Delicious dates. A hot spring. A desert, the driest region in Europe, with beautiful rock formations. Several caves. And almost all the way without traffic. We thought: yes, we have to do it...
But we started to doubt after reading that the dates of Almería are not recommended to eat, because of insecticide residues. And all the people who wanted to join cancelled. Finally we did it one week later than planned. We were Aim'jie, I (Meenhard) and Jean Claude, who joined our Walkabouts already several times. At the hot spring we found dates that were free of insecticide residues. I will tell about them with the photos.
If you click on a photo, you'll view the original photo.
Saturday, 13 Nov 2021:
After walking several hours in the dark, we decide to sleep here on the way, close to Rio Andarax.
Sunday:
We continue walking in Rio Andarax. It's completely dry, although there was more rain than normal in this region.
Dog and wild boar footprints. The ones from the wild boar have two toes.
Breakfast in Río Andarax: Chia and raw vegetables.
We follow a former railway that led to the hot spring. The spring was apparently well known in the past.
The railway went over a bridge, we have to walk under it.
There's a marked hinking trail going to the hot spring.
Sometimes we can still see the Mediterranean sea between the mountains.
I have a lack of warm things. So I choose a sleeping place on the south side of a rock. For that I have to dig a bit in the sand. In front is Aim'jie.
Monday:
Here some explanations about the hiking trail (click on the photo for reading).
What do Jean Claude and Aim'jie watch in the air - maybe birds? Or dates?
There are many dates on high trees. We collect them from the ground.
A resident tells us that they are not contaminated with insecticides, the pests in this community are controlled with traps.
The spring is really hot: 58°! Aim'jie and Jean Claude went in at night for a second, I put only some water over me.
We walk on dirt roads that are partly closed by a barrier, and a little part we have to go through wilderness. But it's beautiful.
View into the valley of Río Andarax. Left side you can see the little town Gádor, more close to the mountains lies Alhama de Almería.
The lower road sign does not cause us any problems, the upper one we are forced to ignore.
Behind the mountains, you can recognise many small mountains. It's the desert of Tabernas, the dryest region of Europe.
We find a ruin with intact roof...
...and sleep in it.
Tuesday:
"Oasys MiniHollywood" - some western films were produced here, like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".
"Western Leone", the second western setting
We are in the "Desierto de Tabernas", the dryest region of Europe. The valleys are easy for walking, and there are beautiful rock formations.
"El Condor", the third Western setting. This one is abandoned.
Do you recognise the "Pension Coyote" from the Western? The buildings are broken...
...but the gallows is intact.
We walk 3km along a highway in order to be able to cross it. "This is a holiday" says Aim'jie after we walked a rocky path with climbs and descents.
On the other side of the highway, we get into another beautiful valley.
Nice patterns and colors in the rock...
...made by shell deposits in the sea in prehistoric times. The ocean is the beginning of the earth.
We sleep at the "Baños de Álfaro". We hoped to find here water, but there is no water anymore, the buildings are abandoned and broken.
Aim'jie sleeps outside, because she doesn't like the dust in these caves. Jean Claude sleeps in the left cave, I take the third one from left.
View from Jean Claude's place
Wednesday:
Here the people were bathing once.
On the ground, there's wet clay.
On the hill, you can recognise the building for bathing.
This broken bridge was the way to the bath. We have to walk through the valley.
We find many pomegranates on the way. They are delicious.
We take an asphalted road instead of the river bed, to find more fruits. Oranges are often laying on the road.
Again in the Río Andarax, we find mallow, atriplex and other wild herbs to eat.
"Los Millares" a villages of 1,000 to 5,000 inhabitants, inhabited from about 3200 to 2200 BC.
It's raining a bit. We sleep in this abandoned building. Next morning we stay until 11 am until the rain is over, eat, watch photos etc.
Thursday:
On top, the swallows made a beautiful nest.
It starts to rain again. We finish the Walkabout in Alhama de Almería.
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