I guess that a sizeable chunk of U.K. citizens have had holidays to the Spanish Costas over the years, even if Spain has been put in the shade by destinations like Florida and the Caribbean of late.
Google tells me that British European Airways started flying us to Valencia around 1957, and by the onset of the sixties regular charter flights combining the trip, hotels, and transfers were being offered by Euravia, out of Manchester and Luton Airports.
My first Spanish trip, with my first wife and kids was circa 1972, and while I remember my wife making friends with a Belgian couple from Oostende, there were probably, (I guess), a sprinkling of Germans dipping their toes in the Med.
By the eighties, the Germans were a major consumer of holidays to the Costas, and anyone who walked around the bars of Malaga and Almeria would find a slew of German bars, with their flags proudly displayed, and Bundesliga teams featured on the bar’s TVs in the evening.
We all get along okay now, and I’ve stumbled through a bit of German in German bars, eating bratwurst or schinken, then asking for ‘die Rechnung bitte” when I want the bill, but I wonder if there were any near international incidents when Brits and Germans first found themselves in the same bars or beaches 15-20 years after shooting at each other in Europe?
Google tells me that British European Airways started flying us to Valencia around 1957, and by the onset of the sixties regular charter flights combining the trip, hotels, and transfers were being offered by Euravia, out of Manchester and Luton Airports.
My first Spanish trip, with my first wife and kids was circa 1972, and while I remember my wife making friends with a Belgian couple from Oostende, there were probably, (I guess), a sprinkling of Germans dipping their toes in the Med.
By the eighties, the Germans were a major consumer of holidays to the Costas, and anyone who walked around the bars of Malaga and Almeria would find a slew of German bars, with their flags proudly displayed, and Bundesliga teams featured on the bar’s TVs in the evening.
We all get along okay now, and I’ve stumbled through a bit of German in German bars, eating bratwurst or schinken, then asking for ‘die Rechnung bitte” when I want the bill, but I wonder if there were any near international incidents when Brits and Germans first found themselves in the same bars or beaches 15-20 years after shooting at each other in Europe?
some of it was awesome footage).
