Day 35: Almeria

March 24, 2025

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Today was our day to walk around Almeria, unencumbered by either car or bikes. We started in the little plaza in front of our hotel Torreluz. We had stayed here last year, and put a photo of the plaza into the blog then. But yesterday, frazzled with taking the car through the narrow streets, we passed it more than once and did not recognize that we had arrived.

There was actually space on both sides for car stopping, by the hotel plaza.

The little plaza contained a statue of John Lennon, an image we would consider more sacred than ones we later saw in the cathedral.

We had seen John also in a tunnel in Gibraltar. Here is what that looked like:

Imagine!: in a tunnel in Gibraltar and a plaza in Almeria

With the Almeria statue, John is playing a guitar. It does not seem like his fingers have been quite positioned with care, but can anyone say which chord and then which song it could be?

As we started our walk, we were again keen to see which streets would have been able to bring the car on and which not.

And here, the truck has only come part way.

Something just down from the hotel had caused annoyance and then praise from us last year. The annoyance was when they charged 2 euros each for bike storage, and the praise was for this separate storage facility, that included tools and a bike shower!

We set out in Almeria with only three objectives in mind. There would be the Cathedral, the Mercado, and then the Alcazaba - Moorish fortress. We didn't find too much more than that, but these were really nice. And for once, the weather was just right, making the walk super pleasant. It was 7 km overall, with a route that Google called "mostly flat". That was true, but as you see from the profile, the Alcazaba provided a bit of a spike.

The way to the cathedral had a sort of photographic mural of the town. It shows the Alcazaba and the port, with the old town between. Our hotel and the slightly more modern part of town is out of sight a little to the left in the photo.

The Cathedral has a rather blocky design, lacking any soaring towers or much in the way of tall arches. from Wiki: " The cathedral was built in the 16th century after an earthquake destroyed its predecessor. Its construction spans the period 1524 to 1562. It employs Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles as well as incorporating defensive features. Its last bell was built in 1805."

Outside, a priest was giving a presentation to a group of students. They were high school age and we didn't notice any teachers present. So it was hard to say how the visit was organized or what the content of the presentation was.

Later, the group and the priest had moved inside:

We listened but could not decipher what the lecture was about.

The cathedral distinguished itself for me not with antiquity or stained glass or soaring arches, but with the statues and imagery. Roman Catholics in general are big on statues and imagery, but in Spain this is refined with elaborately dressed, tearful, Virgins, and Christs with sad expressions and rays of power coming from their heads. Crowns and halos are big too.

The main altar is attractive, with gold trim. There is a statue of a saint to one side, a reliquary under the altar, and a Mary in the centre. Jesus has not been forgotten, and he stands high above it all.

The saint depicted is San Indalecio. "Saint Indaletius is venerated as the patron saint of Almería, Spain. Tradition makes him a Christian missionary of the 1st century, during the Apostolic Age. He evangelized the town of Urci, near the present-day city of Almería, and became its first bishop. He may have been martyred at Urci."

Jesus in plain white may be holding the world in his hand. The figure looking over his shoulder is actually quite distant, on the wall behind.

Relics are important, but we don't know who or what is in there.

While not having soaring arches, the ceiling is nice, as are the organ and choir.

Here we have a Jesus in the style that will go out on paso at Semana Santa, with the rays of power.

A sad Mary with halo, crown of thorns, and french fry tongs? We would have to go back to check what she is holding.

Same halo, but she has lost the other objects.

Back in the streets, we found some wall murals.

The first depicts Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. We assume the figure to the left is author Miguel de Cervantes.

A literary theme was continued on the wall with this image. It's "Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo." His dates are 1580 to 1645.

We set out toward the Mercado, always eyeing the streets for how wide and passable they might be.

Not passable, we decided. Our test is strict, we need to be able to both walk with arms outstretched. That would make for an impossibly wide 12 feet!

This building is on a corner just around from the mercado.

A covered market in Spain is guaranteed to have gorgeous produce, and that was certainly the case here.

The white strawberries are commanding a price premium. But hey, some are showing a slight pink blush!

An overview shot by Dodie. There were many stands like this in the building.

This vacant one is very unlike what we have seen in Mexico. This is all super sanitary stainless steel.

Meat is good in Spain. The label on the steaks says Gold Medal winner in the world steak challenge. The burgers say they are ox.

Maybe the photo could be better, but I can't say what these "appetizers"? are.

Back in the street again, we ran into the church of San Pedro.

This one also had a very attractive main altar area, but two surprise features as well. One was the reappearance of our old friend the Virgin of El Rocio, recognizable by her triangular presentation. And Jesus was lying in a bed in a side chapel, no doubt dead but still looking up a bit, but with his rays of power rather truncated.

This scene looked paso ready, but in fact it is not set up to travel the streets.

Here is Pedro, with his traditional keys of the church.

Although this looks like St James, it is labelled St Roch. St Roch was born in Montpelier, France in 1300. He gave his family fortune to the poor and cared for the sick. When he himself fell ill, he went into lockdown. A dog brought him bread daily. St Roch statues always show him displaying a wound on his (usually muscular) thigh that came from the plague. He also made a pilgrimage to Rome, giving him bad knees. When he got back, his uncle didn't recognize him, and threw him in prison for five years, after which he died. St Roch is the patron saint of dogs, plagues, and bad knees. Scott, he could be your guy for knees! p.s. The dog is visible in the photo.

Again in the street, we passed the Convent of Santa Clara:

Our target now was the Alcazaba. It's the biggest of the citadels built by the Arabs in Spain, and it was begun in 955 and completed in the 11th century. The Catholics monarchs reformed it, and it was a royal residence. The mosque inside was redone as a church, of course.

Google Maps characterized the walk there as "mostly flat" but of course uyou never build an Alcazaba except on the highest hill around. We walked up, and got some great views of the old city and port.

The Alcazaba is generally open, except on Mondays. So today is Monday, of course. That means we missed seeing the living quarters, gardens, and such inside, but we still feel we got the idea.

Looking up to the Alcazaba from one side.

This evocative statue recalls the original builders, but this guy only extended the existing walls: "Khayran al-Amiri or Khayran (died 1028 ) was the first king of the Taifa of Almeria , the second Slavic ruler of that territory. His reign extended from 1014 to 1028 Khayran's date of birth is not currently known. Initially a Slavic officer in the army of Almanzor (939-1002), he was also the governor of the city of Almería . He participated in numerous military campaigns. During the sack of Cordoba by the Berbers , he was believed to have died on the battlefield; he actually turned out to be seriously wounded, the latter was evacuated to the city, treated there and recovered.At the same time, another Slavic general named Áflah took control of Almería. Khayran then gathered an army and surrounded the city walls for twenty days. He and his troops took the medina and then the Alcazaba of Almería and in the month of July 1014, he proclaimed himself king and at the same time created the taifa, the kingdom, of Almeria ."

The fort has only one entrance, since the idea is to keep people out. This rope was effective to keep us out. I bet it would not have deterred the fifteenth century Christians!

We continued to walk up and along the wall. Dodie spotted several birds along here!

We descended a bit and found a shady bench, where we took out goodies we had brought from the market.

We were ready to descend to the hotel, but coming around the side of the Alcazaba we noticed a path to an area called La Hoya. There is a hill back there, not the Alcazaba one, that was linked to the Alcazaba by a wall. On our side of the wall lay a bowl shaped area with a long history, often of agriculture. This area was most recently converted to a Mediterranean plant park.

The wall joining the two hills, with the garden plantings. The wall joining the two hills.

A view past some plantings to the Alcazaba

The wall heads down the hill, toward the next hill.

A rather "flowery" description of the area.

On the other hill is a Christ statue (San Cristobal) monument of the Sacred Heart.

It was the first thing we noticed when first walking up from the city, and mistakenly thought it was within the Alcazaba.

An overview of the Sacred Heart site, and the Alcazaba.

The EU and Almeria spent 3 1/2 million Euros on this. Good idea!

We finally headed on back down to the hotel, where I must say I enjoyed reliving the day by creating this blog post. I think I liked the Market best. Tomorrow we have hopes of finding some birding lagoons on our way to San Jose (not your San Jose, Karen!). Starting to have a lot more fun!

Today's ride: 7 km (4 miles)
Total: 1,059 km (658 miles)

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Tricia GrahamOur Grandson has been living in Spain and our daughter applied for an International Drivers Licence for him on line giving a Spanish address to send it to. He got it in 5 days. Note however he has never been asked for it
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4 days ago

Andrea BrownAnother warning: our rental car got towed in Xativa/Jativa during a festival, that was good fun, let me tell you. Park the Batmobile with care.
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4 days ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Andrea BrownWe treat the car in cities as a delicate glass object. We only leave it in the designated hotel parking and look around afterwards on foot.
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3 days ago

Tricia GrahamThe licence Matt got was certainly not fake as it was exactly the same as the ones Mark and Jane had got in person. Was from the approved website in Australia where his licence wa issued
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3 days ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Tricia GrahamDue care and attention are important in all things. The internet is terrific but one needs to be cautious and alert.
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3 days ago