So, it was time to chill in yet another of Vanya’s boutique hotels. The one she found this time was the Hotel Restaurant Bodega La Venta which is situated in a remote part of Cuenca Province about 41 miles north west of Albacete. It appeared to meet most of her qualifying criteria (e.g. it has to be different, special if you like; it has to be good value for money; it must be pet friendly and not charge ludicrously high pet premiums; it must have nearby & secure parking for the Van; it should, ideally, be en route to our target destination which on this occasion was Toledo; it should have nearby places of interest to visit; etc). To find a hotel which meets all her criteria in such a remote part of Spain was never going to be easy but, the Hotel Restaurant Bodega La Venta looked promising… except that, just prior to our arrival, a disaster struck the whole of the Iberian Peninsula which would impact on us throughout our stay.
As we arrived early during the afternoon of 28 April 2025 a power outage, described as one of the worst ever in Europe, struck the Iberian Peninsula. The blackout disrupted key infrastructure across almost all of Spain and Portugal affecting public transportation, traffic signals, cellular networks, digital payment systems, nuclear power facilities, hospitals, businesses and all other critical infrastructure. It lasted almost 2 days in some parts of Spain and affected tens of millions of people across almost the whole of the Peninsula (except Gibraltar which is not on the European Grid). It would have been longer had France and Morocco not activated emergency links to provide some electricity.
Vanya and I were very lucky. Being in a hotel with it’s own emergency generators, we were protected from the worst effects of the outage. It was bad enough that the Internet wasn’t working, the banking systems were down and our ‘phones had no signal but; we were together in a safe place and had light, heating, hot water and hot food when we required it. Equally important, we had occasional access to TV and radio news programmes (the hotel generators were on part time to preserve fuel) and so had some idea as to what was happening across the country. Imagine how awful it must have been for all those people who were isolated (perhaps trapped in lifts or on the metro or stranded on trains in the middle of nowhere or simply in gridlocked traffic because the nation’s traffic lights had all failed) and with no idea as to what was happening and no means of contacting anyone.
Some of the news we did pick up on was disturbing. It was clear the government had no idea as to what caused the outage and speculation was rife with the more lurid TV channels suggesting the outage was a cyber attack by Russia; others that it was because of Grid Stability issues caused by Spain’s and Portugal’s over-reliance on renewable energy sources. Spain and Portugal are leaders in solar and wind power generation with more than half their energy coming from renewable sources and I am therefore more inclined towards the latter view but; even now, 10 days after the event (as I write this blog), no one has yet determined the cause. Even more disturbing news coming through at the time was that panic buying of drinking water was occuring on a scale not seen since the Covid epidemic (of course, it had to be paid for by cash as the banking system had failed) and; even worse, looting was taking place in some areas. Like I said, we were fortunate; being in a well stocked hotel with sympathetic and trusting management.
Fortunately, power was restored within a couple of days but the situation prompted us, for the most part, to sit tight in the hotel instead of making our planned day trips out to the stately renaissance town of Saint Clement and/or the medieval town of Alarcon and/or Belmonte Castle. We made just one trip out, to Albacete in the neighbouring province, for supplies we would need once normality returned.
Okay, enough about the outage. I’ll write a little about the Hotel Restaurant Bodega La Venta. The hotel was built on the site of an 18th century inn which was later converted into an oil mill and then, at the turn of the 19th century, into a wine cellar. I don’t think the current owners have held the place for very long but they have already earned an enviable reputation as a restaurant and more recently developed the hotel side of the business. It currently has 28 well appointed standard rooms and 2 suites; all at reasonable prices. We took one of the suites because it would be easier for Nala to move around in.
As we arrived at the hotel, my first thought was one of disappointment. It appeared more like a motel than a boutique hotel. The bar at the front of the building looked closed. The reception area was only part lit and there was a marked absence of staff as we entered. When the duty manager finally showed his face, I thought him offhand and rude. Of course, I was unaware the national power outage had just struck and he and the rest of the hotel’s staff were busy responding to that situation. Once the hotel’s emergency generators were up and running and we were checked in, I changed my mind. The hotel looked fine and the staff proved very welcoming, especially the chamber maid (who, of her own initiative, promptly rearranged the room’s furniture to better suit Nala and her wheels) and one of the restaurant waitresses (who organised some drinks and hot tapas for us in the lobby – this is Spain and dogs aren’t generally allowed in the restaurants). I changed my mind completely when we ate the restaurant’s tapas. The food (and the wine) was fantastic.
On Facebook entry that day, I described the hotel as looking like something out of a High Chaparral episode. That was unfair. Yes, it has many features to be found in a 19th century western style hacienda but these features lend it real character and are to be expected of a genuine 18th century Spanish Inn / 19th century Bodega in what was (and probably still is) one of the more remote and wilder parts of Spain.
I’ll leave it for now with some photos (some taken from the hotel web site because it wasn’t always light enough for my photos to work)…
