The Honeymoon Testers Blog

Golf and Glamour at Meliá La Quinta

Spectacular mountain views, a gorgeous Arabic influenced spa and state of the art golf facilities. One of the most popular wedding and honeymoon hotels in Spain is the gorgeous Meliá La Quinta Golf and Spa hotel, Marbella.

Spain is such a popular destination for overseas weddings, particularly for Irish and English couples. Only a few hours away, you're virtually guaranteed gorgeous sunshine, blue skies and wonderful Spanish hospitality. 

We were greeted with iced champagne in our room on arrival which is always appreciated (especially during a heat-wave!) plus a personal note of congratulations (for our very special 46th vow renewal!). 

Fantastic Beach Rides on the Costa de la Luz

Wanted: Adventurous, experienced horse riders to enjoy stunning beach and national park trails by day, immaculate beaches every afternoon and relaxed Spanish hospitality every night. 

Horse-riding holidays are a dream come true for the horse mad, and adventure company Zara's Planet has sent us on a gorgeous horse and beach holiday, conveniently located in southern Spain. 

We've just spent two sun-soaked days in Barbate, an incredibly gorgeous sea-side town on the Costa de la Luz with our hosts Steve and Caroline, owners of Fantasia horse riding holiday company.

This kind of holiday is unique and is really two holidays in one. Experienced riders get the chance to canter through incredible landscapes, but there's also ample time and space to enjoy the best holiday atmosphere that Spain has to offer. It's also full-board package, so you can experience the best of Spanish food and drink, in a relaxing and hassle free week.  

Spanish Passion and Excellence at Epona Equestrian Centre

In the baking heat of a Spanish heatwave, we had the pleasure of staying at the Epona Equestrian Centre near the City of Seville and Carmona.

Epona is run by the charming and hospitable Garcia family, Fernando and Jane and their daughters Vivi and Caty, all welcoming you to their stunning 16th century traditional hacienda. 

Epona's reputation is built on their passion and excellence for Classical Dressage and High School Training. The whole family are highly trained and passionate instructors.

Vivi herself has trained at the prestigious Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, (they only take four students a year), and Epona also runs world-class dressage training clinics with the Spanish Olympic Team Silver Medallist, Rafael Soto. 

As Fernando says:

"Who in the dressage world has not heard of Rafael Soto? However, not too many people are aware of his equally impressive teaching abilities. Rafael not only talks, he transmits and demonstrates in such a way as to make understanding very easy, encouraging and energizing his pupils into achieving more than they believe possible."

Sat-Nav Fail in Spain

Can you believe that I've never been to Spain? I've lived in London for 8 years, and I was just a few mere hours away from blinding sunshine, beautiful beaches and gorgeous scenery! I've been seriously missing out!

We've been loving our little white sports car, and it's been taking us on many adventures. Driving around the Sotogrande, to the seaside town of Barbate and around Marbella. The roads are really well maintained, but the tolls are really expensive - between €3 - €8 at a time. You can detour and go down "tourist" roads, but the traffic is intense as everyone is enjoying the heatwave and heading to the beaches. 

Spectacular Riding and Polo In The Sotogrande, Spain

On a spectacular and tranquil 14-acre farm in Sotogrande, lies the Tres Rosas Polo Club, one of the only official Spanish Federation of Polo credited schools, and a beautiful place for us to have our first experience of polo. 

We arrived late after the 90 minute drive from Malaga airport, but the roads are brand new, so it was quick and very straight forward. 

The "guard dogs" barked for about a minute before wagging their tails at us, and we checked into our accommodation in a quaint self-catering villa complete with gorgeous swimming pool and avocado trees.

The centre is managed by Ricardo, a vet who used to run a horse hospital on site but five years ago set up one of the first certified polo schools in the area. Ricardo takes great pride in caring for the horses and ensuring his guests enjoy challenging polo and relaxation in the pool or at a BBQ (he cooked a fantastic one for us). The horses are of an extremely high calibre being either Andalusian or polo horses from Argentina.