Almerimar and Almeria

Darsena 1, Puerto Almerimar

It didn't take us long to get to know our new winter base of Puerto Almerimar. The marina has everything you might need. The supermarket is a few minutes walk away and a plethora of cafes, bars, restaurants and the ever important boat chandleries were on our doorstep. Everyone speaks English and even the local bars serve English style tapas! We were soon making use of the various services as the fridge abruptly gave up the ghost and within minutes a contractor bicycled to our boat and fitted a new digital thermostat. We managed to find a local canvas worker and arranged for a new spray hood to be made as well as a new dinghy bag.

Puerto Almerimar

Almeria marina and The English Pier

With a few jobs done and everything stored away we went back to the UK for a few weeks and returned to Spain in October. Instead of rushing back to the boat from Almeria airport we decided to stay in the city for a couple of days for a spot of sight seeing. We booked into the large Gran Hotel Almeria which was offering a great deal. It was the first four-star hotel in the city and has been hosting the stars of the Spaghetti Westerns to the more recent Spielberg movies since 1967. Photos of Sophia Loren, Clint Eastwood, Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, Harrison Ford and many more adorn the walls. It is located in the southern part of the city and close to the port area which we hadn't explored before.

Almeria Holocaust memorial

Almeria Holocaust memorial

We had a look round the marina but unfortunately it doesn't welcome visiting yachts as it's already pretty full with local boats. Next to the marina lay a rather moving holocaust memorial to 142 Almerian jews who died at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. The central statue depicts a staircase of death and is surrounded by 142 stone columns representing those that died.

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier)

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier)

We couldn't miss the El Cable Inglés (the English Pier), a 1000 metre iron railway pier which towered above us. It is also known as El Alquife and is an extraordinary piece of industrial heritage. The pier was originally the loading bay for the mines in Alquife (Granada) which produced iron ore, copper and silver. The railway was used until 1973 to transport the minerals by train and then onto the pier to waiting cargo ships. Despite over 100 years of constant exposure to the corroding effects of saltwater it has survived and is testament to the quality of construction by Scottish engineers in 1904.

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier) and Almeria marina

Spanish galleons moored in the port

We wandered into the port area but unfortunately the two Spanish galleon replicas that were moored alongside were closed to the public until the following week. The port afforded great views back to the City and the Alcazabar perched on the hillside above Almeria. We enjoyed some retail therapy during our last afternoon as the main high street has a good selection of shops and worked out our route to the station for our early bus on to Almerimar the following morning.

Almeria city view from the port

Almeria port

Motor homes as well as yachts flock to Puerto Almerimar

Back on the boat we immersed ourselves back into life in Almerimar. I joined the weekly coffee mornings and started Thai Chi classes. Not that dissimilar to our life in Marmaris with an array of clubs and classes to join. We were meeting lots of new faces but it was great to bump into old friends too. It was lovely to catch up with a couple we had first met in Turkey as well as people who recognised the boat from Tim's sailing school days in West Wales over 20 years ago! We also made use of our few weeks back on the boat to get on with the many overdue jobs but  despite our constant chasing unfortunately the spray hood and dinghy bag never materialised. Annoyingly they would have to wait until we returned to the boat next Spring...

Puerto Almerimar

Christmas in Andalucia

Cabrera village from Casa del Mar

We first met Chantal and David a couple of years ago in Tunisia when our boats were neighbours on the hard standing in Monastir. They split their time between their yacht, Seaclusion, and their lovely traditional Moorish style villa in the Sierra Cabrera mountains, southern Spain. They very kindly invited us to stay over the Christmas period. It was great to see them again and also meant we had an excuse to hire a car and explore more of Andalucia.

Orange groves in the Sierra Cabrera

                                            Christmas day walk in the orange groves

Orange groves in the Sierra Cabrera

High up in the Sierra de los Filabres

Cabo de Gata

Isleta del Moro

We picked up our little white Fiat sugar cube from Almeria airport and set off north on the 90 minute drive to Casa del Mar in the village of Cabrera, set high up in the mountains and offering spectacular mountain vistas and panoramic seascapes. Chantal and David share their home with Daisy the dog who loves long walks which meant we also got lots of exercise between consuming the delicious gourmet food and drink. The weather and the countryside were glorious and we enjoyed stunning walks through orange groves with trees dripping with fruit. We ventured further inland too, high up in the Sierra de los Filabres. We parked the car in Serena before embarking on a walk in old mining country and ending up in Bedar for a well earned refreshment. We were treated to a fabulous coastal drive exploring the eastern side of Cabo de Gata natural park. Our first coffee stop was the sleepy whitewashed fishing village of Aqua Amarga. By the time we reached the lovely traditional Isleta del Moro it was time for something stronger.

Isleta del Moro

Isleta del Moro

Isleta del Moro

Mojacar Pueblo

Mojacar Pueblo

Our few days on terra firma went by in a flash and sadly it was soon time for us to wend our way south again. Before setting off home we visited the neighbouring Moorish hilltop village, Mojacar Pueblo, which overlooks the coast. We had had our fill of "white villages" when we first explored southern Spain thirteen years ago but clearly there was one more to see. It has been populated since 2000 BC but it was the north African Moors, having first established themselves in Spain in the 8th century, who left their lasting mark on Mojacar with its jumble of narrow cobbled streets and distinctive Moroccan style architecture.

Mojacar Pueblo

Fort Bravo, Tabernas desert

We took the inland road back to Aguadulce via the Tabernas desert and the wild west! It is one of the least known deserts of the world yet it has been seen by millions of people albeit unknowingly. It has been used as a film location in many well known movies such as the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, Indiana Jones, Cleopatra and Lawrence of Arabia. The parched inhospitable landscape with desert ravines is quite extraordinary.

Tabernas desert

Tabernas desert

Almeria oranges

We continued to use the car to explore south of Aguadulce which is pretty much an unsightly sea of plastic. This shimmering sea of polythene, which can clearly be seen from space, consumes the land and covers up to 450 square kilometers of Almeria province, the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world. Over 2.7 million tonnes of fruit and vegetabless are produced here annually, more than half for the single European market.

San Miguel, Cabo de Gata

San Miguel, Cabo de Gata

Ashore for repairs

Our final trip took us north again to the western side of the Cabo de Gato natural park. The scenery is spectacular with more traditional fishing villages and protected wet lands which are home to a wealth of wildlife and many rare plants. We stopped for a coffee in San Miguel known for its long stretch of beach littered with colourful fishing boats. The landscape between here and the tip of Cabo de Gata is dominated by the Las Salinas salt lake.

Name that bird!

Beside their salt production, the marshy habitats provide a feeding ground for many bird species. We couldn't resist popping into a special viewing hide but our ornithological skills have a lot to be desired. However, we did see lots of white, black and pink birds with long and short legs!

The beach at San Miguel

Preparing lunch

Coffee stop, San Miguel

The beach at San Miguel

Playtime is over and we are now busy taking off the sails and packing up the boat ready for a lift out and a few months of drying out on the hard standing. We are very grateful that we are still basking in warm sunshine while much of Europe is freezing and covered in snow....

Las Salinas de Cabo de Gata

First impressions

Our winter home, Aguadulce marina

Aguadulce beach and marina

With our boat troubles hopefully behind us it was time to get to know our new winter home. We rather like Aguadulce. The marina is situated on the edge of this small, relaxed, resort town on the Costa de Almeria, Spain. The origin of the name, "sweet water" refers to freshwater springs that flowed close to the marina. Sadly due to building works these water sources no longer exist and we are firmly sticking to bottled water. Aguadulce benefits from the micro climate of the Costa Almeria due to shelter from the high mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada behind it. The area reportedly has the record for the highest sunshine hours and least rainfall for the entire Mediterranean coast of Europe! It has rained non stop for the past couple of days so we are yet to be convinced. Next to the marina is a long broad sandy beach with a palm tree lined promenade. For bright lights and everything else we may need the nearby provincial capital, the city of Almeria, is only a 10km bus journey away with a handy bus stop just outside the marina.

Almeria from the Alcazaba

Almeria from the Alcazaba

Yacht Club pool with a view!

Before exploring further afield we promptly joined the Yacht Club which is located just outside our pontoon. It offers a range of facilities including an outdoor pool, tennis and squash courts, a sauna and great gym with picture windows looking out to sea. Absolutely no excuses now.

The Alcazaba, Almeria

The Alcazaba walls

The Alcazaba gardens

Arrow slits, Alcazaba

Aguadulce has all we need for day to day living but in search of a little bit more we hopped on the bus for the 15 minute journey to Almeria. We picked a beautiful day as we weren't just after some retail therapy, we also wanted to visit the Alcazaba. It is the largest of the citadels built by the Arabs in Spain and dates back to the 10th century. The hilltop Alcazaba's massive walls and towers dominate the city and command magnificent views over the old town below. We spent a long morning exploring the three compounds that make up this huge walled fortification. Not surprisingly it has been used to film various movies including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Never Say Never Again and Game of Thrones. We walked back down to town via the splendid cathedral and joined the locals in a street cafe to sample Chocolate con Churros. It is a Spanish self-indulgence of hot thick melted chocolate in which you dip fingers of deep-fried choux pastry.....time to head back to the gym!

The Alcazaba

View from the Alcazaba