Almeria, Spain

Saturday, May 3

Another day quite different to what we had expected. We had decided not to do a ship's excursion to Granada to see The Alhambra as we thought the time allowed was not sufficient to do it justice so we would spend our time exploring Almeria instead. This turned out to be a really good decision because just before we sailed last night we checked our emails and found our Canadian friends, who had left the ship in Athens, were now in Spain and could meet us in Almeria today. We were thrilled to be able to see them again and do another "tour" with them.

At La Alcazaba with Bruce & Margaret-Anne

We left the ship around 9.45 am and found Bruce & Margaret-Anne waiting at the port gate. They are staying about an hour and a half's drive away so had caught the local bus in to town. We all wanted to see La Alcazaba - an ancient fort that allows fantastic views over Almeria. With Bruce & Al leading the way, we headed off. The fort, sitting high above Almeria, was visible from almost everywhere in town and was easy to reach? It is a huge complex and has seen many different rulers in its 1000 year existence - Moors, Christians, Medieval Kings, etc. and all have left their marks. We were not sure what the occasion was but there were a number of little girls decked out in beautiful white dresses at the fort but we did not see any First Communion services or the like being held there or around the town so the reason for their outfits remains a mystery. We spent a couple of hours at the fort and found it really interesting.

La Alcazaba

We then headed back into town where we enjoyed another great tapas lunch, again in glorious sunshine. People-watching is always interesting and even more so in foreign places. Today was part of the 4-day long weekend many Spaniards are enjoying and we noted how quiet everything was until lunchtime when they all started emerging from their homes. We found the main square, Plaza de la Constitucion, where a local market was in full swing. We joined the locals wandering around enjoying the sunshine and browsing. There were fabulous antiques for sale along with crafts by local artisans and some of the best food imaginable. The children were playing and we saw a number of tiny Flamenco dancers - the Spanish appear to love dressing up. It almost seemed out of place but a really good jazz band was playing well-known Louis Armstrong numbers and people were dancing and really enjoying themselves. We have found Spain to be a really happy place despite the economic situation here.

The market at Plaza de la Constitucion

Some tiny Flamenco Dancers

From the market, we made our way through the Old Town area and into the commercial area. Most shops and businesses were closed in the smaller streets but in the commercial area, major department stores were open and doing a roaring trade with little opposition. We passed a couple of interesting-looking churches but none were open for inside viewing.

Outside the main Cathedral

We found a lovely spot for coffee and sat down to rest our weary feet and continue the people watching. Bruce & Al went off to find the air raid shelters marked on the map but were disappointed to find all tickets for today's tours had sold out. These shelters date back to the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. We later walked past the entrance area and were amazed to see a map showing just what a labyrinth they are and how far they extend - another reason to return to this interesting city.

Almeria

After a pleasant stroll back to the port area and taking in as much of Almeria's charms as possible, we yet again farewelled Bruce & Margaret-Anne and made our way back on board where we sat in the sun by the ship's pool until we sailed out at 6.00 pm. Spain is now very high on our list of countries to visit again.

Back on board and ready to sail out

 

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