Friday – 7 September 2018

Aguadulce – Almeria

With time to spare, we have reached the best location for Steve our guest, to get home from, his flight is tomorrow from Almeria. Therefore, we have had a tourist day today, visiting Almeria.  The guide book says that there are several very interesting things to see here.  We set off from very close to the marina for Almeria on the very punctual and inexpensive bus service. If things were always like this I could relent on my general dislike of buses.

I will admit that I knew very little about Almeria before we arrive, but it turns out to be an attractive city with substantial docks and a ferry port, plus an airport and a whole series of buildings of historic significance.  It is the capital of the province of the same name, and apparently only failed to become a separate state within Spain by the quirks of electoral law, despite a 10:1 majority in favour.

The city is reputed to have been founded by the Romans and was the first place for Christianity to arrive in Spain as a result. It was re-founded by Calipha Abd-ar-Rahman III of Córdobain 955 AD and formed a major strong point in his empires defences. Subsequently, dominance was contested by a number of Emirs who were keen to access the cities wealth, based on its importance in the silk trade. Crusading Christians lay siege and captured the city for a period in the 12^th century, but it reverted to Muslim rule before finally being taken in the 15^th century.

The 16^th century was turbulent, with earthquakes, the expulsion of the remaining Muslims and attacks by Berber pirates. Eventually iron deposits were discovered and exploited by British and French companies, returning prosperity to the city.

During the Spanish civil war, the city was shelled by the German navy and it was the last Andalusian city to fall to Franco. There are still air raid shelters preserved as museum pieces that are available to visit, although they were not open at the time we might have gone.

We formulated a plan while having coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice at a pavement café. We wanted to head for the Alcazaba or citadel, but our route took us close to the Cathedral, so we visited this first. It has been the site of both a church and a mosque, but the previous structure was destroyed in an earthquake in 1522, and subsequently rebuilt.  In some respects, it is a very unusual cathedral. Its nave and transepts all have similar height roofs, and externally it is not much to look at.  We were told that it was part fortress and part cathedral, with the solid external walls to hide it from attackers. The roofs were strong enough to support artillery and soldiers enabling them to fire on invaders.  The cathedral also has arrow slits to allow more firing points, and I don’t think I have ever heard of this in a cathedral before.  Internally it was much more standard, and some parts surprisingly contemporary.  There were chapels that were only competed in the 20^th century, and artwork up to the same time period.

From here we moved on up the hill to the big attraction of the town, the Alcazaba.  It is apparently the second largest Moorish fortress in the world, with only the Alhambra in Grenada being larger. It towers of the city and dominates the skyline, despite the intrusion of modern high-rise buildings nearby.  I think we were all really looking forward to the visit, so you can imagine our frustration when we arrived and were told that it was shut for 3 days while they use it as a location for the forthcoming Wonder Woman 2 movie.  There were film trucks and other vehicles parked everywhere, and a very harassed security guard explaining that we would all be able to come back on Monday.  Not if we are not still here!  Some other tourists gave us directions to another hilltop which gave a good view of the structure, so we climbed up there, and were able to see one of the set areas being prepared for filming.  We will have to wait for the film to come out next year.

We lunched in a small café and walked through the streets, largely deserted during siesta time. We passed the Spanish guitar museum and the museum of modern art before heading back to Aguadulce, about 5 miles away.

Later we sat on the boat while the locals promenaded around the marina.  We felt a little like exhibits and particularly the children stopped to look and try to get a glimpse inside the boat. A rather brave cat made its way into the cockpit, and I contemplated removing the passerelle (the plank that allows us to walk ashore from the back of the boat), when it leapt directly to the quayside.  If it could jump the distance, I would be wasting my time. In the evening we ate out again in a tapas bar, as it was Steve’s last night with us. As ever it only got going at about 10:30. While sitting waiting for our food we saw weather forecasts and correspondent’s reports of thunder storms throughout Spain.  It was not on our forecasts 24 hours ago, but now may change our plans for the next few days.

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	1616	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	2336	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia and Steve)