de la Luz. A short walk in a thin t-shirt in the morning. At noon, coffee under the palm tree. Dinner at the sound of the waves in the evening, not at the uniform noise of compressors or fans.

It's a small reset for those who have been working at full speed in part of the summer and almost all fall. They'd leave the house in the dark, they'd come back after dark, and they didn't even have time to really catch their breath.

Because if there is a moment in a year to remember what the warm sun looks like reflected on the water, not on the steel side – it is now. Looking for places where November still smells like summer, I found four places on the southern coast of Spain – Costa de la Luz, which I want to share with you and which I just want to invite you to. Come in.

Cadiz – "Cuba of Europe" at the end of the peninsula

The first place to look is Cadiz. On the map, it looks like a ship moored at the end of the land – a piece of the city as far as the Atlantic is possible. The old town sits on a narrow peninsula, on three sides covered with water. On the one hand you have a wide, urban Playa de la Victoria, on the other hand a more intimate La Caleta – a beach that can pretend to be Havana in movies.

This town is made for people who spend their whole lives around ports. You walk along the boardwalk, pass the shipyard, join the fish market for a while, where ice cartilage under the seller's knives, and the smell of the sea is stronger than in any container port. In the evening you sit in the bar for tortillatas de camarones – thin, crispy cakes with small shrimps, something between a snack and a ritual. With a glass of cold wine, a noise of conversation and Somewhere in the Atlantic backgroundWhich reminds me why you came here.

Conil de la Frontera – a white village in Andalusia that lives from the sea

The second place in this story appears immediately after Cadiz is Conil de la Frontera. Conil is a classic Andalusian town: white houses, narrow streets and a long sand strip, which starts just behind the last building. In the summer, it is crowded, but beyond the season, there is what is most lacking for people accustomed to the noise of cranes and pneumatic hammers: silence, equal wave noise and the smell of fried fish floating above small beach bars.

Read more: October in Gdańsk. Mecca of shipbuilding and autumn peace

These locals live from the sea – fresh tuna, calamari, advice, everything simple, without breath, as if thrown into a pan straight from the morning's catch. It is a good place for your own day rhythm: a walk or a bath on an empty beach, a noon fish overlooking the water, and in the afternoon several paragraphs written at an open window when the Atlantic looks inside with the wind.

Tarifa – the end of Europe and the wind capital

If the first two places seem too peaceful to you, the third ones I had my eye on during an online search is Tarifa. Where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, there is a town that lives from the wind. Here come kitesurfers and windsurfers from all over Europe because the statistics are ruthless: it blows almost always. The wide beach stretches for miles, the mountains are in the background, and the light of Africa flickers on the other side of the strait at night.

This place is a bit more wild, less "hotel" place, more for people who like the element rather than evenly trimmed lawns by the pool. Ideal if you really want to cut off from the shipbuilding routine and remember what the sea looks like in a non-shore version: wavesand, wind, the noise of the kites over his head. It is difficult to pretend that the sea is just a "background to work" – it plays the first role.

El Puerto de Santa María and Puerto Sherry – port but in holiday version

And finally, a choice that particularly attracted my attention while searching for these places: El Puerto de Santa María. If you lack port infrastructure, but dream of it in the holiday version, it is a very good direction. The town has several beaches stretching along the bay, and the marina Puerto Sherry - with yachts, beach bars and pubs at the waterfront itself. It's a different world than raw industrial ports: the same masts and ropes, but instead of cranes – palm trees, instead of dock noise – talking at tables. For someone in the industry it is an interesting prospect: to see what the "soft" face of the port looks like, tourism oriented and recreation, not just throughCargo.

Read more: Quiet, wide and coastal. The village of Sionzeta, which does not pretend to be a resort

El Puerto de Santa María is a port that takes off the working suit after hours and puts on a linen shirt. On the one hand you have Puerto Sherry – a marina with yachts, beach bars and pubs at the very wharf, where instead of a hundred cranes you can hear conversations and glass tapping on the top. A few steps further stands the stone Castillo de San Marcos, a fortress remembering the times when wine and spices were leaving here by sailing ships into the world. And the sherry bodega, in which between barrel rows you feel that maritime trade here has a longer history than many shipyards. The perfect place for a day where you want to have both the sea and port, but in a much more holiday-like version than industrial.

It all works because the climate really allows us to escape from the Polish, cloudy November. In the middle of the month, temperatures in the day hold 18–22°C, at night fall to 10–14°C. The Atlantic is about 18-19°C, there are days when it hits 20°C – means as much as the Baltic can have in July.

And here's a question worth asking: maybe instead of Another weekend in a dark November rhythm, it is better to spend a few days where in the afternoon you can still sit above the water in a short-sleeved shirt? Maybe Costa de la Luz is just the moment of the year when it is worth taking a short walk away from everyday life – to come back with a lighter head and a look beyond the calendar.

If you are looking for a place for quiet breath just before winter, these four coastal towns of Andalusia are really worth it. Why don't you check out the end of November where the sun still remembers summer?