One of the carriage drivers in Nerja has decided to ‘give it a go’ from the new location of Plaza Fabrica de los Cangrejos. It’s either that or starve, basically, so I wondered how it was panning out.
The new location is a a parking bay, still under construction, on avenida Castilla Perez. So, how was it going so far?
Well, at this time of year and located on the Balcon de Europa, the expectation would be for some 8 to 10 rides. So how did today compare?
Not very well, actually, the total number of rides by 20:45 being in the region of….zero. One could argue that, after a long absence, it will take time for people to get used to the new location. Or, of course, one could equally argue that it is not quite the same, central location to attract customers.
Whatever the reason, it is not looking good and whether any of the other carriage drivers will give it a go is open to debate. Only time will tell.
One of the main complaints is that the Council, who constantly profess to want to expand tourism and attract more visitors to Nerja, appear to be doing everything within their power to achieve the exact opposite result. It is an attitude which baffles many, not only residents of the town.
The carriage horses are banished from their traditional location, the tourist train, generally full in the summer, has gone (there was a time when two were operating and there were plans to expand the route to cover Maro and the Nerja Caves), the ‘live’ music culture, always popular, tends to be frowned upon and strictly regulated and parking spaces are disappearing at a rate of knots.
Obviously the idea is to ‘persuade’ everyone to park in the municipal car parks but not only are these pricey, but there are not always spaces available. More (free) parking areas are set to disappear with the building of a football 7 pitch in Parque Verano Azul.
The way forward is still seen as being (at least one) golf course (play ‘spot the golfer’ at Baveira for a day of fun), marina (look at Marinas del Este where not even a mini-market could make a go of it and locales are derelict) and 5 star hotels (look at how many are going under along the rest of the coast).