Spain in the sixties?

Thanks for all your interesting comments.
As you so correctly pointed out, they were cheap holidays and cheaper still once the charter holidays started in the late 60s.

I can remember speaking to an old chap who was just going for the w/e.
I notice a few people have put a video on You Tube during the time that I knew Spain, a lot of nostalga, but I have a brother who now lives in Spain.

Holidays were so cheap in the late 60's in Spain. I am aware that I earned a pittance but even so it was excellent value.

Spent holidays In Sitges and Benidorm in the early 60s and Arenal in Mallorca , wonderful memories of the sun and the cheapest holidays we ever had . We could leave our purses on the table to reserve our places and no one touched them

Friend of my daughter was named Lloret after the place - as an adult she is known as Lottie!
It may have been Lloret de Mar where the campsite was. We didn't go far south from the Pyrenees. For some reason Port Bou rings a faint bell too.

In late 50s & early 60s I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Northern Spain as my mother's Godmother was Spanish & came over here with husband & small son before Civil war & went back after WW11. I spent a lot of time as a child with my mother in Barcelona staying with her & her family on the slopes of Tibidabo overlooking the city & it was magic. A beautiful city & when I think I was put on a plane in London & got off in Barcelona- got into a taxi & met my 'aunt' in city centre -all alone -at the age of 12 it amazes me! Wouldn't do it these days to a child that young- I did speak reasonable Spanish to be fair. It was a safe city then & I had a lot of freedom.
They bought an hotel in Lloret de Mar- a small village then ( yes really) & they would take me there & go back to Barcelona for a few days & leave me to amuse myself (this would have been 3 years or so later & the staff at the hotel were lovely) I did take a friend with me sometimes. No nightclubs etc - just a lovely beach & some quiet coves.
I have not been back since 1968. At that time I was horrified by how Lloret had changed & I doubt it has improved much & when I hear about the amount of crime in the city it breaks my heart. I would like to go to Barcelona again but think I am better with my memories. Wonderful memories.

In the early 60s we hitched over the eastern Pyrenees from France. Looking back I thought they looked like the very bones of the earth going into the Mediteranean far below. Found a campsite, two Guardian Civil used to sleep on chairs in the loo at night!! We stayed in the tiny coastal village for a while. Awakened by curious goats, with bells on, looking into our tent Everything was so quiet and simple. We ate melons on the beach, for a treat had our first paella, the best I've ever had. Wonderful memories, thank you, Cath9 for prompting them!
I guess that Spain has gone forever.

My best friend and I went on a package holiday to Ibiza in 1968. Obviously nothing like it is today. Most of the holiday makers were quite a bit older than us and the entertainment would seem very tame nowadays. We found lovely quiet beaches near our hotel, went for long walks and even dared to take a local bus to another town.

I quite agree with you Petra.
As my parents took me for a few winter months in 1964 also, I knew where the best beaches were.
Hence in 1966, when on the exchange visit, I spent practicually every morning on the beach, with 3 German girls, one American and two French boys. So much for learning the language! In the afternoon we did join up with some Spanish teachers at a cafeteria in Alicante.

It was an amazng time, when San Juan, just outside Alicante, was then a wild place, no high rise hotels, just one building with three floors of appartments.

In the Christmas 1964, on our way to collect my brother at Gibralter, we stopped for a while in Albuferra, then a small town. I had one of those Roberts portable radios with me, which I took down to the beach. All of a sudden I was smothered with young kids, from families who were living in caves there. They had never seen a portable radio before so were all very interested.

What I remember of Benidorm in the 60s was lying on the beach and handsome young men coming round with a Tiger cub and chimpanzees to get you to have your photo taken. The chimps frightened the life out of me.
Different times, thank god. Having said that, it was less than 10 years ago that I saw a dancing bear in Europe.

Can't help you there, Cath9, but I have spent a lot of time in the Mojacar area in fairly recent years. Spain is certainly an amazing country - except for the new Alicante airport, which is dire! The area must have been very different during the time you were there.