Leisure and culture come together at Adra park on Costa Almeria

A NEWLY inaugurated park in Adra offers local residents both leisure time activities and culture.
The Parque del Cercado has been fitted out with a range of sport and play facilities and garden areas, but also an open-air library.
The library stock comes from a ‘Donate a book and take away a present’ campaign.
The council said it hopes the initiative will encourage reading and so-called ‘bookcrossing’, the idea of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.
Outlining good practice for library users the council explained the first step is to select the chosen read or reads from the shelves. The books can be read in the park or taken home, then once read, returned to the park for another person’s enjoyment, along with any other book donations.
The library sign encourages bookworms, stating, “To read is to learn, dream, enjoy yourself, open your mind to the world, access information and knowledge, enrich your language and make you better person. A book can change your life.”
The area also has free Wifi.
Speaking at the inauguration of the facilities, Adra Mayor Manuel Cortes described the new-look park as a “place which the smallest children will be able to enjoy as much as adults.”
As well as the library the park boasts a children’s play area, a CrossFit zone and a snack area. Efforts have also been made to respect the environment, with sustainable gardens and LED lighting.
The €106,000 park improvements came under the local council’s Adra Ciudad 2020 strategy, and were 80 per cent financed by European Regional Development Funds and 20 per cent by the council.