Foolishly, we caught the ALSA bus from Malaga to Almería, a distance of just over 200kms. It took 5 hours!The ALSA buses can be quite flash with WIFI and waitress service. NOT on the milk run to Almeria, we stopped at every pueblo and holiday resort between the two cities. I may grumble but it is my own fault for not paying more attention. Of great interest to us though, for the last couple of hours we passed the famous greenhouses that cover every vaguely level patch of earth. They are plastic covered enclosures where vegetables and fruits are grown year round to meet the demands of the supermarkets in Northern Europe. It is a really arid environment, famously used to film the old Western movies and we were fascinated. Some very sophisticated operations and others stuck together with tape. We also wondered where does the water come from to sustain such huge agriculture? You may wonder where is Almería and why visit? It is east of Malaga and Manny has family members there to visit, also we catch the Ferry for our next destination. Almería isn't aparticularly well known city but the cruise ships do call in. I didn't have high expectations. Once again, how wrong can I be! The Alcazaba is a cracker, we spent several hours exploring it and accidentally overhearing the tours of the cruise ship passengers and looking down at the views. The city has charming streets, lanes and boulevards. It has a strong bicycle culture with an extensive cycle path network and roads where bikes have priority. If we had more time I would have liked to visit the National Park Cabo de Gata-Nijar and gone kayaking but it being low season is only available at weekends. Manny has an Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Almería who we visited and had lunch with, at a place called Aguadulce. It is a beachside suburb along the coast from Almería about a 15 minute drive. Although the area has seen better times, you could see how lovely and clear the sea water is and I was wishing I'd brought my swimming gear with me. The question of the source of the water used for agriculture was answered for us by the wife of one of Manny's cousins. Her Father is an organic farmer and all the water is sourced from artesian bores and from the spring thaw of the snow on the mountains behind the coast. Almeria's arid landscape and historic buildings have been used as the set for a number of famous movies including Lawence of Arabia, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Indiana Jones movies, Patton, Queen of Thrones etc, etc. The Alcazaba is every kids dream fortress. Another pleasure in Almería is the narrow, traffic free streets that have shops, bars and restaurants. They still have individual shops in Spain. There are chains but here in Almería you can find a shop that only sells Ladies hosiery, several book shops, many boutiques and men's fashion shops. An entire shop selling Fragrances. A shop to buy a Fasinator & my personal favourite 'A Map shop', I love maps.
4 Comments
Rose Favell
25/10/2016 04:16:35 am
Wow what a cool place. You're both looking very well and very relaxed
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Victoria
25/10/2016 04:19:19 am
Thanks Rose, a great place. Got to have a hot chocolate now. See ya.
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Clive Norfolk
29/10/2016 10:48:47 am
Can't get over how you find out about the history etc of the places you visit. Very interesting.
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Victoria
29/10/2016 11:01:40 am
Glad you are enjoying my blog. It is a fascinating place and I have my Director of Language and Cultural Services at hand to ask the questions.
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AuthorMy interests are photography and family history research. And I like to cycle and travel. We are walking the Archives
May 2019
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