Seville, Andalusia, Spain and Canary IslandsNot a lot happened for the rest of Good Friday. The weather started off terribly, and finally became sunny in spite of the weather forecast, allowing for a long walk. We again took in Parque Genovés with its topiaried cypresses and strange trees (iron trees from NZ and dragon trees). But later the skies closed in again. All big shops were shut the whole day, although bars and cafes seemed to operate normally, allowing us to find shelter in Le Poème, just near the market, with good coffee and excellent cakes (all such places seem much cheaper than in Australia).
Easter Saturday started off with equally bad weather and rain cancelled our planned visit at 11 to the Camara Oscura in the nearby Torre Tavira – rebooked to 4 pm, if there is no rain then. We braved the rain to go for lunch at Freiduria Marisquería Las Flores, near the market, with Google indicating we might have to eat at pavement tables. Not so, fortunately, with the inside of this seafood cafe turning out to be huge, and hugely popular. We had a good variety (all fried), and it was good value.
The weather turned fine in the afternoon, so we bought tickets and climbed Tavira Tower, giving 360 degree views over the whole old town and beyond. Seeing a camera obscura in action for the first time was interesting for both of us. From the tower it was much easier to see the layout of the large houses belonging to (rich Cadiz) merchants, many with their own tower (much smaller than Tavira, but there are still 133 of them) allowing them to presumably check on the arrival of their goods at the port. After that we walked eastward along the southern seawall, braving the storm swell that crashed into the walls. Walking around here revealed significant (restored) parts of what must have once been the fortifications of Cadiz, which seems to have needed such aids to survival over the years: even the Duke of Wellington soldiered here in 1812, in charge of British and Spanish troops.
Our first bus trip, on1st April, from Cádiz to La Línea de la Concepción, right on the Spanish border with Gibraltar. The trip was fine, with tickets booked online, taking a bit under 3 hours – with lots of stops en route. We checked in at our tiny apartment at 10/24 Engineer Lane after quickly crossing the border and getting a bus to reasonably near the apartment. Had a good walk of exploration and familiarisation after unpacking, and bought a few supplies on the way. Then we lashed out on an expensive but excellent Indian meal at Little Bay restaurant in Ocean Village, a recommendation from the owners of the apartment's handbook. Gibraltar doesn't eat nearly as late as in Spain. Huge portions, so we got a doggy-bag, which helped sustain us on our Rock walk the next day.
Gibraltar seems like it is on a steroidal building boom, with high-rise glitzy apartments going up everywhere, including on more and more reclaimed land. Physically, the place is totally dominated by The Rock (originally Jebel Tariq, after the first Moorish ruler around 700 AD).
Tuesday: We walked to catch the cable car about a km away. Expensive (£17 each for a 6-minute, one-way ride with oldies concession, doubled to allow entry to all sorts of "attractions" within the Nature Reserve that takes in basically all of the top of the Rock). We ended up being out for about 7 hours, walking for most of the time. Even though we went down from the top at about 420 m to sea level, there were lots ups as well as downs along the way – we climbed the equivalent of 59 staircases in coming down, as well as walking almost 20,000 steps. Tired, with sore knees and toes afterwards. The map shows, in (hopefully visible) yellow highlighter, the extent of the walk we undertook – we got our money's worth, but there was pain, both short term and the longer lasting effects on calves and ankles.
No shortage of apes (Barbary macaques, which are tailless monkeys, not apes), and not just at the Apes' Den. They didn't seem too friendly, and one of the youngsters frightened June by trying to swipe her backpack, unsuccessfully.
Perhaps too soon we were headed back to Spain, having booked a couple of nights in Málaga, in the expectation that we would make it there. What we were not able to do was book the bus trip there from La Línea, because the busline's website didn't work. We had some idea of the timetable, however, and risked heading back into Spain. No problems, and we even got on an earlier bus, which picked up a lot of people en route at Estepona and Marbella on the Costa del Sol – most appeared to be Brits heading for Malaga Airport.
The other thing we were hoping to do was to make contact with Ameer Abdulla, who had been working in Malaga since completing his PhD in marine biology at JCU in late 2004. Ameer had been a close friend of my student Paul Armsworth, but seemed to have dropped off the map lately. However, I was able to contact him before we left Brisbane, so we were looking forward to seeing him again, as the last time was about 10 years ago.
The apartment we rented for two nights in Málaga was just around the corner from Ameer's house, where he lives with his partner, Fidelí. On the first night we went for tapas and drinks, and the next day we visited the Alcazaba (palace) and Castillo de Gibralfaro (fortified castle, protecting the palace below). Lots of walking and climbing, but the views weren't so great, because of heavy clouds below.
The plan was to then visit the museum dedicated to Picasso, who was born in Málaga. However the lines were out the door so we ended up doing some food shopping and taking it easy. We then went to an excellent vegan restaurant (Yes, they exist in Spain!) with Ameer and Fidelí. We had a great time chatting with them, late into the evening. Ameer first worked for IUCN, then lectured at Universidad de Málaga, but since then he has been working in Saudi Arabia, first for Neom and then the Red Sea Authority. He's now a Spanish citizen. Next day, Friday 5th, Ameer dropped us at the railway station, where we picked up our hire car (a Hyundai i10) for the next two days. Off to Ronda by road.
nicoll
2024-04-08
Worth the wait! You are certainly packing things in!
Phaedra
2024-04-08
You are keeping VERY busy and fit ! Sounds like quite a trip !
Helen
2024-04-09
Wow! Gibraltar seemed worth the visit.