In Almeria, Day 2

March 26, 2024

Today begins with yesterday’s plan that got scrapped: Rachael plans the hike and I’ll take the ride we’d intended to take yesterday until rain got in the way. Like yesterday there’s a bit of morning rain to wait out, but it’s due to end by 9 which should still leave us time for our planned activities if it holds to that. Afterwards, lunch at 2:30 again, and in the evening we’ll go on another Procession hunt.

Hike

Rachael waits for the rains to pass and then sets out to take the loop she downloaded from Kormoot. After a mile or two of urban walking she crosses under A-7, the freeway that borders the city on the west, and soon finds herself climbing up into the heights west of town. It isn’t long before she’s high enough to gain fine views all around; and she really is high, excited about the wealth of hiking opportunities she sees in these hills.

She doesn’t complete the loop though. Instead, she walks five miles out along the eastern half of the loop and then backtracks, thinking she’ll go out again tomorrow and hike the western half. And she brings back a ton of photos so she can show me and all of you out there what a great area this is.

Video sound track: Commemorative Teansfiguration, by John Fahey

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Bike

It’s still lightly raining when I start biking toward the coast. I need to get started though if I’m going to fit my ride in, so I decide to trust the weather when it says things will dry out shortly. And they do. It’s a bit drizzly for the first couple of miles as I skirt the mountains west of town, but by the time Aguadulce comes into view beyond the last of the headlands it dries out and stays that way for the rest of the ride.

Leaving town to the west. Among its many other attractive qualities, I like seeing these impressive old buttressed fig trees around town.

For the first five miles west of Almeria the mountains (essentially the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada range) run right up to the sea, leaving the coast road plastered against high, sheer cliffs and tracing the crooked outlines of its headlands - or, in three places, tunneling through them. The first one is short, straight, lightly trafficked at the moment, and illuminated. There’s even a shoulder, narrow but wide enough to bike on; so it would be no problem in different conditions. This morning though I’m biking against a blasting headwind that makes holding a course on this narrow shoulder difficult. About halfway through I veer against and bounce off of the tunnel wall, so I decide to dismount and walk the rest of the way.

Not really a problem, if it weren’t for the headwind today.

The other two tunnels are longer, and at least one of them has a bend in it - but happily they’re both avoidable because there’s still a short remnant of the old coast road bypassing each of them that hugs the cliffs as it rounds the headland. They’re both marked as one way roads going the other direction, but I take them anyway; and they’re both totally empty and a delight to bike.

Coming to the edge of the mountains, Aguadulce comes into view around the last bend.

My destination today is Playa Serena, the near end of a protected lagoon that claims an impressive list of bird sightings. It’s still ten miles beyond Aquadulce, but it’s flat the whole way with most of the ride on bike paths bordering one seaside promenade after another as I bike through a series of quiet resort villages.

Playa Serena is my goal, so for the most part I keep plugging away against a surprisingly moderate headwind hoping I’ll arrive at the lagoon in time for a good look before I have to turn back. There are a few spots that slow me down though because there’s more interest here than I expected.

There’s a pretty stretch through a small protected area at Playa de la Salinas. There are birds around too, but they’re seldom visible because of the giant reeds between me and the water.

#178: Ruddy turnstone, one of about twenty or more edging the surf at Playa Romanilla.

At Roquetas de Mar there the impressive and well restored Castillo de Santa Ana. Its 14th century origins are Muslim, but most of the current structure is only a few centuries old after the older fortress was destroyed by earthquake.

And it has a lighthouse! Today, the castle is used as a museum and a venue for art exhibits and concerts.

Playa Serena is the final coastal settlement before coming to the near end of a long protected wetland. For the next six or seven miles unpaved but quite bikeable trails wander through dunes and alongside lagoons. Quiet, peaceful, scenic, and rife with birdlife. It’s a big success today, and I add six more new birds to the list plus the turnstones I saw a few miles back. I’m boxed for time and only bike a mile or two into the reserve before it’s time to turn back, but if I get the right day for it later in the week I’d like to come back and allow another hour or two ro explore the entire length.

The pathways are quite bikeable, though there are a few low, wet spots I have to work around the edges of.

I was hoping I’d get a better look at these than the distant look I got back near Dénia.

The European flamingos are really prettier than the American ones, in my opinion. I love their dramatic wing coloration.

One more, on the theory that you can really never include to many flamingo shots.

#181: Barn swallow, with a few white-rumped swallows.

I’ve been pretty fortunate with the winds so far, which have been generally in my face but reasonable - maybe around 10-15 mph. By the time I turn back though they pick up significantly, just as the weather app predicted would happen. Once I start biking east, my speed at least doubles and I sail east along the waterfront backtracking my way home.

With this boost I’ll be back to the room in plenty of time, I’m thinking; but when I come to Roquetas de Mar again I’m held up for another look. It’s a fishing village as well as a seaside resort, and the fish are in. There’s a crowd assembled around a boat unloading its catch, with interested observers both onshore and off. Onshore, folks are walking up to see what’s available fresh off the boat today. Offshore, birds are congetating also - gulls, cormorants, and a surprising number of little egrets crowding the rails of neighboring boats.

And I’m especially pleased to pick up my eighth new bird of the day, and the third lifetime first: the slender-billed gull, a species I’ve never heard of before. I took a photo of one of these gulls just because, casually thinking it was a non-breeding black-headed gull; and then I took a photo of a second nearby gull because I was puzzled by its pinkish hue, which I assumed was due to a reflection off the water or some other trick of the light.

Later, I’ll notice that both birds have a longer, dagger-like bill than I had realized, too long for them to be black-headed gulls. After some research I’m led to slender-billed gulls, and the identification is cemented when eBird tells me the species “frequently shows a strong rosy-pink flush to the underparts.”

Very cool. With eight new species for the year today, three lifetime firsts (the gull, the little ringed plover and the little stint) and with 24 different species overall for the day, this is probably one of the best birding days I’ve experienced in Europe.

Some of the yellow in the shot above comes from this (Pallenis maritima?).

But most of it is shrubby everlasting (Helichrysum stoechas).

#185: Sleder-billed gull, identified by the length and narrow shape of its bill, and also by the pinkish highlights it sometimes shows.

Rounding the final headland, the city comes into view again.

I’m a couple of miles from home when I get a call from Rachael; but when I try to answer it or call back I’m unable to. I’ll learn later that she’s been worried about me - worried because she can’t see me on the Garmin, and especially worried because she can’t tell if I’m likely to be back in time for lunch. Well, I’ve been worried about her too, because she never showed up on my Garmin either so I assume she never made it out for her walk after all and I worry that something is not right with her.

It’s just turning two when I arrive at the hotel, so I’m barely right on time. It takes me three or four minutes to get a concierge to take me down to the garage with the elevator though, and then another couple minutes once I’m there when we find that the passenger elevator back up is out of service so I have to take the slow ride back up in the car elevator.

I finally make it up to the room at 2:10. Words are exchanged about why I’m late and why we can’t track each other, but five minutes later we’re out the door on our way to lunch. On the street, I pull out my phone to bring up the map to navigate us to lunch, but the map is completely unresponsive. This is the first time I realize that something’s really wrong with my phone.

Lunch happens, though not at the place we planned because they’re booked solid. We’re really going to need to plan ahead and book meals for our remaining days here, all of which might have booking issues like this one because of Semana Santa. Later, back in the room again, Rachael takes my phone and studies the problem. It doesn’t take her long to realize that she must have failed somehow when she tried to top off my SIM card a few days back. My first month was up, and my service expired.

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Procession

After last night’s fiasco, we take more care with our planning for this evening. I draw out the routes for the first two of this evening’s three processions, and then we study the map together, look at the timetable, and come up with our plan. And we nail it. We arrive at Calle de Almeria about ten or fifteen minutes before the first procession, the Coronacion, will. arrive at the spot we plant ourselves. We can see the front of the procession about four blocks up the street and coming our direction slowly - very slowly. When they move they creep along, and there are frequent stops.

We’ve got it just right though, and have a front row seat to watch the complete procession pass just feet from us. First the cross bearers, then the Nazarenos (hooded penitents), then the incense swingers, then the first Paso, then the first band, then more penitents including a group of young children, and the then the Manolas (the somber faced mourning women in their black mantillas). And then comes the second Paso, with all of its many participants and attendants and a second band. We must have been there at least a half hour, maybe forty five minutes, before the last of the procession is finally past us, rounds the corner, and makes its slow way up to the Plaza of the Virgin del Mar and then the cathedral. And once there of course, they’ll turn around and head back to their origin point. They’ll be out for over six hours, which must make a really long day for everyone - especially those young penitents, some of whom look like they can’t be more than seven or eight years old.

We captured short video clips from each paso, to help us remember. The second one is particularly interesting because it shows the glacial pace at which the train moves. It takes forever for the paso to make its right turn at the intersection and then get underway again. It’s especially impressive when you consider that none of the bearers can see anything and are taking their orders from outside.

The second procession is due to pass by this same spot in another half hour or so, and when we left home we had the thought that we might pick up both of them. But after standing here for the better part of an hour we feel like we’ve had our Procession experience for the day. We walk up Calle de Almeria through rhe crowds because we want to get a closer look at an illuminated building we see in the distance up there, but after that we’re happy to head back to our room.

Looking down Calle de Almeria, still lined with spectators presumably waiting for the second act. The main reason I took this shot though was for the impressive fig tree.

Some fine buildings on Puerta del Purchena Plaza.

Across the plaza from them is the landmark Casa de los Mariposas, built in 1909 and designed by Spanish architect Trinidad Quartara. This is the illuminated building that drew us up this way. But look at that crowd! Also, something I missed before: note the two penitents in baby blue hoods. This is the color for the second procession of the night, so it must be coming this way soon.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 436 miles (702 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesGood procession hunting and filming!
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7 months ago

Rachael AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesThanks!
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7 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Rachael AndersonWe had some good hunting here in Leon this. a.m. Stay tuned.

Still more Passo days to go for you. For us, by Saturday, we're pedalling in dull old France!
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7 months ago