Huelva - is there life on Mars?...

[Auntiebones]

... is there life in Huelva.

 

Hi folks. We are on moorish delights on 2nd August 2016

Never been to Huelva and can't find any information. Already doing a few tours this trip so want to do Huelva on our own. How do you get from ship to town (read somewhere is 9km? ) free shuttle or paid shuttle - Thomson like to charge for such things. Is there ANYTHING worth looking at? Any beach nearby? We tend to like looking at old churches - normally because its lovely and cool in them, or go for a paddle on the beach. And for those who follow my posts... anywhere I can buy diet redbull. Thanks:p

[campolady]

... is there life in Huelva.

 

Hi folks. We are on moorish delights on 2nd August 2016

Never been to Huelva and can't find any information. Already doing a few tours this trip so want to do Huelva on our own. How do you get from ship to town (read somewhere is 9km? ) free shuttle or paid shuttle - Thomson like to charge for such things. Is there ANYTHING worth looking at? Any beach nearby? We tend to like looking at old churches - normally because its lovely and cool in them, or go for a paddle on the beach. And for those who follow my posts... anywhere I can buy diet redbull. Thanks:p

 

 

We were on the first Thomson cruise (on 'Spirit') to dock in Huelva at the beginning of June.

 

We had intended to go into the city ourselves then get a taxi to the cemetery as we are interested in WW2 history and wanted to visit the grave of William Martin 'The Man Who Never Was' - however we saw that Thomson offered a trip that included this so booked and were glad that we did!!! The 4 hour trip took us to a monastery visited by Christopher Columbus (small and very beautiful), then on to the cemetery and finally into the town centre before stopping at the Columbus Monument on return to the ship.

 

The ship docks a 25 minute drive outside Huelva literally in the middle of nowhere; a fair number of free shuttle buses were provided to take passengers into the centre. However, coming back there were only 3 buses which was no-where near enough and people were panicking about getting back to the ship in time some actually returning in taxis. The area where the bus drops you off is not very interesting but does have some very good Tapas Bars and a few shops to look at. Huelva was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in the 1700s so much of the city is relatively new and the outskirts are very industrial but there is an attractive Baroque area that survived the quake. We didn't actually find any beaches in Huelva itself as the city is on the estuary rather than the coast but the beaches of the Costa de la Luz are generally lovely and probably worthy of a taxi from the port (we passed some lovely white sands on approach to the port so probably no need to travel far). https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A9mSs2LyaJNXYZ4AeAFLBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByZmVxM3N0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Huelva+Beach&fr=yfp-t-903

 

Would we return to Huelva again - probably not; in fairness at the port showcase it was marketed as being a place to visit Seville rather than to spend time in Huelva itself and I notice that on next years similar itinerary Huelva has been replaced by Cadiz.

 

I am sure there must be more to the town centre than we had time to find so pre-cruise homework would be of help. http://www.andalucia.com/cities/huelva.htm

 

Hope this helps.

Edited July 23, 2016 by campolady

[WeeCountyMan]

We had intended to go into the city ourselves then get a taxi to the cemetery as we are interested in WW2 history and wanted to visit the grave of William Martin 'The Man Who Never Was' - however we saw that Thomson offered a trip that included this so booked and were glad that we did!!!

 

Likewise.

 

When I spotted Huelva on a cruise brochure itinerary it sounded vaguely familiar - thanks for flagging up the significance.

 

A few years back a researcher stumbled upon the name of the individual (identity had never been revealed) whose body was used as Major Martin RM.

[shipshape.com]

There were plenty of shuttle buses when we were there in June. Lovely place to walk around. We just had a stroll around and then sat and had a drink in the square and people watched. Very fast free wi-fi at the port.

[horwich allstars]

Just wanted to say "hello" as we are on the same cruise 😊😊. No idea what we will do in Huelva, planning on a planning weekend, this weekend