Low-cost airline easyJet launches new route from Liverpool to Almeria, a Spanish city that has its own place in Beatles folklore. Tony McDonough reports
A new air link between Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) and Spain has evoked memories of a connection that stretches back to the heyday of The Beatles.
Low-cost airline easyJet this week launched its new twice-daily return service to Almeria in the southern half of the country. It will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays and is expected to be popular with people in both countries.
LJLA was, of course, renamed after the bespectacled Beatle who travelled to Almeria in 1966 to act in the movie How I Won the War.
And it was while staying at the Santa Isabel mansion that he composed the earliest version of the song Strawberry Fields Forever on a Spanish guitar.
Surrounded by overgrown gardens and ornate gates reminiscent of Strawberry Field, he was inspired by memories of the Salvation Army children’s home in Woolton, forever linking the two cities.
This new route gives visitors arriving in Liverpool from Almeria, the chance to explore the very place that shaped John Lennon’s vision through an immersive, accessible exhibition and garden tour at Strawberry Field that celebrates Lennon’s legacy and inspiration.
Robin Tudor, head of PR and communications at LJLA, said: “Almeria is another new destination from here, opening up direct access to a part of southern Spain not served from Liverpool before.
“It should be popular with travellers, now able to take advantage of flying from the region’s faster, easier, friendlier airport.
We only found out about the John Lennon link when the team at Strawberry Field got in touch having heard that easyJet was to start flights to Almeria for the first time.”
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The Salvation Army’s Major Michelle Lovegrove-Huggins, mission director at Strawberry Field, added: “The new route between Liverpool and Almería is more than a travel connection, it’s a cultural bridge.
“It invites visitors to walk in John Lennon’s footsteps, from the inspiring sanctuary he found at Strawberry Field to the writing of Strawberry Fields Forever in Almeria.
“We’re excited to welcome Spanish travellers to Strawberry Field and share the story that links the two places.”