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| Corner of Calle Granada |
The leaves are browning and are beginning to fall in Madrid, Otoño is arriving with cool chilly mornings and pleasantly temperate evenings. It seems to be changing quickly, the seasons. Trying to hold on to summer for just a little while longer, we decided to take a short trip somewhere warm.
Particularly because Kara was already down with her first cold of the school year. Southern Spain and our favourite province Andalusia came to mind, and the Almeria region having been on our radar since last year was our ideal choice.
Located on the south coast of Spain, Almeria city, the capital of the Almeria region is continental Europe's warmest city and enjoys more than three hundred and twenty days of sunshine every year.
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| Alcazaba de Almeria |
Founded in 955AD along the Mediterranean coastline as a defence town, the city is one of the warmest areas on the Spanish continent. It's also the driest, surround by desert ravines and wild mountainous landscapes. So much in fact that the area is used regularly for shooting 'wild west' movies like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It has big green flat and spiky cacti everywhere, vast yellow sandy desert valleys and breathtaking ragged sandstone ranges.
We set off from Madrid early Friday afternoon. The six and a half hour train ride was bearable only because we had the chance to move around and had paid an economical 13euro for the trip! We arrived early evening ready to tapa and explore the idyllic historical centre! How lucky we were that directly opposite our hotel was a bar that specialised in our favourite 'Patatas a la Brava' or just Patatas Bravas, the beautifully fried potato covered in spicy sauce. So several weird glances in our direction, four carb-loaded plates of potato and a few cañas later we were already ready to call it a night.
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| View towards Alcazaba |
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| San Cristobal lookout |
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| Ruins of the San Cristobal Castle |
On Saturday morning we enjoyed a breakfast of tortilla tostada and begun an arduous climb to the San Cristobal lookout buzzing like bees high on the strong southern coffee. Almeria has an amazingly rich history, an Arab city for hundreds of years it blossomed into a thriving trading port. Around the time of its founding Caliphate Abd-ar-Raman III begun what is now the second largest Muslim fortress in Andalusia. Sitting high on the hillside overlooking the city we got a fantastic view of large Alcazaba de Almeria from the San Cristobal lookout.
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| Barrio Chanca under the caves |
As well as the castle we could see right across the white town and far out to sea. We tried to see if we could see Africa over the vast ocean - no luck! We spun around on the gravel and suddenly saw far off what looked like black windows in the hill? Our camera on full zoom indicated that they appeared to be small houses!
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| Nothing but desert |
The cave houses were tiny and people were still living in them by the washing hanging outside and in some cases even doors! Swaggering in the general direction we clambered past the old ruins of the Castle of San Cristobal and into a rocky ravine towards where the caves were.
We past several caves, close to our impromptu path and ventured in for a look.
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| Down into a cave house |
The caves were dark and dingy, they looked terribly uncomfortable and small. Cave houses are very popular in the Almeria region (googling Almeria caves brings up pages of caves for sale) and it's been discovered they were first built as far back as 2000BC, long before it's official founding.
The little homes dug into the soft sandstone cliffs provide insulation from the hot desert heat, some even have small windows, chimneys and skylights! I guess we weren't looking at the right caves though as ours looked like something that might be mildly appeasing as a shelter only from the infrequent rain.
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| Barrio Chanca |
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| Simple, colourful and cheery |
Trudging along a road we passed through the Chanca neighbourhood, a colourful community built below the Alcazaba castle. The streets full of little kids peering over the rusty aluminium fences watching some older kids play football on a dirt pitch, old men just sitting in plastic chairs enjoying the sunshine and women chatting with neighbours and also yelling at the children on their doorsteps.
The houses were painted many different colours and were so bright and cheery! Down a bit further there was a well used market area but people seemed to be just socialising rather than making purchases from the tatty stalls.
Almeria's hazy blue humid sky beat down on us later in the afternoon when we had found ourselves a spot on the hot sandy beach.
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| Almeria Beach |
The clear blue water was freezing cold but Kara jumped in anyway! Spending the afternoon at the beach was awesome, we miss the ocean like crazy.
It was a perfect afternoon to lie down and do nothing, the sun was warm but a light breeze kept us from overheating. Absolutely lathered in our tropical Italian sunscreen we nibbled on meats and crunchy sand-whipped cheeses.
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| Taking a dip |
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| Lots of warm sand! |
As with all small Spanish towns and particularly Andalusia, tapas are a way of life. One of our highlights of any weekend venture is going on a tapa hunt. On Saturday evening around 8pm (when bars are just re-opening after siesta) we headed out. First stop was award winning Nuestra Traviesta where we had cheese sticks in a thick sticky orange syrup and bacalao con mayo.
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| Eggplant with honey |
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| Cazon en abodo |
Meters down the road was Casa Puga, this local bar is officially considered the oldest tapa bar in Spain having been open for centuries. Kara tried the local Aguja (a variety of white fish) and John the artichoke con pimento rojo. We loved how traditional the bar felt with ham hanging from the wooden roof and bottles upon bottles of aged liquor covering the walls, lined along the roof and behind glass cabinets. We visited one last bar before stopping in again for a late night treat of patatas bravas.
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| The patatas bravas |
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| Calamari 'la plancha' |
Several of the other main attractions we visited included the ginormous cathedral which from the front face could be a fortress in itself and its plaza lined with large palm trees, the city hall (under renovation) and the stripy paseo del playa, a beautiful waterfront walkway.
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| Cathedral de Almeria |
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| Parroquia de Santiago Apostol |
What we realised was that although Almeria is a small city we really needed more time to explore the province as there's more than just its city's historical centre! For example Almeria is located in the volcanic Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, renowned as one of the most beautiful and ecologically rich coasts on the Mediterranean. Lined with fabulous remote beaches and an abundance of diving, kayaking and nature spots.
Additionally, in 2000, geologists found a cave filled with giant gypsum crystals under an abandoned silver mine, although that's not open to the public just yet... safety concerns yadda yadda, but awesome! Also under the city are the longest civil tunnels and air raid shelters which were built during the Spanish civil war.
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| Walking up Las Ramblas |
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| Enjoy the beach |
On our final morning, after a jog down the paseo del playa we had our cafe con leche y tostada and checked out.
Ready to head home we where really worried about the food situation, it seemed that the city supermarkets don't open on Sundays. Actually very little was open at all! By the time we realised it, siesta had begun and it was a dire situation all round. Not far from the station we managed to get the last remnants from a kebab shop and although we tried to save it as long as we could for the journey back, it just smelt too good.
Finally from the train, we got a chance to admire the desert from a nice air-conditioned distance!
Tot siens,
John and Kara
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| Nothing but sand! |
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| Rocky ravines |
